Conservation
Great Apes’ Biggest Threat Is Human Activity, Not Habitat Loss
An assessment of chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos reveals that our economic “footprint” is the primary driver of great apes’ fate
Stories by Rachel Nuwer
Animals
Rubbing Up against Sharks May Feel Good despite the Danger
Fish species were found deliberately chafing on sharks around the world, though why they do so is not entirely clear
Endangered Species
Disturbing Answers to the Mystery of Tuskless Female Elephants
Poaching brings evolutionary pressure for tusklessness
Anthropology
Mammoths Roamed when Humans Started Using Tobacco at Least 12,300 Years Ago
A dig in the Nevada desert finds telltale seeds at the site of a late Paleolithic hearth
Public Health
Natural Mosquito Repellent’s Powers Finally Decoded
Here’s how a flower extract keeps off mosquitoes
Public Health
Children’s Birthdays May Have Spread COVID Infections
The risk of infection increased by up to 30 percent or so among people with observances in the first 10 months of 2020
Technology
The First ‘Google Translate’ for Elephants Debuts
An online animal catalogue lets you decode communications and other behaviors for everyone’s favorite pachyderm
Animals
How This Zombie Fungus Turns Cicadas into Horror-Movie Sex Bots
Researchers explore how an amphetamine and a psychedelic help parasitic fungi spread their spores through insects’ doomed mating attempts
Conservation
De-Ratting Rat Island Brought Silent Ecosystem Back to Life
The impact was clear up and down the coastal food chain
Biology
Bird Brawlers Love Spectators—Other Avian Species Are Welcome at Ringside
Tufted titmice scuffle more vigorously in front of a crowd—even if some of the onlookers are woodpeckers
Evolution
The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Created the Amazon Rain Forest
Fossilized pollen and leaves reveal that the meteorite that caused the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs also reshaped South America’s plant communities to yield the planet’s largest rain forest...
Conservation
Vaccine Could Save Critical Tiger Population
Canine distemper threatens a key group of Amur tigers, but an unconventional vaccination program could help
Cognition
Baby Talk and Lemur Chatter—but Not Birdsong—Help an Infant’s Brain Develop
Researchers probe the outer boundaries of what types of sounds human infants tune in to for building cognition
Biology
An Octopus Could Be the Next Model Organism
Big-brained cephalopods could shine light on the evolution and neurobiology of intelligence, complexity, and more—and inspire medical and technological breakthroughs
Behavior
People Literally Don’t Know When to Shut Up—or Keep Talking—Science Confirms
We are really bad at navigating a key transition point during one of the most basic social interactions
Engineering
Spider Legs Build Webs without the Brain’s Help
Researchers decode spiders’ web-building behavior for application in future robots
Public Health
Pathogen Discovered That Kills Endangered Chimps: Is It a Threat to Humans?
An Ebola outbreak and a few false leads slowed a 15-year search for bacteria that attack the nerves and gut
Culture
The World’s Oldest Animal Paintings Are on This Cave Wall
Depictions of pigs found in Indonesia date back at least 45,500 years
Evolution
Dog Domestication May Have Begun because Paleo Humans Couldn’t Stomach the Original Paleo Diet
Unable to digest large amounts of protein, hunters likely left scraps that could have led to the taming of wolves
Environment
Chernobyl ‘Exclusion Zone’ Radiation Doses Reanalyzed
Evidence builds that animals are scarcer in more heavily contaminated areas
