
Bees Have Small Brains But Big Ideas
Bees understand abstract relations despite lacking the brain areas thought necessary

Bees Have Small Brains But Big Ideas
Bees understand abstract relations despite lacking the brain areas thought necessary

Computer Models Improve Odds of Fossil-Hunting Success
Luck has played a big part in many of the world's great fossil discoveries. New models predict where the bones are and put serendipity in the backseat


Book Review: Nature's Nether Regions
Books and recommendations from Scientific American

Oldest Footprints Outside Africa
English mud captures an ancestral stroll

Ants Save Their Hides by Floating on Their Children's Backs
A species of ant escapes floods on a raft made of its babies

Bucks Groan Loud and Fast to Get the Girl
A fallow buck judges a rival's call to tell whether he can be trounced in a mating contest

Kid Scientists Make Real Fossil Finds at the USA Science & Engineering Festival
Kids searching for fossils using SharkFinder kits at Scientific American’s booth at the USA Science & Engineering Festival. Credit: Jason Osborne Jason Osborne was trying to grab a quick lunch away from the crowds when his wife called his cellphone.

Bone Dusters Paleo Ale Gets A Rockin’ Label
Sometimes you never know where your work will end up. Take this figure depicting the evolution of whales that I created for Jerry Coyne’s book, Why Evolution is True.

Y Chromosome May Protect Against Cancer, Other Diseases
Elderly men who have lost the Y in blood cells have their lives cut short, compared with men who still have the little chromosome

Frog-Killing Fungus Meets Its Match in Tiny Predators
As I reported in a feature story in Scientific American last December , some fungi have been behaving badly of late, attacking bats, plants, amphibians, reptiles, and people with gusto, driving many species to extinction and others to the brink.

Death Valley's First Life Came in by Land, Not by Sea
Relying on evidence from Southwestern deserts, a biologist debunks an evolutionary theory that assumes continental sterility for Precambrian life

Worm Lizards: Lifestyles of the Limbless
There have never been enough amphisbaenians on Tet Zoo. In fact, the only time I've written about them at any sort of length is in the 2008 (and 2012) April Fool's article wherein they were convincingly (cough) shown to be the true ancestors of mammals.