By Subject - Biology

  • Ocean fish in hot water
    Ocean fish in hot water

    The ocean’s most valuable fish are caught in a vise. Areas known as dead zones are encroaching on their living zones and pinning them closer to the surface, where they are more vulnerable to becoming the day’s catch. The predicament is yet another side effect of climate change.


    Thursday, January 19th, 2012
  • Dr. Darwin teaches robot!
    Dr. Darwin teaches robot!

    A crash course in “sink or swim” teaches computerized robots to adapt to changing circumstances. When taught by “directed evolution,” robots that started without legs learned to walk sooner than robots that started with legs! Can you explain?


    Thursday, January 5th, 2012
  • Biology: critters that should not exist!
    Biology: critters that should not exist!

    Dive deep, and meet the flashlight squid — with a billion-bacteria light bulb. Meet bacteria that live in boiling water, and the immense variety of weirder-than-weird critters that live between grains of sand. Plus a highly selected bio-freak show…


    Thursday, December 29th, 2011
  • New math mavens = pigeons?
    New math mavens = pigeons?

    Can pigeons learn an abstract mathematical rule? Apparently, according to a new study, which asked pigeons to place, five blue dots and eight green squares, in ascending order. Now we know birds and primates can both do this, but where and why did this ability originate?


    Thursday, December 22nd, 2011
  • Flight without wings
    Flight without wings

    Scientists thought wings were the first evidence of flight. But plenty of falling ants can glide back to “their” tree to avoid being devoured on the forest floor. If an ant’s brain and body are able to detect its position and change its flight path, is gliding the first flight?


    Thursday, December 8th, 2011
  • Brains: Don't mess with stress
    Brain under threat

    In just a moment, our brains can go from calm, deliberate and focused, to alert, agitated and aroused. New neural networks get activated during the transition. Now a study of the fight-or flight-response fingers a common hormone in triggering the brainwide changes.


    Thursday, November 24th, 2011
  • Science Teachers: Hip yourself to a great resource!
    Science Teachers: Hip yourself to a great resource!

    For 15 years, we’ve presented the science behind the news. The Why Files are accurate, engaging, entertaining and educational. Check our links from national science teaching standards to specific Why Files — all 750 of them! Whether it’s geology or archaeology, weather or human behavior, The Why Files has it covered.


    Tuesday, November 8th, 2011
  • Close-up of a little brown songbird with dark grey face and beak; then bearded man talks to the camera
    Cooperation: It’s in the bird’s brain!

    Plain-tailed wrens in the Andean cloud forest sing a complex, two-part song, where timing is everything. New research shows that both parties keep a memory of the full song in their brain, even though they only sing half of it.


    Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
  • A Story of the Bacterium and the Fly
    A Story of the Bacterium and the Fly

    Bacteria can help or harm their hosts. Now we hear how one genus of bacteria can multiply fly reproduction. In this symbiosis, both parties benefit. This bacterium also alters insect immunity, and could lead to new tactics for killing horrific parasites.


    Thursday, October 20th, 2011
  • Genetics of the body snatchers!
    Genetics of the body snatchers!

    athogens can change the behavior of their hosts — and now we see that a single viral gene forces a caterpillar to climb a tree before it dies. From that high vantage, the virus can infect more caterpillars. It’s nifty and thrifty, unless you’re a gypsy moth!


    Thursday, September 8th, 2011


Twitter Facebook Email RSS
Cool Science Images Virtual Science! Paper Bound: Book Reviews

©2012 University of Wisconsin
Board of Regents