Tuesday, 22 May, 2012

Most adhesives can’t be reused. But a radical new design, based on the foot of frogs, lizards and insects, shows how engineers can learn from nature to make smarter materials.

Using a chemical reaction that changes color when specific chemicals are present, a new “dipstick” may detect spoilage better than the human nose.

In 1997, Dolly was BIG NEWS. What did Dolly teach? Why did cloning attract so many oddballs, and what is the status of reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning? The Why Files honors Dolly with a 10-year lookback.

New study shows how they stay aloft, turn on a dime. Freeze-frame pix of bats flying show unexpectedly complex flight patterns. Meet evolution’s second answer to the problem of vertebrate flight.

The Argentine ant invaded California 100 years ago, forming “super-colonies” that stretch hundreds of miles. Most ants attack nearby nests. Why have Argentine ants declared peace with neighbors?

Surprise: Crabs prefer fish fresh, just like you and me! Study shows that odor of rotten fish repels stone crabs; shows evolutionary reason why decay organisms make foul stench.

After boy and girl mosquitoes meet, they synchronize their wingbeats. What does this tell us about how insects use sound?

Evolution favors tiny sperm, which boost a guys chance of fertilizing an egg. So why do some fruit flies make giant sperm?

Did red rain in India carry alien bacteria? One Indian scientist thinks so. Others say it was just spores of a common alga. Pay your money, take your choice!

Toxins: They’re the most lethal molecules. Why would algae, bacteria, snakes and scorpions make these killing proteins? How does a staph bacteria benefit by killing you? How does medicine use toxins?