Friday, 25 May, 2012

How do homing pigeons find their way on their amazing migrations? For a decade, scientists thought iron-bearing nerve cells in the beak can detect Earth’s magnetic field. But those iron granules are in immune cells. So how do the birds do it?

As colony collapse disorder continues to attack honeybee hives, a new study shows that a common insecticide interferes with their return flights. Although the disorder probably has many causes, agricultural chemicals have long been key suspects, and this study adds to the suspicion!

As Asian carp approach the Great Lakes, ecologists seek to forestall a devastating invasion. Electric fish barriers on Chicago’s canals — built to dump wastewater into the Mississippi — are blocking carp from reaching Lake Michigan. Many scientists prefer closing the canals, but the shipping industry objects. Who’s right?

Returning to the site of a classic “first forest” site, New York scientists have found extra complexity: three fossilized trees-like species aged almost 400 million years. One find, a vine-like monster, may be a direct descendant of all seed-bearing trees!

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.

Lake Vostok could house ancient bacteria, but we already know that bacteria can live in boiling water or light up a glowing squid. Countless weird-and-weirdest critters live between grains of sand… Curious about biology’s strange shelf?

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?

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?

Amphibians are disappearing faster than any other animals. A new study looks at the effects of changes in climate, land use and disease. The picture isn’t pretty, but looking at three threats at once shows the true danger facing frogs, toads, salamanders and their relatives.

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.