Wednesday, 8 February, 2012

Imitation is a social glue in human society. We like people who imitate us. We call them friend. We will even tip them better! A new study finds similar responses in monkeys…

The struggle between predator and prey never ends. Bats invented sonar, and now some moths are fighting back. Check out the Why Files acoustic-organic warfare, airborne edition.

A new study finds a surprising number of fish, birds and mammals in the oceans 100 and 1,000 years ago. Can this information help regulators slow the decline of important marine animals?

The feds put out a massive report on American birds, and the #1 source of data is – amateurs! What is the role of amateurs in ornithology? Hint: if you want to survey 800 species on 3.5 million square miles…

We explore the sad saga of pet primates. Are these pets psychologically good for us? For them? Are humans and other primates trading diseases at home, and in the wild?

Locusts live a solitary life — until their bodies suddenly change, and they swarm into clouds of destructive insects. A new study fingers the trigger for this transformation.

Three giant new reserves, extend 50 miles out from shore, will protect coral reefs, fish, clams, and other life forms. But how effective are marine protected areas?

Did the arrival of 4,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons of space junk start the formation of organic molecules roughly 4 billion years ago? “Could be,” says a new study from Japan…

Specialization may work in factories, but it does not make ant colonies more efficient. As the conventional wisdom about social insects goes topsy-turvy, what’s an ecologist to think?

The color, vision and genetics of an African fish all vary depending on the clarity of its home waters. A new study suggests how species can form without geographic barriers.