Animals

  1. Health & Medicine

    Doctors found a snake parasite in a woman’s brain — still alive

    This worm typically infects pythons. Though this is its first known infection in humans, other types of worms also can infect the human brain.

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  2. Animals

    Scientists Say: Vertebrate

    Animals with spines, or vertebrates, come in all shapes and sizes.

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  3. Animals

    Let’s learn about vampire bats

    Vampire bats rarely bite people, instead preferring to feed on animals like cows and horses.

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  4. Animals

    Adult corals have been frozen and revived for the first time

    Living corals could be frozen for safekeeping. Scientists could later revive them to restore reef ecosystems that are withering in warming seas.

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  5. Animals

    Where does Godzilla get his atomic breath?

    Some secrets of the kaiju’s atomic breath can be explained with creative applications of physics and biology.

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  6. Physics

    ‘Feathering’ helps explain Gentoos’ record-breaking swim speed

    Videos and computer analyses reveal the secrets of the penguins’ superspeed. The results could inspire future underwater vehicles.

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  7. Animals

    This massive ancient whale may be the heaviest animal ever known

    Called Perucetus colossus, it may have tipped the scales at up to 340 metric tons — more than today’s blue whales.

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  8. Animals

    This egg-eater may have the biggest gulp of any snake its size

    Slither aside, Burmese pythons. This little African snake has a truly outsized swallow.

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  9. Brain

    A rat’s playfulness relies on cells in one part of its brain

    Certain cells here control its behavior. Studying this circuitry could also help us understand depression in people.

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  10. Animals

    A new technique creates glowing whole-body maps of mice

    Removing cholesterol from mouse bodies lets fluorescent proteins seep into every tissue. That has helped researchers map entire body parts.

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  11. Animals

    Toothed whales use their noses to whistle and click

    Much as people do, toothed whales, such as dolphins and sperm whales, make noises in three different vocal registers.

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  12. Agriculture

    Cow dung spews a climate-warming gas. Adding algae could limit that

    But how useful this is depends on whether cows eat the red algae, a type of seaweed — or it gets added to their wastes after they’re pooped out.

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