Any scientist will tell you that sperm whales are long-lived, highly intelligent, and super social animals.But at the same time, a conundrum has plagued those who have spent decades listening in on the cetaceans’ conversations. For animals that clearly lead complex lives, they sure don’t seem to have very much to say.“If you were to listen to the sounds of sperm whales, or even plot them, like how they're traditionally plotted, it could look like the whales just make the same sounds over and over again,” says Pratyusha Sharma, a Ph.D. student at the Computer Science and Artificial...…Any scientist will tell you that sperm whales are long-lived, highly intelligent, and super social animals.But at the same time, a conundrum has plagued those who have spent decades listening in on the cetaceans’ conversations. For animals that clearly lead complex lives, they sure don’t seem to have very much to say.“If you were to listen to the sounds of sperm whales, or even plot them, like how they're traditionally plotted, it could look like the whales just make the same sounds over and over again,” says Pratyusha Sharma, a Ph.D. student at the Computer Science and Artificial...WW…

Sometimes, conducting research means trekking to remote locales, braving wild beasts, and surviving treacherous weather. Other times, you may find yourself gently combing the fur of several hundred dead skunks. “The things you do for science, right?” laughs Ted Stankowich, an evolutionary behavioral ecologist at California State University, Long Beach. Stankowich studies aposematism, or warning colorations, like the bright colors that adorn coral snakes and poison dart frogs. Striped skunks, native to much of North America, sport some of the most recognizable colorations on the planet, with...…Sometimes, conducting research means trekking to remote locales, braving wild beasts, and surviving treacherous weather. Other times, you may find yourself gently combing the fur of several hundred dead skunks. “The things you do for science, right?” laughs Ted Stankowich, an evolutionary behavioral ecologist at California State University, Long Beach. Stankowich studies aposematism, or warning colorations, like the bright colors that adorn coral snakes and poison dart frogs. Striped skunks, native to much of North America, sport some of the most recognizable colorations on the planet, with...WW…

Data showing the migratory monarch's decline were too precautionary, prompting the IUCN to change its status from endangered to vulnerable. Just last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the migratory monarch butterfly endangered, a decision that made headlines around the world. On September 27, with little fanfare, the organization downlisted the subspecies as vulnerable to extinction, a level lower on the risk-rating system. The reason? Models showing the insect’s demise were likely too cautious, and its numbers are falling more slowly than thought, according...…Data showing the migratory monarch's decline were too precautionary, prompting the IUCN to change its status from endangered to vulnerable. Just last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the migratory monarch butterfly endangered, a decision that made headlines around the world. On September 27, with little fanfare, the organization downlisted the subspecies as vulnerable to extinction, a level lower on the risk-rating system. The reason? Models showing the insect’s demise were likely too cautious, and its numbers are falling more slowly than thought, according...WW…

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.In the children’s story Alice in Wonderland, a character known simply as the keeps dozing off during the Mad Hatter’s tea party, waking occasionally to utter a nonsensical remark.As it turns out, this sleepy-headed depiction is dead-on: The 28 species of small, little-known, tree-dwelling rodents known as dormice do snooze most of the day. (These fuzzy-tailed floofs—which range throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa—are even known to .)“It’s a really lazy animal,” says , senior ecologist at ’s . The park is home to the edible...…Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.In the children’s story Alice in Wonderland, a character known simply as the keeps dozing off during the Mad Hatter’s tea party, waking occasionally to utter a nonsensical remark.As it turns out, this sleepy-headed depiction is dead-on: The 28 species of small, little-known, tree-dwelling rodents known as dormice do snooze most of the day. (These fuzzy-tailed floofs—which range throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa—are even known to .)“It’s a really lazy animal,” says , senior ecologist at ’s . The park is home to the edible...WW…

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateScientists are going to attempt something in the next few weeks that no one has ever done. They're going to fly a helicopter on Mars.The robotic aircraft is named Ingenuity, and its core is about the size of a softball. For the past seven months, the device has been rocketing toward the Red Planet inside a rover called Perseverance. After traveling at nearly 25,000 miles per hour, they are scheduled to touch down on Martian soil Thursday. (Get updates at mars.nasa.gov/mars2020.)NASA has been exploring the surface of Mars with...…This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateScientists are going to attempt something in the next few weeks that no one has ever done. They're going to fly a helicopter on Mars.The robotic aircraft is named Ingenuity, and its core is about the size of a softball. For the past seven months, the device has been rocketing toward the Red Planet inside a rover called Perseverance. After traveling at nearly 25,000 miles per hour, they are scheduled to touch down on Martian soil Thursday. (Get updates at mars.nasa.gov/mars2020.)NASA has been exploring the surface of Mars with...WW…

October 9, 2020Researchers with a team monitoring bird populations at Powdermill NatureReserve, in Rector, Pennsylvania, netted a surprise on September 24: arose-breasted grosbeak with bizarre coloring. It had the bright scarletfeathers of a male grosbeak on one side of its body and the canary yellowplumage of a female on the other.When they saw the robin-size songbird’s split coloring, it was immediatelyclear that the grosbeak was what scientists call a bilateral gynandromorph—ananimal that appears half male and half female.“There was no question about it,” says ,bird banding program...…October 9, 2020Researchers with a team monitoring bird populations at Powdermill NatureReserve, in Rector, Pennsylvania, netted a surprise on September 24: arose-breasted grosbeak with bizarre coloring. It had the bright scarletfeathers of a male grosbeak on one side of its body and the canary yellowplumage of a female on the other.When they saw the robin-size songbird’s split coloring, it was immediatelyclear that the grosbeak was what scientists call a bilateral gynandromorph—ananimal that appears half male and half female.“There was no question about it,” says ,bird banding program...WW…