Ecology & Zoology

Molluscs May Provide Chemical Reproduction Insight Beyond Endocrine Disruptor Hype

A new test with molluscs- freshwater mudsnails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum)- may enable manufacturers of chemicals and drugs to check their products for harmful effects on reproduction, and avoid the hype and scaremongering of environmental groups.  ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 16 2016 - 7:01am

Convergent Evolution: Why Some Plants Became Carnivorous

In Insectivorous Plants, Sir Charles Darwin pondered carnivorous plants. They live in habitats poor in nutrients, mostly on nitrogen and phosphorous, and have compensated this lack with the ability to digest animals such as insects and other arthropods. Ad ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 6 2017 - 1:38pm

No Hummingbird Collapse; They're In A Boom

Its not a great idea to use surveys, but sometimes those are all we have. After environmental groups drummed up publicity about a colony collapse disorder in honeybees, for example, concerned amateurs began taking up beekeeping. Since nature is not a perfe ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 8 2017 - 7:36am

When It Comes To Bees, NYT Has A Fake News Blindspot

The line between deliberately manipulating a story and poorly reporting the facts is perilously thin. During Sunday’s Oscars, what is colloquially called the United States’ ‘paper of record’, the New York Times, launched an advertising blitz positioning i ...

Article - Jon Entine - Mar 1 2017 - 4:31pm

Fighting The Yellow Dragon – The War To Save Florida Citrus

This is the first of a series of articles on Huanglongbing (Citrus Greening Disease) that is devastating Florida. Subsequent articles will explore its causes, effects and potential cures.   ...

Article - Kevin M. Folta - Mar 7 2017 - 6:37pm

When Fathers Are Involved, Parental Care Gets A Lot More Elaborate

Let's be honest, most human dads do less work raising the kids than human moms. That's not true in all species, though. In a few, fathers care for their developing embryos more than mothers, and biologists speculated that this paternal devotion h ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 1 2017 - 9:31am

Bee Experts Challenge Environmental Claim That Wild Bees Are Near Extinction

Colony Collapse Disorder, the belief that honeybees, an important pollinator, are being killed off in droves, has been good for environmental fundraising but hasn't had a scientific foundation. Nonetheless, it has persisted for 10 years despite data s ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Apr 5 2017 - 2:39pm

Kuphus Polythalamia: Giant Sulfur-Powered Shipworm Is The Stuff Of Science Fiction

A newly named species, a giant, black, mud dwelling, worm-like animal, doesn't seem to eat much, instead it gets its energy from a form of sulfur.  The public is often confused what 'discovery' means in science. It means it is being identifi ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 17 2017 - 3:16pm

Ravens Plan Ahead

In early times, a raven could be a bad omen, and a new study finds that ancient people were not wrong in thinking the raven might be planning on using a negative event to full advantage. It turns out, according to the paper, they plan ahead, just like huma ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 15 2017 - 10:31am

The Myth Of The “Bee-pocalypse”

Should we ban cars because of their potential to crash? Or stop selling painkillers in case someone takes too many? If we take the logic the EU applies to regulating pesticides, then the answer should be a resounding “yes”. Thankfully, EU lawmakers have lo ...

Article - Howard Minigh - Aug 30 2017 - 3:34pm