By Science News | Elie Dolgin | 2/13/2025 11:30 AM
Six zebras wore video cameras attached to collars, capturing the equines’ daily life. Sticking with giraffes may let the two species protect each other. ... Read full Story
Human-made structures act as artificial reefs, luring plankton and, in turn, Earth’s largest fish. That could put whale sharks at risk of ship strikes. ... Read full Story
The main component of common cuttlefish ink — melanin — strongly sticks to shark smell sensors, possibly explaining why the predators avoid ink. ... Read full Story
A snapshot of blacktip reef sharks hunting hardyhead silverside fish won the 2024 Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition. ... Read full Story
While the risk to humans of exposure from cows or milk remains low, this new flu spillover from birds into cows raises the need for continued surveillance. ... Read full Story
A mantis shrimp's punch creates high-energy waves. Its exoskeleton is designed to absorb that energy, preventing cracking and tissue damage. ... Read full Story
DNA analysis reveals the big, flightless moa birds ate — and pooped out — 13 kinds of fungi, including ones crucial for New Zealand’s forest ecosystem. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Amanda Heidt | 2/5/2025 10:00 AM
President Trump has already begun to introduce changes that weaken the Endangered Species Act, a cornerstone of U.S. conservation law. ... Read full Story
Riley Black’s new book, When the Earth was Green, uses the latest research to envision the ancient worlds of our favorite prehistoric animals. ... Read full Story
Well, rats. A study of 16 cities shows that higher ambient temperatures and loss of green space are associated with increasing rodent complaints. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Jake Buehler | 1/30/2025 10:45 AM
Many blacktip reef sharks in French Polynesia are commonly fed by tourists. But the low-quality diet is changing the sharks’ behavior and physiology. ... Read full Story
Found in a roughly 350-year-old manuscript by Dutch biologist Johannes Swammerdam, the scientific illustration shows the brain of a honeybee drone. ... Read full Story
Bats may broadcast their personalities to others from a distance, new experiments suggest, which could play into social dynamics within a colony. ... Read full Story
Mapping fish migration routes and identifying threats is crucial to protecting freshwater species and their habitats, ecologists argue. ... Read full Story
Cricket frogs were once thought to hop on the water’s surface. They actually leap in and out of the water in a form of locomotion called porpoising. ... Read full Story
When sick, Nile tilapia seek warmer water. That behavioral fever triggers a specialized immune response, hinting the connection evolved long ago. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Susan Milius | 1/23/2025 9:00 AM
Genetic analyses have solved the riddle of where a marsupial mole fits on the tree of life: It’s a cousin to bilbies, bandicoots and Tasmanian devils. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Gennaro Tomma | 1/20/2025 11:00 AM
The first study of copycat urination in an animal documents how one chimpanzee peeing prompts others to follow suit. Now researchers are exploring why. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 1, 2025 is:
cynosure \SYE-nuh-shur\ noun
A cynosure is a person or thing that attracts a lot of attention or interest. As a proper noun, Cynosure may refer to the North Star or its constellation Ursa Minor.
// He was the cynosure of all eyes as he walked into the room.
"Look at any picture of Kashmir and you'll understand why it is called heaven on earth. And Srinagar, framed by the majestic Zabarwan Mountains, is the cynosure of all travel itineraries, offering a mix of breathtaking landscapes, rich culture, and spirituality." — Mallika Bhagat, Times Now (Mumbai, India), 17 Dec. 2024
Did you know?
Ancient mariners noted that all the stars in the heavens seemed to revolve around a particular star, and they relied on that star to guide their navigation. The constellation that this bright star appears in is known to English speakers today as Ursa Minor, or the Little Dipper, but the Ancient Greeks called it Kynósoura, a term that comes from a phrase meaning "dog's tail." Kynósoura passed into Latin and Middle French, becoming cynosure. When English speakers adopted the term in the 16th century, they used it as a name for both the constellation and the star (which is also known as the North Star or Polaris) and also to identify a guide of any kind. By the 17th century, cynosure was also being used figuratively for anything or anyone that, like the North Star, is the focus of attention or observation.