Killer rat daubs fur with poison-arrow plant toxins. Title says it all. Gives the term "rat poison" a whole new meaning ...
natur
Journey North: Monarch Butterfly - what actually happens in the pupa from which an insect emerges? Was a question that always fascinated me as a child - the caterpillar digests itself and forms the nutrient solution for the formation of the butterfly from individual cells.
Honeybees Might Have Emotions | Wired Science. Pessimistic bee is pessimistic!
The Ark In Space: Manul – the Cat that Time Forgot. An early type of cat, essentially unchanged for millions of years. So something like a living fossil in plush.
Computer Science and Biology Come Together to Make Tree Identification a Snap. For those who don't know what kind of tree is in their garden, or who, when they finally see the tree for the forest, want to know what they ran into.
Today I learned that there are two-legged skinks (which are actually legless reptiles) that use their front feet as shovels like a mole: HandwĂĽhlen. Just when you think nature is already weird enough, you learn a new curiosity.
Bizarre sea slug is half plant, half animal. Nature just keeps building the strangest creatures.
Mono Lake bacteria build their DNA using arsenic (and no, this isn’t about aliens) | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine. A bit more info about our arsenic-loving newcomers. They are simply another type of extremophile, although with a truly impressive trick.
NASA’s real news: bacterium on Earth that lives off arsenic! | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine. Yo man. I welcome our arsenic-loving overlords. Or so. Life based on other building blocks is thus much more likely out there.
The surreal treehoppers « Why Evolution Is True. Insects. Very strange. Extremely strange.
BBC - Earth News - Attack of the rats. Why every 50 years in India giant hordes of rats destroy the harvest. All because of the biological clock of bamboo. Fascinating.
5 Animals That Can Do Amazing Things ... With Their Penises | Cracked.com - what evolution comes up with to ensure the survival of a species ...
collision detection: Molecular secrets of the "iron-plated snail" - iron-plated snails that live in hydrothermal vents 3 kilometers below the ocean surface. Steampunk snails?
Scientists discover gene that 'cancer-proofs' rodent's cells - presumably p16 not only makes you safe from cancer, but also causes hair loss and ugly long front teeth ...
Spiders that don't like meat - the spiders, the vegetarians. Or so.
Pick up a penguin - penguins are freaks!
Weird New Ghostshark Found; Male Has Sex Organ on Head - sounds like a headline from the Bild newspaper, but is actually just a very strange fish from an equally strange group of fish species.
The Oarfish - A Creature Of Legend - wow. I didn't know that one yet.
Dark Roasted Blend: Weird "Walking" Frogfish - evolution had clearly had one too many.
EU allows Bayer to import genetically modified soybeans - great, they can't be grown, but of course the stuff can be used as food. What nonsense ...
Algorithmic Botany: Publications - "The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants" as download!
Questionable Risk Assessment: Is Genetically Modified Feed Dangerous? - "So everything is fine with green genetic engineering? Not at all. Because the safety tests of genetically modified plants are paid for by the very companies that want to make money with genetically modified plants. Is objective risk assessment possible in this way? A rascal who thinks evil of it ..." (it's old and possibly I already had it, but because I just searched for it ...)
Nudibranchs - no, not that kind of nude photos you perverts. Sea slugs. Colorful.
Thompson Rivers University Owlcam - yes, an owl camera. A Bubo Virginianus nest, to be precise.
Caecilian - Freakshow Natur ...
The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan - "The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup. It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States."
Elephants Evolve Smaller Tusks Due to Poaching - "The largest male African elephants have the largest tusks. These tusks are extremely important in elephant behavior, with the largest tusks usually resulting in more successful intimidation of smaller males or winning fights for female elephants. But when the largest animals are killed, it changes the breeding patterns of the animals. In short, without the largest males for competition, the smaller males with their smaller tusks will breed more successfully, and their offspring will have smaller tusks." (ja, die Galapagos Finken waren wohl eher, aber Elefanten sind auffälliger ... )
The Unburdened Mind - "The majority of these individuals are not violent criminals; indeed, those that turn to crime are generally considered “unsuccessful psychopaths” due to their failure to blend into society. Those who do succeed can do so spectacularly. For instance, while it may sound like a cynical joke, it’s a fact that psychopaths have a clear advantage in fields such as law, business, and politics." - der Psychopath als evolutionäre Entwicklungsnische in der Zivilisation.
The Terrifying Toothpick Fish - ugh. There are things you really don't want to know. Ewww.
real-time GPS shark hunting - funny idea, in which a player takes on the role of a researcher and studies sharks. The player moves research ships, which are real sharks with GPS transmitters, whose signals are incorporated into the online game accordingly.
…free your imagination… - a website that reports on newly discovered species.
Giant hogweed is being combated - "Giant hogweed, also known as Hercules' club, is poisonous and can cause second-degree burns. That's why road maintenance workers in NRW will be clearing the slopes of this plant in the coming weeks." - one could wonderfully make a bad science fiction out of this news ...
Pistol Shrimp - wow. 100km/h fast water, at 5000°C temperature (for a brief moment).
Our oceans are turning into plastic...are we? - how plastic waste accumulates in the ocean and enters the food chain (and thus onto our plates) via fish. More plastic than plankton - shocking.
Administrative Court: Honey must be protected from GM maize pollen - a small victory that hopefully won't be undone in higher instances (yes, sometimes I'm a hopeless optimist and dreamer).
NPR : Giant Bats Snatch Birds from Night Sky - Killer bat attack.
Just How Smart Are Ravens? - about the intelligence of ravens.
Build Me A Tapeworm - everything you never wanted to know about tapeworms.
World's smallest fish title in dispute, new marine species is 20% smaller - parasitär lebende Männchen, die sich für den Rest ihres Lebens am Weibchen festbeißen und nur aus Hoden bestehen. Äh ...
Vampire sea spiders suck on prey - Deep-sea monster spiders.
Blue People of Kentucky - strange ...
Brown bear Bruno killed by hunters - the problem bear just didn't want to respect the no-go areas ...
Major setback for anti-whaling activists - in the name of commerce and idiocy, we simply kill all the whales. What madness ...
Yummy mummy feeds young its skin - an amphibian. Looks like an earthworm. Lays eggs. And feeds the young with its own skin. Strange Nature ...
