This Mushroom Can Fly
Bird’s nest fungi look just like a tiny bird’s nest. But those little eggs have no yolks. Each one is a spore sac waiting for a single raindrop to catapult it on a journey with a layover inside the...
View ArticleWhy Do Snakes Have Forked Tongues?
To us, a snake’s forked tongue evokes danger and deceit. But the tongue’s two sensitive tips, called tines, actually help the snake smell in stereo. That’s bad news if you’re a mouse … TRANSCRIPT It’s...
View ArticleGecko Grip: It’s Atomic (Really)
No suction cups, no Velcro, no glue. Geckos navigate nearly any surface with something far cooler: an electron dance at the atomic scale. TRANSCRIPT You know you’ve dreamed of it – scaling walls with...
View ArticleSpringtails Do Their Own Stunts
Step right up to see tiny springtails spin through the air with the greatest of ease! In ponds and streams, they skyrocket out of the reach of hungry insects like water striders by slapping a tail-like...
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This Snail Goes Fishing With a Net Made of Slime
Go clamber around the tide pools at Asilomar State Beach this summer and you might notice something odd: Some of the rocks look like someone haphazardly glued twisty scraps of old macaroni to them....
View ArticleThis Fly Torpedoes a Bindweed Bee’s Nest
A “bee fly” looks a bit like a bee, but it’s a freeloader that takes advantage of a bindweed turret bee’s hard work. The bees dig underground nests and fill them with pollen they collect in the form of...
View ArticleThis Daring Fly Swims in a Shimmering Bubble Shield
Covered in a shiny bubble, the alkali fly scuba dives into the harsh waters of California’s Mono Lake. Thanks to an abundance of hair and water-repellent wax, this remarkable insect remains dry while...
View ArticleWatch Ladybugs Go From Goth to Glam
Ladybugs may be the cutest insects around, but they don’t start off that way. Also called lady beetles or ladybirds, they pop out of their eggs as prickly mini-monsters with an insatiable hunger for...
View Article‘Don’t Look Up’ Director’s Nonprofit Roasts Stanford for Fossil Fuel Funding
The nonprofit founded by Adam McKay — writer and director of the popular climate film “Don’t Look Up” — has released a video lambasting Stanford University’s new climate school for its stance on...
View ArticleVarroa Mites Are a Honeybee’s 8-Legged Nightmare
Every year, up to half the honeybee colonies in the U.S. die. Varroa mites, the bees’ ghastly parasites, are one of the main culprits. After hitching a ride into a hive, a mite mom hides in a honeycomb...
View ArticleThis Weevil Has Puppet Vibes But Drills Like a Power Tool
This fuzzy acorn weevil can’t crack open acorns like a woodpecker or chomp through them like a squirrel. Instead, she uses her incredibly long snout, called a rostrum, to power-drill through an acorn’s...
View ArticleDog Ticks Are Changing Their Diet. You’re on the Menu
Like its name suggests, the brown dog tick dines on dog blood. But as temperatures rise, they’re more likely to feast on you, too. That’s a problem, because the brown dog tick is a vector for Rocky...
View ArticleMom, Where Do Baby Jellyfish Come From?
When grown-up jellyfish love each other very much, they make huge numbers of teeny-tiny potato-shaped larvae. Those larvae grow into little polyps that cling to rocks and catch prey with their stinging...
View ArticleA Drain Fly’s Happy Place Is Down Your Pipes
Ever wonder how those tiny, jumpy flies got onto your bathroom wall? Well, they came out of your sink drain after growing up down in the pipes. A goofy, long “mustache,” fuzzy wings and some aquabatics...
View ArticleWatch Spawning Corals Synchronize With the Night Sky
When the moon, sun and ocean temperatures all align, an underwater “snowstorm” occurs. Corals put on a massive spawning spectacle by sending tiny white spheres floating up the water column all at once....
View ArticleSharpshooter Insects Are Real Wizzes at Whizzing
Sharpshooters survive by guzzling a lot of plant sap. But drinking all of that liquid nutrition presents a problem for these tiny insects: how do you move it all out? They’ve perfected a...
View ArticleThese Solar-Powered Carnivorous Flatworms Divide and Conquer
Tiny marine flatworms called acoels hunt for prey in coral reefs. They’re referred to as “plant-animals” because they’ve got a partnership with photosynthetic algae that live inside of them. But this...
View ArticleWatch Ferns Get Freaky
Look at the underside of a fern leaf. Those rows of orange clusters aren’t tiny insects; they’re spores waiting to be catapulted away. Once a spore lands, it grows into a tiny plant, from which fern...
View ArticleMeet the Bug You Didn’t Know You Were Eating
The cochineal is a tiny insect deeply rooted in the history of Oaxaca, Mexico. Female cochineals spend most of their lives with their heads buried in juicy cactus pads, eating and growing. After...
View ArticleStingless Bees Guard Tasty Honey With Barricades, Bouncers and Bites
The honeybee that sweetened your tea isn’t the only kind of bee that makes the sweet stuff. More than 600 bee species across Mexico, Central and South America and tropical regions worldwide do too....
View ArticleThese Baby Starfish Are Carnivorous Little Snowflakes
Six-rayed sea stars make great moms! Unlike most sea stars, mama six-rayed sea stars are VERY involved in their kids’ lives, caressing and protecting their babies for months. When they’re big enough,...
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Tar Pits Are a Death Trap. Except for This Fly.
Within the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles, not far from West Hollywood and Beverly Hills, paleontologists are hard at work sorting through one of the richest collections of ice age fossils in the...
View ArticleHow Salamanders Skydive From the Tallest Trees in the World
When a hungry bird comes near them, wandering salamanders can jump off the tallest trees in the world, California’s coast redwoods, skydiving to a safe branch. Researchers decided to put them in a...
View ArticleCockroach vs. Hydraulic Press: Who Wins?
Do cockroaches — those daring, disgusting disease vectors — have anything at all to offer us? Scientists think so. They compressed American roaches with a hydraulic press, subjecting them to the force...
View ArticleFly Metamorphosis is a Beautiful Nightmare
Like the beloved butterfly, a house fly goes through an incredible metamorphosis. To make its grand entry into the world, it deploys a specialized, fluid-filled balloon on its head called the ptilinum...
View ArticleThis Mite-y Beetle Buries the Dead to Start a Family
Insects called burying beetles haul mouse carcasses down into the dirt and prep them to feed their future offspring. Also known as carrion beetles, they have some stiff competition … and some help from...
View Article5 Creepy Creatures Out to Suck Your Blood
Chances are you’ve got one of these bloodsuckers lurking nearby. Mosquitoes, ticks, lice, kissing bugs and tsetse flies are all looking to grab a bite … of you. See exactly how they do it and what you...
View ArticleWhy Do Sunflowers Face the Sunrise?
To bring all the bees to the yard! These pollinators love warm, bright blooms early in the morning. But how did these plants end up facing east? It turns out they spend their whole life getting in just...
View ArticleThese Bees Hustle to Put Food on the Table
You know honeybees make honey, but did you know they make bread too? And four other types of bees are also dedicated chefs! Alfalfa leafcutting bees take a punch from a flower for your ice cream. Blue...
View ArticleLacewing Love Is Noisier Than You Think
Lacewings have babies that are prized as pest control. But before they can mate, they have to vibrate their bodies and sing to each other, making noises like purring cats or growling stomachs....
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