Biology – Page 42 – Esoteric news

April 7, 2016

Meet the Itsy-Bitsy Spider With a Bear Trap for a Mouth

Trap-jaw spiders are positively tiny, but sport enormous jaws that snap shut like a bear trap in just half a millisecond. The post Meet the Itsy-Bitsy Spider With a Bear Trap for a Mouth appeared first on WIRED.

April 6, 2016

Bawean warty pig may be world’s rarest pig, with only 230 around

The pig, from a tiny Indonesian island, seems to be a species in its own right and merits protection, says first study of the animal's ecology in the wild

April 4, 2016

Absurd Creatures: The Fennec Fox Is So Cute I Think I Might Literally Die

The fennec fox is here to make you forget about all your troubles. Just look at this thing. The post Absurd Creatures: The Fennec Fox Is So Cute I Think I Might Literally Die appeared first on WIRED.

April 4, 2016

The Future of Wildlife Conservation Is … an Electronic Vulture Egg

Fancy new sensors can upend the way conservationists do their research, as long as the lights and clicks and whirs don't spook the animals away. The post The Future of Wildlife Conservation Is ... an Electronic Vulture Egg appeared first on WIRED.

April 1, 2016

Big Question: Why Does Scratching Make You Itch More?

Physical itchiness—whether it's from a wool sweater, a mosquito bite, or poison oak—is usually only temporary. But sometimes that goes horribly wrong. The post Big Question: Why Does Scratching Make You Itch More? appeared first on WIRED.

March 30, 2016

Giving mosquitoes chemical weapons helps keep them under control

Releasing males armed with chemical or biological payloads could greatly boost the effectiveness of an eco-friendly method of pest control

March 29, 2016

Eyeless cave shrimp senses light and can live frozen in ice

The tiny crustacean's superpowers include "seeing" even though it's got no eyes, and living on even after being frozen alive in its icy cave habitat

March 26, 2016

The Mystery of the Minimal Cell, Craig Venter’s New Synthetic Life Form

Scientists have created a synthetic organism that possesses only the genes it needs to survive. But they have no idea what roughly a third of those genes do. The post The Mystery of the Minimal Cell, Craig Venter's New Synthetic Life Form appeared first on WIRED.

March 25, 2016

Absurd Creatures: The Mystery of the Tiniest, Best-Dressed Seahorse in the Sea

The pygmy seahorse hasn't met a coral it couldn't blend into. The post Absurd Creatures: The Mystery of the Tiniest, Best-Dressed Seahorse in the Sea appeared first on WIRED.

March 24, 2016

Artificial cell designed in lab reveals genes essential to life

Bacteria created in Craig Venter's lab breaks record for smallest genome and could help reveal secrets of life