Animals

Slaughter Of Yellowstone Bison At The Center Of Culture War

5:38pm April 16, 2017

by Amy Martin

In the same year that Congress voted to make bison the national mammal, Yellowstone National Park had its second largest cull ever — reducing the heard by more than 1,200 animals.

Science

Spider Scientists Find 50 New Species

8:12am April 16, 2017

A team of arachnologists discovered over 50 new species of spider in Cape York, Australia. Dr. Robert Raven is one of them. He tells Lulu Garcia-Navarro about the expedition and their findings.

Dr. Thumbi Mwangi, an infectious disease epidemiologist from Kenya, at Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, on Nov. 29, 2016. In the U.S., Mwangi worked on a vaccine for cows that aimed to combat the same disease he saw the bovine battle in Kenya as a kid.

As A Boy, He Learned About Science By Rubbing Calves' Ears

7:00am April 16, 2017

by Erin Ross

Dr. Thumbi Mwangi had a eureka moment when he began researching a cattle disease in the U.S. The treatment was the same thing his dad the farmer had him do when he was growing up in Kenya.

Young European eels (Anguilla anguilla) are called "glass eels" at that stage because they're transparent except for a dark spine down the middle.

Science

Eels May Use 'Magnetic Maps' As They Slither Across The Ocean

6:09pm April 13, 2017

by Rae Ellen Bichell

Eels sometimes swim thousands of miles from their birthplace in the Atlantic to rivers and lakes where they live. Researchers say the creatures might use the Earth's magnetic field to find their way.

Queue Listen Now

This goat was almost sacrificed, but was rescued at the last minute by an Israeli official.

Religion

Goats Are Rescued On Their Way To Being Sacrificed In Jerusalem

4:06pm April 13, 2017

by Sara Toth Stub

This Passover, some Israeli Jews hoped to perform a ritual (and illegal) sacrifice of goats on the Temple Mount. Then the police stepped in.

This wounded ant (Megaponera analis), with two termites clinging to it, is alive but likely too exhausted after battle to get back to the nest without help.

No Ant Left Behind: Warrior Ants Carry Injured Comrades Home

4:42pm April 12, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Don't call it empathy, scientists say. These termite-eating ants only retrieve injured comrades on the way home from a hunt, not before. But the hurt ants do recover better at home — to fight again.

When it comes to biopesticides, one of the most widely used fungi is Beauveria bassiana. Above, a kudzu bug killed by Beauveria bassiana, seen growing out of the cadaver.

Fungal Pesticides Offer A Growing Alternative To Traditional Chemicals

7:00am April 12, 2017

by Crystal Ponti

The rise of organic produce has sparked a new interest in using biopesticides like fungi to kill insects, instead of traditional synthetic ones. But they are still just a tiny segment of the market.

Honeybees are seen inside a colony at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., in 2007. Maryland lawmakers approved a bill this week permitting beekeepers to shoot black bears that threaten their hives.

Maryland Lawmakers Vote To Allow Beekeepers To Shoot Black Bears That Threaten Hives

7:10pm April 11, 2017

by Laurel Wamsley

Bears have a taste for honey but are really after the bee "brood": eggs, larvae, and pupae — a source of protein and fat. Bee experts note that after a bear attack, a colony is unlikely to survive.

The new report from leading U.S. scientists shines a spotlight on how the research enterprise as a whole creates incentives that can be detrimental to good research.

Top Scientists Revamp Standards To Foster Integrity In Research

4:21pm April 11, 2017

by Richard Harris

The National Academy of Sciences has toughened up its guidelines to call cutting corners, dubious statistics and not fully sharing research methods "detrimental" to science.

An M-44 — also known as a "cyanide bomb" for the way it sprays sodium cyanide — sits nested between two rocks. Mark Mansfield, father of a boy accidentally sprayed March 16 in Idaho, calls these devices used to protect livestock from predators "neithe

After Outcry, USDA Stops Using 'Cyanide Bombs' In Idaho — For Now

2:08pm April 11, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

An M-44 spit sodium cyanide on a boy and his dog in Idaho last month, killing the dog and drawing petitions for removal of the devices. The USDA's Wildlife Services agency has acceded to that request.