Animals

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Look Who's Hanging Out With A Goat! It's Supermodel Chrissy Teigen

3:27pm May 29, 2015

by Jennifer S. Holland

She's not the only example of a cross-species friend. Goats pal around with hippos and giraffes, too. We probe the science of goat behavior to see what makes them such good friends.

Administration Announces Controversial Plan To Protect Sage Grouse

2:59pm May 29, 2015

by Nathan Rott

The Interior Department plans to conserve millions of acres of habitat for the greater sage grouse in 10 states. The move limits areas where petroleum and agriculture development can take place.

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Fish for sale in the fish market in Fraserburgh, Scotland.

World News

Cod Comeback: How The North Sea Fishery Bounced Back From The Brink

9:01pm May 28, 2015

by Ari Shapiro

A decade ago, fishermen trying to catch North Sea cod were coming up empty. Now, thanks to strict fishing rules put in place to halt the decline, this fish tale looks headed for a happy ending.

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Should chimps have the same legal rights as these lawyers? Steven Wise, president of the Nonhuman Rights Foundation, who is representing research chimps Hercules and Leo, says yes. Assistant Attorney General Christopher Coulston disagrees. They both made

National

Research Chimps Get Their Day In Court In New York

4:02pm May 27, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

But neither Hercules nor Leo, who are at the center of a legal battle over whether chimpanzees should have the same legal rights as people, were physically present in the Manhattan courtroom.

One of these things is not like the other: A 3-D printed model of a beige cowbird egg stands out from its robin's egg nest mates, though their shape and heft are similar.

Higher-Tech Fake Eggs Offer Better Clues To Wild-Bird Behavior

8:42pm May 26, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Faux eggs made with 3-D printers are better than sculpted versions, researchers say, because it's easier to systematically vary their size, weight and other features. Next goal: 3-D fragile shells.

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British Cities Act To Protect Ducks With Their Own Lanes

3:47pm May 26, 2015

In London, Manchester and other British cities, those strolling and biking along urban canals have to make way for ducks. White lines mark the new lanes with sprayed on silhouettes of ducks.

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Surfer Alexis Gazzo (left) is helping train specialized lifeguards who will survey the waters around popular beaches in Reunion for sharks. Shark attacks have gone up sharply along the coast of the Indian Ocean island, with seven people killed in recent y

World News

An Island Wonders: Why Are The Sharks Attacking So Often?

2:56pm May 25, 2015

by Emma Jacobs

Since 2011, the Indian Ocean island of Reunion has had 16 shark attacks, seven of them fatal. It's a sharp rise from previous years; Australia is the only country with more deaths during this span.

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Josh Brones walks his hunting dogs, Dollar (from left), Sequoia and Tanner, near his home in Wilton, Calif., in 2012.

Science

Who Let The Dogs In? We Did, About 30,000 Years Ago

7:36pm May 22, 2015

by Scott Neuman

A new study suggests that canis familiaris split from wolves much earlier than the 11,000 to 16,000 years ago that was long assumed.

Plankton collected in the Pacific Ocean with a 0.1mm mesh net. Seen here is a mix of multicellular organisms — small zooplanktonic animals, larvae and single protists (diatoms, dinoflagellates, radiolarians) — the nearly invisible universe at the bott

Revealed: The Ocean's Tiniest Life At The Bottom Of The Food Chain

5:54pm May 22, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

The ocean's tiniest inhabitants — including bacteria, plankton, krill — are food for most everything that swims or floats. Now, scientists have completed a count of this vast and diverse hidden world.

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This fungus among us — baker's yeast, aka Saccharomyces cerevisiae — is useful for more than just making bread.

You And Yeast Have More In Common Than You Might Think

4:02pm May 22, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Genetically, at least, not that much has changed in the billion years since you two last shared a relative. Roughly half the 500 genes yeast need for life are interchangeable with the human versions.

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