Animals

Having a Dog May Mean Having Extra Microbes

2:57pm May 24, 2013

North Carolina State University biologist Rob Dunn and colleagues surveyed people's pillow cases, refrigerators, toilet seats, TV screens and other household spots, to learn about the microbes that dwell in our homes. Among the findings, reported in the journal PLoS One, homes with dogs had more diverse bacterial communities, and higher numbers of "dog-associated" bacteria.

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'Crazy Ants' Spreading In The Southeastern US

1:01pm May 24, 2013

In parts of the southeastern US, aggressive fire ants have been driven out by an even more recent arrival, the tawny crazy ant. Edward LeBrun, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, describes the newcomers and how one invasive species can out-invade another.

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'Morning Edition' Listeners Get Their Feathers In A Bunch

9:29am May 22, 2013

On the show Tuesday, we told you about some scientists in Canada whose research crops were destroyed by "Canadian geese." Listeners said we got the name wrong and they explained why.

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Climate Change Takes Flight in New Novel

3:11pm May 21, 2013

Writer Barbara Kingsolver is one of a handful of novelists with a science background, and she puts it to use in her new novel Flight Behavior. Kingsolver discusses the book and why she chose to look at the the issue of climate change in a fictional work set in rural Tennessee. This interview was originally broadcast on November 9, 2012.

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Insects May Be The Taste Of The Next Generation, Report Says

11:23am May 17, 2013

A report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says insects offer a huge potential for improving the world's food security. Peter Menzel, co-author of Man Eating Bugs, describes some insect-based cuisine and the western aversion to creepy-crawly snacks.

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Crew members unload a catch of sockeye salmon at Craig, Alaska, in 2005. Researchers say fish are being found in new areas because of changing ocean temperatures.

Go Fish (Somewhere Else): Warming Oceans Are Altering Catches

7:39pm May 15, 2013

by Richard Harris

Fish are moving away from the equator and toward the poles to maintain their preferred water temperature. That means, for example, that fishermen are seeing swordfish normally found in the Mediterranean swimming near Denmark. But in the tropics, there are no fish to replace the ones that are leaving.

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Mike Watson (left), CEO of Kenya's Lewa Conservancy, and conservationist Ian Craig identify the carcass of a 4-year-old black rhino named Arthur, whom poachers had killed the night before. The well-armed, well-informed poachers very likely used night visi

The Enemy Inside: Rhino's Protectors Sometimes Aid Poachers

8:19pm May 14, 2013

by Gregory Warner

The defenders of Africa's rhinos are battling a well-financed and well-informed enemy. Poachers clear $40,000 or more for a single rhino horn. They have cash for the latest weaponry and to pay for inside information from some of the very people whose job it is to protect the rhinos.

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A Vietnamese rhino horn user displays her horn, which was a gift from her well-to-do sister. Last year, rhino horn sold for up to $1,400 an ounce in Vietnam, about the price of gold these days.

Vietnam's Appetite For Rhino Horn Drives Poaching In Africa

5:42pm May 14, 2013

by Frank Langfitt

Demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is fueling a slaughter of the animals in Africa. In Vietnam, the sought-after commodity is fetching prices as high as $1,400 an ounce, or about the price of gold. There, some believe ground horn can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.

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The Plymouth County Beekeepers Association distributed more than 500 crates of honeybees this spring.

For Year-Round Buzz, Beekeepers 'Fast-Forward Darwinism'

6:51pm May 12, 2013

by Katherine Perry

Honeybees are in trouble across the U.S., but one association in Massachusetts is hoping to boost the population in its own area. The bees it currently uses have a hard time surviving the winter and battling other foes that have been killing bees nationwide. So beekeepers in Plympton decided to breed their own.

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A bee inspector checks on a frame of bees to assess the colony strength near Turlock, Calif., in February. More than 30 percent of America's bee colonies died off over the winter.

Bee Deaths May Have Reached A Crisis Point For Crops

10:56pm May 07, 2013

by Dan Charles

The number of honeybees has now dwindled to the point where there may not be enough to pollinate some major U.S. crops, including almonds, blueberries and apples. And this year brought farmers closer than ever to a true pollination crisis.

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