To Study Today’s Ecosystems, Look to History
An unlikely source of data about the decline of trout in modern Spain: a book from the 1850s.
The Little Plankton That Could
Arguably the world's most abundant animal, calanoid copepods can leap like whoa Nelly. And check out their enigmatic embryos!
Black Conquistadors and Black Maroons
Some formerly enslaved Blacks and freedmen accompanied the Spanish invaders; others formed their own communities.
Darwin in Love
Charles Darwin, who of all people should have known better, married his first cousin. Did his love for Emma color his later works?
Take These Teenage Dinosaurs Seriously!
Paleontologists recently solved the riddle of whether two fossil specimens were young T. rexes or a whole different species.
The Science of Baby-Name Trends
What makes a name suddenly pop—and then die? Social scientists and historians have been puzzling over this for decades.
Where the Small Fish Clean the Bigger Ones
A "cleaner station" is a sort of undersea business, a place where large, often predatory, fish go to have parasites removed.
Richard Prum: How Does Beauty Evolve?
Prum speaks on Darwin’s idea of sexual selection, the importance of arbitrary traits, and why he could never choose a favorite species of bird.
The Biology of Death-Feigning
Some animals, when faced with predators, play dead instead of trying to escape. But for death-feigning to work, a lot of things have to go well.