One of the workhorses of in any biology lab is Caenorhabditis elegans or nematode worm just 1mm long. Biologist regularly use C. elegans to gain insight into topics ranging from embryonic development and aging to genetics and neurobiology. In 1986, C. elegans became the first to have its entire nervous system mapped out. This creature, it turns out, contains just 302 neurons with 7000 synaptic connections between them, the fewest of any animal. Scientists hoped that such a map — a connectome � ...read more

Long before the Ancient Egyptians walked the Earth and the great pyramids were constructed, something else inhabited what is now Egypt. Some 41 million years ago, Egypt's desert was covered by an ancient sea and was once home to the now-extinct whale species, Tutcetus rayanensis.According to a recent study published in Communications Biology, the newly discovered T. rayanensis is the smallest basilosaurid whale species known to date, and one of the oldest specimens of the whale family fou ...read more

The Atlantic hurricane season could be busier than normal, with as many as 11 hurricanes, five of which could be major storms. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting this busy hurricane season with 70 percent confidence.NOAA’s forecast might have residents on the Atlantic or Gulf coasts thinking this is the year to invest in storm shutters or thicker garage doors.Hurricanes, however, aren’t new, and people have been coping with these fierce storms for thou ...read more

If you hang around on the right parts of YouTube for long enough, you may come across the web district of rat tickling. You’ll see scientists tickling rats in the lab to boost their well-being and owners tickling their pets, among other things.Now, new research has identified the parts of the brain that may be responsible for play and laughter by tickling rats in the lab, according to a study published recently in the journal Neuron. “Play is really a not-well understood behavior,” says Mi ...read more

Against the backdrop of Southeast Alaska’s glacier-capped peaks, Dana Bloch leans over the side of a small boat and scoops up a clump of orange fecal matter floating in the ocean. “It’s my best sample yet,” she says, peering at the humpback whale poop in her net. “This one’s been feeding on krill instead of fish, so it’s pretty solid.”Bloch is a fellow with the Alaska Whale Foundation and a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She’s also the first person to s ...read more

This story was originally published in our Sept/Oct 2023 issue as "Hypnotizing the Gut?" Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.Ashley had just begun to dig into the cream-sauce pasta when it occurred — that familiar, urgent need to find the bathroom. She was dining at a friend’s house, with many other guests. “I need to get out of here,” the teenager thought as she started to sweat.To avoid unwanted questions, Ashley devised an excuse to leave and rushed out of ...read more

This story was originally published in our Sept/Oct 2023 issue as "Embracing the Darkness." Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.Night falls in the Black Rock Forest in Cornwall, New York. I walk the path to the reservoir without a flashlight. Even though a new moon shines brightly, the trees shroud the forest floor. I tread lightly to avoid falling off the trail into the brook, where bullfrogs croak and peepers peep. In the shadowy woods, a pair of eyes twinkles between ...read more

The House subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs met in July 2023 to discuss affairs so foreign that they may not even be of this world. During the meeting, several military officers testified that unidentified anomalous phenomena – the government’s name for UFOs – pose a threat to national security.Their testimony may have raised eyebrows in the chamber, but there’s still no public physical evidence of extraterrestrial life. In fact, most UFO sightings  ...read more

In a tropical forest, a sudden crash from the treetops may herald the arrival of a troop of spider monkeys. With agile leaps and bounds, they traverse the canopy in search of food, communicating among themselves with delicate chitters and whinnies.Seven spider monkey species, found in tropical forests from Mexico to Bolivia, showcase the wonders of primate evolution and play a crucial role in maintaining the forests they call home. They are often seen as forest specialists that need pristine wo ...read more

One of the most common questions I get is whether a nuclear bomb could set off a volcano or trigger an earthquake. You might think that all that energy being released in the explosion would be perfect for getting faults or magma to move. So, would you believe that the United States set three nuclear bombs off in one of the most geologically active parts of the world … and nothing happened?These days it is hard to imagine a world with nuclear testing. However, in the 1940s to 1990s, the US and ...read more