New Scientist
Monkeys can learn to tap to the beat of the Backstreet Boys
With a bit of training, macaques can make rhythmic movements in time with music, an ability only shown before by a handful of animals
Categories: Fossils
Can genetically modifying a rare marsupial save it from extinction?
Researchers are aiming to make the northern quoll resistant to the toxic cane toads wiping it out in Australia, but little progress has been made
Categories: Fossils
Longest-living cat breeds revealed by life expectancy study
Birman and Burmese cats typically live for more than 14 years while sphynxes live less than half as long on average, finds a study of pet cats in the UK
Categories: Fossils
Sperm whale clicks could be the closest thing to a human language yet
Analysis of thousands of exchanges between the intelligent cetaceans suggests they combine short click patterns – similar to letters of the alphabet - into longer sequences
Categories: Fossils
Zebras bob their heads at each other to signal cooperation
Head-bobbing seems to be a way for zebras to invite others to groom, graze or move together, suggesting sophisticated social and cognitive capabilities
Categories: Fossils
Stink bugs grow a fungal garden on their legs to fight parasitic wasps
A surprise discovery has revealed that female stink bugs have a small indent on their hind legs that they use for cultivating fungi before spreading it on their eggs
Categories: Fossils
Jurassic Park to The Martian: 5 movies that get botany (mostly) wrong
From Jurassic Park to The Martian, botanist James Wong explores the major science fiction films that get botany spectacularly wrong
Categories: Fossils