Clear, well-sourced stories about animals, plants, ecosystems, evolution, and the natural world.
8 articles
Flamingos can stand on one leg with remarkably little effort because their anatomy, posture and gravity create a stable support system. Tucking up the other leg may also reduce heat loss, although science has not identified one definitive explanation for every instance of the behaviour.
Octopus blood turns blue when carrying oxygen because it uses copper-rich hemocyanin rather than the iron-containing haemoglobin that makes human blood red.
Iridescent wings do not always owe their colour to pigments. Nanostructures in their scales reflect different wavelengths as the illumination and viewing angle change.
Hexagons let bees store a great deal with little wax and no wasted gaps. But honeycomb is not a feat of conscious calculation: it emerges from collective behaviour and the physics of wax.
Most mummified cats were religious offerings associated with Bastet. Worshippers dedicated them at temples to express devotion, request divine help or convey a message to the goddess.
Chameleons change colour to communicate, manage temperature and, in some situations, improve camouflage. They do it by rearranging pigments and microscopic crystals in their skin.
Flamingos are not born pink. Their colour comes from carotenoids in algae and small aquatic organisms, which their bodies process and deposit in growing feathers.
An octopus has two hearts that send blood through its gills and a third that supplies the body. This division of labour sustains blood flow through a demanding closed circulatory system.