Research published in BMC Ecology suggests that genetics may provide valuable clues as to how to crack down on the animal smuggling trade, while also helping to safely reintroduce rescued apes into…

Some animal-pollinated plants face an interesting dilemma. The same animals they rely on for pollination also like to eat them. This is the case for Nicotiana attenuata, a wild tobacco plant that…

Not a whole lot of squid news this week, although the cephalopod mailing list continues to host a lively discussion, spurred by that coconut octopus story, of concepts like "tool use" and "…

New insights about the scaly-foot gastropod, a tiny snail that lives near thermal vents on the floor of the indian ocean, could help scientists design better armor for soldiers and military vehicles…

Climate scientists predict increasing numbers of storms, droughts, floods and heat waves as the Earth warms, but the effects of these fluctuating conditions on biodiversity could actually go either…

If you want something amusing and informative to listen to on your MP3 player, check out Parasites from the public radio show Radiolab. You can download it or listen via streaming audio. The…

Hey, I'm back! I went to a rockin' party and an awesome conference and now I am full of interesting tales. Also, I am full of determination to finish my thesis this year, and an unfortunate byproduct…

Scorpion venom is composed of a complex cocktail of poisonous peptides that immobilize animal prey on the spot. Some of the toxins in this cocktail, however, are only harmful to insects, which has…

Scientists have long puzzled over how iguanas, a group of lizards mostly found in the Americas, came to inhabit the isolated Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga. For years, the leading explanation has…

When people think of the Cold War they tend to dwell on all the negatives that came with it: totalitarian governments, proxy wars, a nuclear arms race, and so on. But looking back on the period, the…