Fairyflies Get A New Species - Tinkerbella Nana

Fairyflies Get A New Species - Tinkerbella Nana

Mymaridae, commonly known as fairyflies, are one of about 18 families of chalcid wasps. Fairyflies are everywhere except Antarctica and include the world's smallest known insect - Kikiki huna, the…
The Early Warning Signs Of Population Collapse

The Early Warning Signs Of Population Collapse

Many factors can push a wild animal population to the brink of collapse and ecologists have long sought ways to measure the risk of such a collapse. Last year, MIT physicists demonstrated that they…
Cthulhu Lives!

Cthulhu Lives!

Two new symbionts living in the gut of termites have been discovered.   These single-cell protists, Cthulhu macrofasciculumque and Cthylla microfasciculumque, help termites digest wood. And now…
Cloning Wooly Mammoths?

Cloning Wooly Mammoths?

OK, here's the premise.  The Audubon Nature Institute has something they call a "frozen zoo" (1) which contains genetic material from endangered species.  In this way recently extinct…
No, Cows Don't Make Fertilizer

No, Cows Don't Make Fertilizer

Fertilizer that comes from cows or other animals does not really originate with them.  Manure from cows and other animals has been used as a crop fertilizer for millennia, and it is still used…