Avian Athletes
Scientists are learning from birds’ amazing metabolisms to help human athletes perform better on the ground.
Bee Ball
Scientists teach bees how to move a tiny ball to test their cognitive abilities.
Endangered Crow Calls
What happens to the calls of an endangered bird species when its only remaining members live in captivity?
Road Birds
Playing birdsongs near roads can entice birds to repopulate abandoned habitat.
Birdsong Warm-Ups
Songbirds, like people, may need to warm up their voices before they sing.
Mapping Extinct Brains
Scientists scanned preserved brains of extinct Tasmanian tigers in an attempt to better understand their behavior and life history.
Goal-directed Brain Cells
Bats have specialized neurons that help them navigate towards a target.
Monkey Metamemory
Neuroscientists investigate how humans ponder what we’ve learned by studying the brains of monkeys.
Killer Mice
Scientists discover a vertebrate brain circuit that triggers hunting, pouncing and biting.
Hummingbird Vision
Hummingbirds have vision that’s specially tuned to fast movement in every direction.
Insects in Winter
A listener asks: Where do all the insects go in winter?
Arctic Camels
Camels seem perfectly suited to life in the desert, but they may have evolved those traits in the high Arctic.
Sizing Up Dogs I
A listener asks whether large dogs are more intelligent than small dogs.
Sled Dog Endurance
Champions of endurance, sled dogs can run for over a thousand miles without fatigue.
Trillions of Insects
No other creatures match insects when it comes to sheer numbers of migrating animals.
Reindeer Clocks
Most mammals have internal clocks that regulate their daily cycles, but not reindeer.
Reindeer Vision
Reindeer can detect ultraviolet light, which may help them survive dark Arctic winters.
Coconut Rhinoceros Beetles
In a race against time, scientists attempt to stop an insect invader by using its own sounds.
Pollution-Tolerant Fish
The Atlantic killifish has evolved the ability to survive in toxic waters.
Artificial Dog Nose
Researchers reverse engineer one of nature’s greatest sniffers.
The Ticklish Brain
Researchers find that tickled rats display complex emotional responses similar to those of children.