biology

Microbiologist Irene Garcia Newton shares her knowledge about the many organisms involved in keeping a colony of honeybees healthy.

Microbiologist Irene Garcia Newton shares her knowledge about the many organisms involved in keeping a colony of honeybees healthy.

Beluga whales have complex social networks, where support structures and cooperation extend beyond the nuclear family. Beluga communities often have a mix of family members, extended relations, and non-kin.

Maine Coons seem huge for domesticated cats. But Smilodon populator is the biggest species of one of the biggest cats of all time: the saber-toothed tiger.

For many of us, cattle lowing in the distance sounds like the mere background music of a bucolic country scene. Cows, however, don’t talk without having something to say, and they even have unique voices.

In recent experiments, scientists think that kangaroos have the ability to communicate simply by gazing at human researchers.

The calypso orchid is one of the most eye‑catching little flowers you'll see on forest floors across the Northern United States, Canada, and Europe. It's an early bloomer that appears in springtime each year, showing off deep purple petals and a yellow fringe on its dainty white lower lip.

There's a type of mustard plant, called "Holboell's rockcress" which naturally grows a dainty, light blue flower atop its narrow stem. Sometimes you'll see a Holboell's rockcress sporting a bright yellow cluster of leaves that looks suspiciously like a buttercup.

Most insects fly—but, across millennia, many species have lost the ability. Island dwelling insects have been especially prone to this evolutionary trend.

Wolves are predators that hunt and kill large mammals, such as deer. During the season that they rear their pups, they kill prey and bring it back to their den for their pups to eat.