In a quiet summer garden, a caterpillar perches on a branch, munching serenely on leaves. A moment later it freezes. It senses danger—and just in time. From behind, a wasp approaches, sizing up its prey. Tobacco hornworm caterpillars don’t look like they have ears, and yet they’re able to sense predators such as wasps. How
Mysterious black lesions found on brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in Lake Memphremagog, straddling the borders of Canada and the United States, turned out to be a type of transmissible melanoma. Credit: Phil Degginger/Alamy Researchers have discovered a contagious cancer in catfish, just the fourth example of tumor cells spreading naturally from one animal to
Naked mole rat queens produce a chemical that prevents other females from reproducing.Credit: Neil Bromhall/Getty Naked mole rat (Glaber heterocephaly) queens produce a chemical that prevents other females in their colony from reproducing. A study published today in Nature suggests that this compound maintains a strict social structure that is dominated by a queen, even
