Prey tell: How moths elude bats
By Lesley Evans Ogden Millions of years of coevolution have given the insects a bag of tricks to escape their predators — from signal-jamming and decoys to acoustic camouflage Read more
Spiders are much smarter than you think
By Betsy Mason Cognition researchers are discovering surprising capabilities among a group of itsy-bitsy arachnids Read more
Upcoming events
The science of viral variants: From Covid to the flu
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 | 1pm San Francisco PST | 4pm New York EST
New variants of the coronavirus behind the Covid-19 pandemic arise constantly, with some, such as Delta, driving new waves of infections and subsequent deaths. What kinds of genetic changes make some variants of SARS-CoV-2 more dangerous and why have virologists long been concerned about coronaviruses in particular? And what do studies of old foes such as influenza, HIV and SARS tell us about the course that SARS-CoV-2 may take and how we might prepare for the changes ahead?
Join us for a discussion and Q&A with two experts and get your questions answered.
From the archives
Intentionally setting forests on fire can protect ecosystems, but in order to light the blazes, fire managers have to navigate tricky legal scenarios and public skepticism. For Undark, Madeline Ostrander follows Cody Desautel, the natural resources director for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, as he expands his tribe’s practice of prescribed burns across the Pacific Northwest. To learn more about how indigenous fire management practices are picking up steam in Australia, read our story.
Fighting fire with fire... and fauna
By Tim Vernimmen Climate change is aggravating the seasonal burns that Australia has always known. They won’t be snuffed out, but new ecological strategies may help. Read now
ICYMI: Our October 27 online event
The psychology and politics of conspiracy theories
VIDEO: Watch the conversation with social psychologist Sander van der Linden and political theorist Nancy Rosenblum about the underpinnings and consequences of conspiracy theories and how we can disrupt their influence. View now
What we’re reading
In a galaxy far, far away
Astronomers have long suspected that there are planets beyond the Milky Way — and now they may have finally spotted one. A world roughly the size of Saturn appears to orbit a celestial duo — a massive star and its dead companion — in the Whirlpool Galaxy, reports Lisa Grossman at Science News. While astronomers know of more than 4,800 planets around other stars, all until now have been within our galaxy. Don’t hop on the next starship headed to this newfound world, though: The flood of X-rays and UV light from the dead star would put a damper on your visit.
Shaken to the core
An erupting volcano’s fountains of lava and plumes of ash are astonishing, and this explosive power puts researchers in touch with the engines that drive tectonic change. And yet all that power can bring tremendous suffering as lives are upended, writes Robin George Andrews at the Atlantic. Andrews, himself a volcanologist, talks to others in his field, who describe what it’s like navigating the “boundary between awe and horror,” as a hazard of the job.
COP26: Now or never?
Today marks the first day of the United Nations’ COP26 climate conference and the stakes couldn’t be higher, Jeff Tollefson reports for Nature. A quarter-century after the first COP, this particular meeting, expected to attract thousands of people from 196 countries, “represents one final opportunity for the governments of the world to craft a collective plan to meet their most ambitious goals for curbing climate change,” he writes. The story’s excellent infographics show where the world is at with emissions and energy resources, and which countries are “laggards and leaders.” Tollefson explains the urgency of COP26, its emphasis on indigenous communities and the looming question: Will these talks translate into real change?
Art & science
Moths at a sloth’s pace In slow motion, a moth’s launch into flight becomes a ballet. Wings swoop and fuzzy bodies arch as the insect takes off — and biologist Adrian Smith has painstakingly recorded every tiny movement, zooming in on one moth at a time. A new compilation of his video footage features the initial flaps of seven different species captured at 6,000 frames per second, including those of the Rosy maple moth shown above.
Watch the entire video at Colossal, which includes clips of the aptly named beautiful wood-nymph. This moth has wings covered in glamorous swirls of color that are suspected to pass for bird droppings when the insect holds still. Smith details more of what makes each species unique throughout the video and ends the footage with a clue into how he finds insects to film in the first place. See more of Smith’s slo-mo insect videos on his lab’s YouTube page.
