Sciences, Life

By loading their eggs with more yolk protein, underfed worm moms make sure their offspring are better able to bounce back from starvation. Image courtesy of Jim Jordan, Duke University.

July 8, 2019

Life is Tough But So Are Worms -- Thanks to Mom

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A study in wild baboons suggests the link between status and health depends on whether an individual has to fight for status, like these males, or status is given to them. Photo by Elizabeth Archie, University of Notre Dame

December 17, 2018

Baboon Sexes Differ in How Social Status Gets 'Under the Skin'

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Wild chimpanzees feed on figs in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Photo by Alain Houle, Harvard University

September 24, 2018

How Fruits Got Their Eye-Catching Colors

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The rainbow of visible colors varies over a continuous range of wavelengths, but zebra finches break it into discrete colors much like humans, researchers report. Photo by Ryan Huang, TerraCommunications LLC

August 1, 2018

Birds Categorize Colors Just Like Humans Do

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Ring-tailed lemurs such as these at the Duke Lemur Center can tell that a fellow lemur is weaker just by the natural scents they leave behind, researchers report. Males act more aggressively toward scents that smell “off.” Photo by David Haring.

June 28, 2018

Lemurs Can Smell Weakness in Each Other

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Interactions between fertilizers, animal waste and tiny substances called nanoparticles in farm runoff could intensify harmful algal blooms in wetlands, says a Duke-led study. Photo by Nara Souza, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission

June 25, 2018

Nanomaterials Could Mean More Algae Outbreaks for Wetlands, Waterways

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By faithfully copying the most popular songs, swamp sparrows create time-honored song traditions that can be just as long-lasting as human traditions, researchers report. Photo by Robert Lachlan, Queen Mary University of London.

June 19, 2018

Birds Have Time-Honored Traditions Too

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Scientists compared hundreds of species by the sharpness of their sight. They found a 10,000-fold difference between the most sharp-sighted and the most blurry-eyed species, with humans ranking near the top. Photo by Eugene Oliver

May 30, 2018

Details That Look Sharp to People May be Blurry to Their Pets

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For a turtle called the red-eared slider, a hatchling’s sex depends on the environment. Cooler egg incubation temperatures produce mostly male hatchlings; warmer incubation temperatures mean more females. Image via Pixnio.

May 10, 2018

How Turning Down the Heat Makes a Baby Turtle Male

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Small robots can't hold a candle to the fastest-jumping insects and other tiny-but-powerful creatures. A new mathematical model helps explain why, and how they might get closer. High-speed video of a jumping flea by Gregory Sutton and Malcolm Burrows.

April 26, 2018

Why a Robot Can't Yet Outjump a Flea

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A new study points to temperature as the major factor influencing the pace of reforestation in the eastern United States.

April 16, 2018

Warming Climate Could Speed Forest Regrowth in Eastern U.S.

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The color-changing hogfish can “see” with its skin -- an ability that likely evolved separately from light-sensing in the eyes, researchers say. Photo by Sander van der Wel, Wikimedia Commons.

March 12, 2018

How the Color-Changing Hogfish ‘Sees’ With Its Skin

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In a mantis shrimp sparring match, opponents compete to capture or hold onto shelter. Photo by Roy Caldwell, University of California, Berkeley

January 17, 2018

Mantis Shrimp Size Each Other Up Before Ceding a Fight

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Fizi, an adult male bonobo at Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A new study of these African apes hints at how human cooperation came to be. Photo by Christopher Krupenye, Duke University.

January 4, 2018

Bonobos Prefer Jerks

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In remarks at the Chesterfield, President Vince Price outlined the value of Duke's investment in the Durham downtown.

December 6, 2017

President Price Helps Open Renovated Chesterfield Building for Life Science Research

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Close primate cousins with whom we share 99 percent of our DNA, bonobos will help strangers even when there is no immediate payback, and without having to be asked first. Photo courtesy of Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary.

November 7, 2017

Bonobos Help Strangers Without Being Asked

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