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Nature

The Shifter With a Prize Inside

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What in the name of Neptune’s beard is that thing? A ghost? An alien? The ghost of an alien? Such were the questions that vexed a team of deep-sea scientists aboard the Nautilus research vessel earlier this month, when their underwater recon robot encountered a limp, limbless creature hovering like a ghostly lantern over the Pacific seafloor. As the team watched, the bell-shaped blob suddenly transformed, ballooning into a long, translucent windsock with a mysterious red splotch stuck to its innards. The blob, the researchers revealed in a recent video of the encounter, was no alien (it’s never aliens), but … Read more

Narwhals, Narwhals…

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Narwhals

Narwhals are medium-size marine mammals known for their characteristic tusk that resembles a unicorn’s horn. Their reclusive nature and remote Arctic habitat only adds to the mystery of these creatures. The name “narwhal” comes from the Norse words “nar” (corpse) and “hval” (whale). The name refers to how the whale’s dappled gray skin resembles that of a drowned sailor, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The scientific name for narwhal is Monodon monoceros, which means “one tooth, one horn” in Latin. The narwhal’s closest living relative is the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas). Both narwhals and belugas belong … Read more

New Zealand Scientists Find a Vampire Tree

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Vampire Tree - Live Science

In a forest in New Zealand, a vampire clings to life. Once a mighty kauri tree — a species of conifer that can grow up to 165 feet (50 meters) tall — the low, leafless stump looks like it should be long dead. But, as a new study published today (July 25) in the journal iScience reminds us, looks are only surface-deep. Below the soil, the study authors wrote, the stump is part of a forest “superorganism” — a network of intertwined roots sharing resources across a community that could include dozens or hundreds of trees. By grafting its roots … Read more

U=(N/T)M*G: Ferocity

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Ferocity

There’s some weird opinions floating around the science intelligentsia all the time. It’s common knowledge and it usually comes down to ideas about how the universe works, until that idea is put to rigorous tests. That’s just the proper way to science. Sometimes though, someone gets a really weird opinion on a topic and this particular one honestly made me scratch my head. One geneticist says we should stop human evolution. This scientist states that evolution is a scourge on our species and we have to stop feeding our children to this evil monster of natural force. They go on … Read more

NATURE: Whale Sneezes a Rainbow

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Whale Sneezes Rainbow

They say that at the end of every rainbow is a humpback whale. Wait, do they say that? Regardless — thanks to a California wildlife photographer with impeccable timing, you can now say with certainty that at the end of at least one rainbow, there is at least one humpback whale. Watch the glorious, light-spouting cetacean seemingly sneeze a rainbow out of its blowhole in the Instagram video above. Wildlife photographer Domenic Biagini caught this footage while on a whale-spotting excursion near San Diego last December. (The Instagram feed of Biagini, a photographer for Captain Dave’s Dolphin & Whale Watching … Read more