Scary animals : a new classification [study]

Scary animals, a new study reveals, can be separated into five distinct clusters : “(1) non‐slimy invertebrates; (2) snakes; (3) mice, rats, and bats; (4) human endo‐ and exoparasites (intestinal helminths and louse); and (5) farm/pet animals. However, only snakes, spiders, and parasites evoke intense fear and disgust in the non‐clinical population.” The diagram below […]

Innovative Scientists Talk About Their Childhood (10): David Hu and the inside of a dead deer

Here’s David Hu talking about seeing the inside of a dead deer—an experience that, when he was a child, excited David in a way that led to his eventual unusual career. David uses math and physics—and experiments—to try to understand some of the seemingly simply, scientifically mystifying things that happen in nature every day. ABOUT […]

A look back at the Penises of the Animal Kingdom poster

Colin Dickey, writing in Topic magazine, explores the history of the Ig Nobel Prize-winning poster “Penises of the Animal Kingdom” and its creator, Jim Knowlton. Dickey’s report bears the headline “The Penis Poster That Rubbed People the Wrong Way“: “… Knowlton had been a graduate student at Columbia University, working on a PhD in particle […]

Analyzing Why Bearcats Smell Like Popcorn

A new study adds to our knowledge of why some animals sometimes smell like buttered popcorn. The study is: “Reproductive Endocrine Patterns and Volatile Urinary Compounds of Arctictis binturong: Discovering Why Bearcats Smell Like Popcorn,” Lydia K. Greene [pictured below], Timothy W. Wallen, Anneke Moresco, Thomas E. Goodwin, Christine M. Drea, The Science of Nature,  […]

“An animal may have holes”

“An animal may have holes.” So says the report: “Animal enumerations on regular tilings in Spherical, Euclidean, and Hyperbolic 2-dimensional spaces,” Tomás Oliveira e Silva, July 25, 2013. The author, at the Departamento de Eletrónica, Telecomunicações e Informática, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal, writes: “An animal with area n is any edge-connected set of n polygons (chosen […]