A new bio-environment for studying the hunter-versus-hunted phenomenon
The hunter-versus-hunted phenomenon exemplified by a pack of lionesses chasing down a lonely gazelle has been recreated in a Petri dish with lowly bacteria.

Pollution is affecting the distance that the smell of a flower will travel
Spring’s bloom may not smell so sweet anymore, as pollutants from power plants and automobiles destroy flowers’ aromas, a new study suggests. The finding could help explain why some pollinators, particularly bees, are declining in certain parts of the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4

I’m not sure how we’ve lived this long without knowing this about cats
 
Two professional engineers illustrate the proper care and practical benefits of cats.
 

The setup certainly doesn’t make it sound positive: The Redbird Reef off the coast of Slaughter Beach, Delaware is a dump site for retired New York City subway cars, and there are already nearly 700 of them on the ocean floor. Before you cry foul, consider the words of Jeff Tinsman, the Delaware Department of […]

 
It’s hard to translate the original text from Russian, even with bablefish, but the best we can glean from it, these gentlemen paid to go on a hunting trip and just happened upon this beast.
 

Antibiotics are a seriously important part of modern medicine, but due to certain infections becoming antibiotic-resistant, they can’t be doled out as plentifully as some would like. That might change in the near future, however, due to a new advancement from an unlikely source: the blood of alligators.

Rama, the world’s first cama, finally has some friends to play with.
The hybrid animal, the product of breeding a llama and a camel, has been the only creature of this kind since her birth in 1995.
But now, thanks to better breeding techniques, there are three more camas roaming the Arabian desert.

Scientists in Borneo have been “gasping for air” according to New Scientist. Ironic, as they’ve discovered a frog that doesn’t have any lungs at all, but rather absorbs oxygen through its skin.

An odd-looking creature has been discovered in the mountains of the African country Tanzania.
It’s proper name is Rhynochocyon udzungwensis, it’s the size of a cat and looks like a cross between a tiny antelope and a small ant eater.

A bizarre find in Pioneer Park Pond in Brigham City, Utah has biologists stumped.
Craig Schaugaard, Aquatic Manger for the Department of Wildlife Resources, said, “When we first saw that fish, we thought, ‘What in the crap is this thing?’”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poEwkIPKn3w

 That is Claud the Kung Fu bear from Hiroshima City, Japan. You can see another video after the jump.
 

Scientists at Hiroshima University have succeeded in breeding see-through frogs — an innovation that could cut down on future dissections.
 

The ZZ Plural Z Alpha Douglas Adams fan club raises funds by selling “Beeblebears,” two-headed, three-eyed, three-armed teddy bears fashioned in the likeness of Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Examples of virtual 3D extraction of organisms embedded in opaque amber: a) Gastropod Ellobiidae; b) Myriapod Polyxenidae; c) Arachnid; d) Conifer branch (Glenrosa); e) Isopod crustacean Ligia; f) Insect hymenopteran Falciformicidae. Credits: M. Lak, P. Tafforeau, D. Néraudeau
(ESRF Grenoble and UMR CNRS 6118 Rennes).
Scientists from the University of Rennes, France, and the European Synchrotron Radiation […]

According to the University of North Dakota, coffee may cut the risk of dementia by blocking the damage cholesterol can inflict on the body, research suggests… at least in rabbits.
 

Researchers at Newcastle University have announced the successful creation of part-human, part-animal hybrid embryos for the first time in the UK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVb9yUOek88

This is a fascinating video of a Velvet Worm and shows how it attacks a beetle.  Strange.  Very strange.
 

Arrow 1 points to the spermatophore groove of the
inserted hectocotylus. Arrow 2 points an oviducal gland
They flirt, hold hands and guard their lovers jealously — yet they don’t even have bones. The love lives of octopuses are far more complex than anyone thought, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, reported.

Sure, you’ve played a lot of games, but now your favorite cat can get into the action thanks to the latest in video gaming technology — the CatBox 360.
Cats want games too. If your cat wants to get into some gaming action, he or she just steps into the automatic litter box, and a […]

A tortoise that smokes and appears to be addicted to nicotine has been discovered in China’s northeastern province of Jilin, state media reported on Thursday.

They have quaint names like the fangtooth, the roundnose grenadier, the chiasmodon niger, the spookfish and the dolichoteryx longpipe.
But they are some of the most frightening-looking and ugliest creatures on earth – denizens of the deep which inhabit the darkest reaches of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, one of the most inhospitable places on the planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_an372vDaE

A 4-ton elephant goes AWOL during a polo match in Sri Lanka. Local trainers decide to calm it down…by throwing rocks at it. Another incident after the jump.
 

 
You won’t be able to fully understand this post until you get past the jump.  The worm bridge is an amazing piece of photography.

This strange looking contraption is a battery powered vehicle. It putters around a New York art gallery looking like…art. What’s interesting about it is the driver or drivers. It’s course is directed and steered entirely by flies. The plastic bubble is filled with large houseflies, and the food and water that nourishes them. […]

If life on Earth was not strange enough, nature occasionally throws a very unusual creation into the genetic mix.
This ‘wolphin’ and ‘Shetbra’ are two examples of rare hybrids created when animals have mated across the species divide.
Although it is extremely rare, animals occasionally succeed in producing offspring with mates from closely related species. Scientists believe […]