Tool transfer upon recipient’s request.
The evolution of altruism has long puzzled researchers and has mainly been explained previously from ultimate perspectives—”I will help you now because I expect there to be some long-term benefit to me”. However, a new study by researchers at the Primate Research Institute (PRI) and the Wildlife Research Center (WRC) of [...]

Adult female Bagheera kiplingi eats Beltian body harvested from ant-acacia.
There are approximately 40,000 species of spiders in the world, all of which have been thought to be strict predators that feed on insects or other animals. Now, scientists have found that a small Central American jumping spider has a uniquely different diet: the species Bagheera [...]

This is a drawing of Darwinopterus hunting a small feathered dinosaur
An international group of researchers from the University of Leicester (UK), and the Geological Institute, Beijing (China) has identified a new type of flying reptile, providing the first clear evidence of an unusual and controversial type of evolution.

NASA is planning to drop a spent rocket motor into the Cabeus crater on the moon Friday morning as part of the search to find lunar water. The motor is a leftover piece of the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite that includes a “shepherding spacecraft” that will follow behind the rocket motor before it [...]

These micro piglets may be tiny enough to fit in a teacup, but at $1100 their price tag is anything but small. The pets, which grow to be just 14in tall, have become so popular that they are now almost impossible to get hold of in Britain.
“Demand for micro pigs is soaring and we are [...]

A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country’s leading internet service provider.
Internet speed and connectivity in Africa’s largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.
Local news agency SAPA [...]

Behold this graphic but compelling footage of the first ever elephant birth filmed in Bali, Indonesia.

A powerful fish-killing toxin that has caused major losses in commercial ponds of catfish, striped bass and tilapia may also have cancer-killing properties.
A powerful fish-killing toxin could have cancer-killing properties as well, according to collaborative research led by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) microbiologist Paul V. Zimba and chemist Peter Moeller of the U.S. National Oceanic [...]

American mega megacorp Cargill, which brought in $116.6 billion in revenue last year, is in the spotlight this week around the story of Stephanie Smith: the 22 year old children’s dance instructor was paralyzed from the waist down after eating E. coli-tainted hamburger traced back to the meat supplier.
She was in a coma for nine [...]

Beware of crazy little men carrying vacuum cleaners,
for they represent an entirely new breed of suckers

Some photos cause headaches and others cause scandals. However, this particular combination of photos has been selected to cause a jock rash in people without a sense of humor. (Pics)

Researchers from Kitasato University in Tokyo have been awarded this year’s Ig Nobel Biology Prize for demonstrating a method to reduce kitchen waste by more than 90% by using bacteria derived from Giant Panda excrement.  Professor Fumiaki Taguchi, who shares the prize with fellow researchers Song Guofu and Zhang Guanglei (both from the Kitasato University [...]

It’s been a busy, stressful week, with Iran’s nuclear plans, tragic natural disasters in Samoa, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and a new climate bill in the Senate packing the headlines with nail-biting tension. So what do I have to say to all that? Why, it’s nothing an adorable picture of a polar bear cub taking [...]

Grooming monkeys. A study of female monkeys’ grooming habits provides new clues about the way we humans socialize.
A study of female monkeys’ grooming habits provides new clues about the way we humans socialise. New research, published September 30 in Proceedings of the Royal Society, reveals there is a link between the size of the brain, [...]

Field cricket.
Scientists have found new evidence to explain how female insects can influence the father of their offspring, even after mating with up to ten males. A team from the University of Exeter has found that female crickets are able to control the amount of sperm that they store from each mate to select the [...]

Zebra Finch. The ability to manipulate songbird genes may yield the molecular secrets of vocal learning and neuronal replacement.
The ability to manipulate songbird genes may yield the molecular secrets of vocal learning and neuronal replacement.

An artist’s rendering of a T. rex suffering from a trichomonosis-like disease, a parasitic infection caused by a protozoan

When pondering the demise of a famous dinosaur such as ‘Sue,’ the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex whose fossilized remains are a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, it is hard to avoid the image of clashing [...]

potted hyenas may not be smarter than chimpanzees, but a new study shows that they outperform the primates on cooperative problem-solving tests.
Spotted hyenas may not be smarter than chimpanzees, but a new study shows that they outperform the primates on cooperative problem-solving tests.

Filoha Meadows in central Colorado
A refuge for the Ute Indians and a transit corridor for the marble quarried for the Washington Monument, Filoha Meadows in central Colorado has been used as farmland, an arthritic retreat center, and a movie set. Developers eyed it to build 15,000 square-foot homes, while others envisioned the entire area under [...]

Stickybot has specially designed footpads, inspired by the surface of a gecko’s foot, that allow it to climb smooth surfaces.
To a robot designer like Sangbae Kim, the animal kingdom is full of inspiration. “I always look at animals and ask why they are the way they are,” says Kim, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering [...]

Paralyzed rats walk
Scientists recently used treadmill exercise, drugs, and electrical stimulation to train paralyzed rats to walk once again, demonstrating a way to possibly treat spinal injuries in humans, which at present are basically untreatable.

Sometimes you have to think that maybe a pig is mans best friend
When a hobby-store owner in Cincinnati sliced off his fingertip in 2005 while showing a customer why the motor on his model plane was dangerous, he went to the emergency room without the missing tip. He couldn’t find it anywhere. The doctor bandaged [...]

The tiny Pacific nation of Palau is creating the world’s first shark sanctuary, a biological hotspot to protect great hammerheads, leopard sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks and more than 130 other species fighting extinction in the Pacific Ocean. But with only one boat to patrol 240,000 square miles (621,600 square kilometers) of Palau’s newly protected waters [...]

This artist’s conception shows a lump of material in a swirling, planet-forming disk.
Astronomers have witnessed odd behavior around a young star. Something, perhaps another star or a planet, appears to be pushing a clump of planet-forming material around. The observations, made with NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, offer a rare look into the early stages [...]

Hey, knock it off with the legs! I’m the cute one!
Not all humor is funny to all people. Similarly, not all humor is funny to me. Therefore, I am the same as all people. Hmmm, great logic is the antithesis of great humor. But not all people are logical, so therefore logical people are the [...]

Does your dog know how to shoot pool?
There are apparently some rare skills that only a few elite dogs can master. This is one of them. Are dogs truly smarter than what we give the credit for? Second fun video after the jump.