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6 August 1999 | ScienceNOW

Swinging Queens Have Best Nests

by Menno Schilthuizen

Wantonness is everywhere. From honeybees to humans, females often like to have their children fathered by more than one male. Biologists have always had little hard data on why this...

3 August 1999 | ScienceNOW

Bonus Billion Urged for Environmental Research

by Jocelyn Kaiser

WASHINGTON, D.C.--After years of complaints from scientists and activists that it pays environmental research short shrift, the National Science Foundation (NSF) heard a similar message last week from its own...

2 August 1999 | ScienceNOW

Initiative Hopes to Save Hawaiian Ecosystems

by Richard Stone

HONOLULU--Scientists and land managers are planning a $200 million, 5-year initiative to safeguard Hawaii's remaining native habitats from development and the relentless advance of alien species. The plan, unveiled here...

23 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

Leakey Takes Top Kenyan Post

by Gretchen Vogel

In a surprising move, anthropologist Richard Leakey has left his current post as director of the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS), to become head of the civil service, the highest nonpolitical...

15 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

Shocking Messages of Love

by Dana Mackenzie

For fish living in the murky waters of the Amazon basin, it might seem hard to find a mate. But several species of knife fish have come up with an...

13 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

Activists Fell Pollution-Fighting Trees

by Erik Stokstad

The latest in a rash of attacks on agricultural biotechnology has felled the only genetically modified trees in the United Kingdom. In an ironic twist, the 5-year-old poplars had been...

9 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

New Clue to Sahara's Origins

by Mark Sincell

Could a tiny change in the angle of the Earth's orbital axis trigger a cascade of events that turned an ancient Eden into the Sahara desert? Yes, says a report...

9 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

Mighty Mites Get Chomped

by David Malakoff

BOZEMAN, MONTANA--In an ironic twist, a mighty mite that scientists hoped would devour unwanted weeds has itself become dinner for another introduced insect. The finding, presented here this week at...

6 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

How Plants Carve a Niche

by Christie Aschwanden

All plant species need light, water, and nutrients to survive, so you might expect that the fiercest competitors for these resources would dominate habitats everywhere. Yet ecosystems harbor a dazzling...

6 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

British Bird Buff

by Science News Staff

Today is the birthday of the founder of American ornithology, Alexander Wilson. Born in Scotland in 1766, Wilson started off as a poet, a weaver, and a peddler. But after...

1 July 1999 | ScienceNOW

Plan to Quench Everglades' Thirst

by Martin Enserink

WASHINGTON, D.C.--Vice President Al Gore today presented Congress with a Herculean plan to restore a more-natural water flow to the Everglades, the vast wetland in southern Florida, while safeguarding the...

30 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

The Scent of a Carcass

by Mari N. Jensen

When some scavengers follow their nose to their next meal, it's not the complexities of the carrion scent that draws them, but the simple lure of a good strong whiff....

24 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

Pick a Species, Any Species

by Mari N. Jensen

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND--Carefully selecting certain species to protect may not be the most efficient way to preserve biodiversity. An analysis of species distributions in North America, unveiled here on 18...

21 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

A Puma Is a Cougar Is a Panther

by Elizabeth Pennisi

STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA--Pumas are known by many names--panther, jaguar, and cougar among them. Indeed, experts on the animals thought they were so genetically diverse as to constitute a menagerie of...

16 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

The Fine Art of Chimpanzee Culture

by Gretchen Vogel

When they talk about culture, most people mean human things like art, music, and clothing styles. But in tomorrow's Nature, a group of researchers who have spend years observing chimpanzees...

11 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

Studies Vindicate Smokey the Bear

by Daniel Radov

Although Smokey the Bear signs in national forests and parks have warned the public for decades about the dangers of forest fires, the U.S. Forest Service regularly ignores the icon...

10 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

Butterflies Beat Retreat From Heat

by Menno Schilthuizen

Some people may think global warming is a myth, but butterflies seem to know better. In today's Nature, scientists report that many butterfly species have shifted their range northward by...

8 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

Snails Set New Speed Record

by Daniel Radov

Snails are not known for being fleet of foot, but they may hold at least one speed record. A report in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows...

4 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

Doing Well by Doing Good

by Gretchen Vogel

Watching out for others may not be a burden after all, at least for the African mongoose. In today's Science, researchers report that what some had touted as selfless behavior...

2 June 1999 | ScienceNOW

The Scent of Seduction

by Daniel Radov

Orchids use a crafty blend of pheromones to lure pollen-laden male bees to their flowers, biologists report in tomorrow's Nature. The findings suggest that, like ad agencies the world over,...

12 May 1999 | ScienceNOW

Cold-Blooded Critters Reveal Their Secret

by Oliver Baker

Scientists think they may have solved a mystery as old as the first polar sea expeditions: Why do cold-water animals grow so much larger than their warm-water cousins? The answer...

10 May 1999 | ScienceNOW

Pingers: Alarms or Dinner Bells?

by Wendy Williams

It seemed simple: To prevent marine mammals from becoming ensnared in fishing nets, scare them away with high-pitched noisemakers. But a paper published in the spring issue of the Marine...

29 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Frogs Deformed by Parasites

by Jocelyn Kaiser

A parasitic worm has emerged as the leading culprit behind the extra limbs, missing legs, and other deformities plaguing some North American frogs. But scientists caution that the infections, reported...

26 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Bird Watcher's Birthday

by Science News Staff

Naturalist John James Audubon, renowned for his intricate paintings of North American birds, was born on 26 April 1785 in what is now Haiti. Audubon grew up in France and...

23 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Dolphins Whistle in Unison

by David Malakoff

Learning to whistle the same tune may help gangs of male bottlenose dolphins stake a claim on females. Researchers have long known that small groups of male dolphins form alliances...

16 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Ecologists Question Grizzly Comeback

by Jocelyn Kaiser

A new study suggests that a 24-year-long campaign to boost grizzly bear numbers in Yellowstone National Park has made little, if any, headway. The study throws cold water on the...

15 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

An Instinct for Animal Behavior

by Science News Staff

Zoologist Nikolaas Tinbergen was born in The Hague, Netherlands, on this day in 1907. Tinbergen helped found the fledgling field of ethology, the study of how animals behave in response...

12 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

New Move to Protect Imperiled Fish

by David Malakoff

Marine researchers are calling for international action to save the barndoor skate, which they fear could become the first salt water vertebrate to be fished to extinction. Last year, Canadian...

7 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Hidden Rainforest Losses

by Kevin Boyd

Enough Amazon rainforest to cover Connecticut was razed last year, according to satellite images. But a new survey, reported in tomorrow's issue of Nature, suggests the loss may be even...

7 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Pollutants Zapped From the Earth

by Meher Antia

In a technical tour de force, scientists have coaxed a toxic chemical out of contaminated soil without removing or incinerating the soil. The technique, reported in the 1 April issue...

5 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Earth Institute Director Bows Out

by Constance Holden

An ambitious attempt to bring scientists from diverse disciplines together to study global problems is about to get fresh leadership. Peter Eisenberger, the controversial director of Columbia University's Earth Institute,...

2 April 1999 | ScienceNOW

Airy Threat to Reefs

by Oliver Baker

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will slow the growth of coral reefs and possibly weaken their limestone skeletons during the next century, scientists predict. The finding, reported in...

26 March 1999 | ScienceNOW

Squawking for Sex

by Dan Ferber

Like rival men in a singles bar vying to attract the most beautiful woman, the males of a tropical shorebird called the bronze-winged jacana spend much of their time competing...

25 March 1999 | ScienceNOW

A Six-Legged Smoke Alarm

by Menno Schilthuizen

Almost any animal in its right mind will flee a burning forest, but there is one insect that does the opposite. The jewel beetle Melanophila just loves a good fire,...

17 March 1999 | ScienceNOW

Panel: Ecology First in Forest Management

by Charles Mann and Mark Plummer

Ecological goals, not economic interests, should take priority in managing the national forests and grasslands that cover more than 8% of the United States, according to an independent scientific panel...

10 March 1999 | ScienceNOW

Deep-Sea Shrimp Blinded by Science

by Robert Irion

When '80s pop star Thomas Dolby sang "She blinded me with science," little did he know that his bouncy lyric prophesied the fate of shrimp deep in the Atlantic. Researchers...

8 March 1999 | ScienceNOW

Payoff Seen From Keys Fishing Ban

by David Malakoff

A controversial attempt to rejuvenate fisheries in the Florida Keys appears to be paying off. In 1997, over the strong objections of some anglers, officials at the Florida Keys Marine...

5 March 1999 | ScienceNOW

Greenland's Shrinking Glaciers

by Robert Irion

Another effect of climate change has surfaced, this time on Greenland. A NASA team reports today in Science that the edges of the Northern Hemisphere's biggest ice cap shrank markedly...

11 February 1999 | ScienceNOW

Video Diaries of Antarctic Seals

by Robert Irion

They won't win an Oscar for best performance in an underwater role, but four seals in Antarctica have made a scientific splash by filming themselves in action. Infrared cameras glued...

4 February 1999 | ScienceNOW

UV Glare Gets Genes Jumping

by Kevin Boyd

A thinning ozone layer may ultimately send maverick DNA segments called transposons jumping throughout the genome of corn plants, according to a report in today's Nature. These nomads could lead...

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