[unable to retrieve full-text content]This is the story of a spider, small but bold. This particular arachnid, in fact, has helped to debunk the Great Man Theory, a 19th-century notion positing that highly influential individuals use their power -- be it personal charisma, intelligence, wisdom or political skill -- to maximize their impact in shaping...
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Invasive tree species: Call for action to tackle threat to a global biodiversity hotspot
[unable to retrieve full-text content]An invasive Australian tree is now posing a serious threat to a global diversity 'hotspot' in the natural forests of Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. The tree species, Pittosporum undulatum, known locally as 'mock orange', is threatening many rare and endangered species, some of which are found nowhere...
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Veterinary surgeons perform first-known brain surgery to treat hydrocephalus in fur seal
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A neurosurgical team has successfully performed what is believed to be a first-of-its-kind brain surgery on a Northern fur seal named Ziggy Star in an attempt to address her worsening neurologic condition. Ziggy, an adult female, is recovering well at her permanent home at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Conn....
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The Iberian brown bears do not descend from those fled from the north during the Ice Age
[unable to retrieve full-text content]According to the glacier refuges theory, after the last glaciations the bears of northern Europe sought shelter in the South. Researchers now reject this idea: they have reconstructed the colonization of brown bears in the Iberian Peninsula and have shown that the lineage of the Pleistocene bears was lost....
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Scientists should be super modelers
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Scholars and conservationists want to aim for the right future to preserve biodiversity and plan sustainable environments. One of those scholars is calling for due diligence to make sure the right data, not conventional wisdom, shapes that target....
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First-ever hybrid bird species from the Amazon
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Researchers have described the first known hybrid bird species to be found in the Amazon rainforest. Through a series of genetic and other tests the team have revealed that the golden-crowned manakin -- first discovered in Brazil in 1957 but not seen again until 2002 - is in fact a hybrid...
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