The New York Times, December 26, 2006

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If you happen across a pond full of croaking green frogs, listen carefully. Some of them may be lying.

A croak is how male green frogs tell other frogs how big they are. The bigger the male, the deeper the croak. The sound of a big male is enough to scare off other males from challenging him for his territory.

While most croaks are honest, some are not. Some small males lower their voices to make themselves sound bigger. Their big-bodied croaks intimidate frogs that would beat them in a fair fight.

Continue reading “Devious Butterflies, Full-Throated Frogs and Other Liars” →

The New York Times, December 26, 2006

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You may enjoy the smell of coffee in the morning, but it is not the coffee itself that you are smelling. The human nose can only smell molecules that escape liquid, float into the nostrils, and dissolve into the thin layer of slime coating the olfactory nerves. Stick your nose directly into the coffee, and you will be too busy coughing and sneezing to enjoy the bouquet.

Scientists have long assumed that smelling underwater, like smelling under coffee, was impossible for mammals.

“It was something that mammals couldn’t do,” said Dr. Kenneth C. Catania, a biologist at Vanderbilt University. But Dr. Catania has discovered, much to his surprise, that moles and shrews can do it. They did not evolve a radically new nose, however. They just starting blowing bubbles.

Continue reading “Adapted to Follow Their Noses Underwater” →