Animals

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Feather Under a Microscope Will Blow Your Mind

Feathers: ancient, engineered, and way more than just for flight. Our friend Chloé Savard, also known as tardibabe on Instagram headed to Bonaventure Island and Percé Rock National Park and a feather from a Northern Gannet (Morus Bassanus) which sparked a...
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How Monarchs Migrate 3,000 Miles

Each fall, millions of monarch butterflies take off on an extraordinary migration from the northeastern U.S. and Canada to the high-altitude forests of central Mexico. But here’s the twist: most monarchs only live a few weeks, so how do they make the full...
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Ocean Life Up Close: Inside the Hidden World of Plankton

Welcome to the planktonverse. Our friend Chloé Savard headed to the sea and found a tiny world of marine microorganisms.
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Tardigrades Up Close: Microscopic Life Revealed

How can you observe tardigrades? You take a look at moss: their natural habitat! Our friend Chloé Savard took a look and found tardigrades from two genera: Milnesium and Macrobiotus.
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Baby Armadillo Born: First Look at Backpack!

Backpack is a screaming hairy armadillo, one of only four born in human care since 2020. Backpack is now part of a global conservation effort through the Species Survival Plan. This program helps protect rare animals by building healthy, genetically...
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Face-to-Face with a White Shark: Keith Ellenbogen’s Unexpected Encounter

While diving off the coast, Arts at MIT Visiting Artist Keith Ellenbogen came face-to-face with a white shark. But what occurred wasn’t a threat. The shark simply studied him, calm, focused, and seemingly aware of his presence. In that moment, Keith...
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Why Desert Lizards Sneeze

Rocky, a common chuckwalla, lives in a desert where water is scarce. Her body filters salt from her bloodstream through special nasal glands. When enough builds up, she sneezes it out, leaving behind crusty white marks.
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Sharks Aren’t the Threat: Busting the Biggest Myth

Chris Fischer of OCEARCH breaks down why white sharks are vital to ocean health. As apex predators, they protect fish stocks and keep ecosystems balanced.
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Can Jellyfish Sting Without Even Touching You?

After 500 million years of peaceful drifting, moon jellyfish are turning dangerous. Off of Cape Cod in the U.S., swimmers are being stung, sometimes just by mucus in the water.
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Glowing Scorpion?! The Science Behind It

Meet Kronk, an emperor scorpion! He has a hyaline layer, a thin outer coating, filled with compounds that absorb ultraviolet rays and re-emit them as vivid blue-green fluorescence on the visible spectrum.
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Tarantula’s Fluffy but Fierce Defense

Meet Viola, a Honduran curly haired tarantula whose curls hide a surprising defense: she can flick tiny barbed hairs from her abdomen towards a predator’s face, causing irritation to the eyes, nose, or mouth that’s painful enough to stop an attack.
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One Shark. 15 Minutes. Groundbreaking Science!

Chris Fischer, founder of OCEARCH, explains how they have mastered the art of shark research, safely lifting white sharks for tagging, tracking, and real-time health checks.
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How Flowers Use Color to Attract Birds & Bees

How do flowers attract bees that can’t even see red? They’ve evolved visual signals tuned to the eyes of their pollinators.
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Shark Tagging Guided by Behavior

Mary Lee wouldn’t take the bait, so OCEARCH scientists adapted, hand-hooking her based on observed behavior to safely bring her aboard. That pivot made tagging possible and unlocked years of valuable white shark migration data.
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What Happens When a Gecko Loses Its Tail?

You’re about to witness one of the most surprising survival tricks in the animal kingdom—and it starts with a dropped tail. Meet Knox, a leopard gecko who can shed his tail when threatened. But it doesn’t stop there. The tail keeps wiggling on the ground...