Biology

This fish doesn’t rely on its eyes to tell if it got its color camouflage right -- it uses its skin.
Without a mirror, it can be hard to tell if you’re blushing, or have spinach in your teeth. But one color-changing fish has evolved a clever way to keep watch on the parts of itself that lie outside its field of view -- by sensing light with its skin. Credit: James St. John, via Wikimedia Commons

August 22, 2023

This Fish Doesn’t Just See With Its Eyes -- It Also Sees With Its Skin.

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Found in lakes and rivers worldwide, single-celled creatures like these Paramecium bursaria can both eat and photosynthesize. Microbes like this play a double role in climate change, releasing or absorbing carbon dioxide -- the heat-trapping greenhouse gas that is the primary driver of warming -- depending on whether they rely on an animal-like lifestyle or a plant-like lifestyle. Credit: Daniel J. Wieczynski.
Found in lakes and rivers worldwide, single-celled creatures like these Paramecium bursaria can both eat and photosynthesize. Microbes like this play a double role in climate change, releasing or absorbing carbon dioxide -- the heat-trapping greenhouse gas that is the primary driver of warming -- depending on whether they rely on an animal-like lifestyle or a plant-like lifestyle. Credit: Daniel J. Wieczynski.

June 1, 2023

Little-Known Microbes Could Help Predict Climate Tipping Points

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