- Role of Kinship in Mass Strandings of Pilot Whales Questioned
- Pilot whales that have died in mass strandings in New Zealand and Australia included many unrelated individuals at each event, a new study concludes, challenging a popular assumption that whales follow each other onto the beach and to almost certain death because of familial ties.
- Bottlenose Dolphin Leaders More Likely to Lead Relatives Than Unrelated Individuals
- Traveling into uncharted territory in search of food can be a dangerous undertaking, but some bottlenose dolphins may benefit by moving through their habitat with relatives who may be more experienced or knowledgeable. It turns out that leaders in bottlenose dolphin groups in the Florida Keys are more likely to be related to the dolphins that follow them.
- Social Bees Mark Dangerous Flowers With Chemical Signals
- Scientists already knew that some social bee species warn their conspecifics when detecting the presence of a predator near their hive, which in turn causes an attack response to the possible predator. Researchers have now demonstrated that they also use chemical signals to mark those flowers where they have previously been attacked.
- Swarm Intelligence: New Collective Properties of Swarm Dynamics Uncovered
- A new study of animal swarms uncovers some new features of their collective behavior when overcrowding sets in. Swarming is the spontaneous organized motion of a large number of individuals. It is observed at all scales, from bacterial colonies, slime molds and groups of insects to shoals of fish, flocks of birds and animal herds. Now physicists have uncovered new collective properties of swarm dynamics.
- Tobacco Industry Appears to Have Evaded FDA Ban On 'Light' Cigarette Descriptors
- New research shows one year after the U.S. government passed a law banning such descriptors as "light," "mild," and "low" on cigarette packages, smokers can identify their brands because of color-coding that tobacco companies added to "light" packs after the ban. These findings suggest the companies have been able to evade the ban on misleading wording and still convey false and deceptive message that lights are safer than "regular" cigarettes.
- Using Hansfree Kit or Sending Texts Behind the Wheel Is as Dangerous as Being Twice Over Legal Alcohol Limit
- Scientists have compared the effects of mobile phone use while driving with the effects of alcohol using a simulation. Their experiment demonstrates that using a handsfree kit or sending text messages is the same as being above the legal alcohol limit.
- Americans and Religion Increasingly Parting
- Religious affiliation in the United States is at its lowest point since it began to be tracked in the 1930s, according to analysis of newly released survey data. Last year, one in five Americans claimed they had no religious preference, more than double the number reported in 1990.
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