July 19, 2016

The buzz about nature vs. nurture in animal communication

Researchers at Cardiff University in Wales are buzzing about honeybee communication as they seek to discover if bees have regional accents. Bees have a repertoire of about 10 sounds that communicate different messages. Among these, their...

Gambian Mudskippers

July 13, 2016

Fish, robots, and math help scientists understand how early animals crawled onto land

A robot named MuddyBot and six tiny fish have helped American scientists figure out how the first tetrapod animals moved from oceans onto land about 360 million years ago. According to the study published this month...

Aedes aegypti mosquito

July 10, 2016

Gene drives: Application of CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to combat insect-borne diseases

Lions and tigers and bears may be dangerous, but when it comes to killing humans the record goes to a much smaller animal. It’s the mosquito and it’s got public health officials pretty worried this summer...

Visionlearning logo

July 4, 2016

New Visionlearning Design Launched

We’re excited to announce the launch of a redesigned Visionlearning site. It has a fresh look, but with the same excellent content for teaching and learning science. One new feature you’ll see on the site are...

Streptococcus pyogenes

July 3, 2016

CRISPR craze: Applications of genome editing

CRISPR-Cas9 genetic editing is in the news a lot, especially in connection with concerns that it will usher in an era of designer babies. The capability for editing the genome of human embryos for non-medical purposes...

June 27, 2016

New insights into a tiny mite’s appetite may help scientists protect honeybees

For the tiny Varroa mite, a honeybee colony is like a buffet with all your favorite foods. There are tender pupae, newly-emerged adults, middle-aged nurse bees, and grizzled, three-week-old foragers. With all those options, which bee’s...

June 20, 2016

Natural corridors may help species adapt to climate change

Imagine you’re sitting around a fire and someone throws on another log. It bursts into flames and soon, your seat gets too hot for your liking. What do you do? You move, right? That’s exactly what...

June 12, 2016

Searching for Life on Other Worlds: Overview of Missions

Astrobiology is a cherished topic in the science news. Many people love considering questions of what extraterrestrial life might be like, what it might have in common with Earth life, and how it might be different....

June 10, 2016

Protecting Salamander Biodiversity through Citizen Science

Amphibian populations around the world have significantly declined and are facing an extinction crisis. One culprit is Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, a fungus that has caused amphibian die-offs by the thousands in the Americas, Europe, Africa,...

June 5, 2016

Rethinking the value of the P

In scientific disciplines, researchers tend to view the world through what’s referred to as “an objectivist” lens, seeing “social phenomena and their meanings [as having] an existence that is independent of social actors” (Bryman, 2004). As...

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