Phones constantly move between hands, pockets, bags, tables, public spaces, and sometimes bathrooms.
Studies have found that mobile-phone surfaces can carry diverse bacteria, including microbes transferred from human skin and the surrounding...
Plants don't have nerves or brains, but they can still detect mechanical stimulation.
Touching, wind, rain, and physical contact can activate cellular signals and alter how some plants grow.
A famous example is the sensitive plant, Mimosa...
Humans have three types of cone cells used for color vision, but many birds have four.
That additional cone can make birds sensitive to ultraviolet wavelengths invisible to human eyes.
As a result, feathers, fruit, flowers, and even other birds...
Trees release large quantities of water vapor through transpiration.
They also emit natural compounds that can undergo chemical reactions in the atmosphere and contribute to particles involved in cloud processes.
Across large forests...
A snail doesn't chew with teeth arranged in jaws like ours.
Instead, many have a ribbon-like feeding structure called a radula, covered with rows of microscopic tooth-like structures.
As the animal feeds, the radula can scrape material from...
Stones have been found inside the stomachs of crocodilians, and they're known as gastroliths.
Researchers have proposed several possible functions, including helping with digestion and influencing buoyancy while the animal is in water...