How to Grow Your Own Saffron Crocus at Home
Saffron may be famous as one of the world’s most valuable spices, but you don’t need a commercial field or Mediterranean climate to try producing a small harvest yourself. With …
The Sea Slug That Steals Chloroplasts From Its Food
A tiny sea slug bites into an alga, sucks out its cellular contents and digests much of what it consumes. But some of the algal chloroplasts escape immediate destruction. Instead, …
The Barreleye Fish Sees Through Its Transparent Head
At first glance, the barreleye fish seems to have a fairly ordinary deep-sea face. Two small dark spots sit above its mouth, looking exactly where eyes ought to be. But …
How Click Beetles Flip Themselves Upright With a Single Snap
A click beetle stranded on its back does something extraordinary: instead of pushing against the ground with its legs, it bends its body, stores energy inside its thorax, and releases …
How the Draco Lizard Glides Using Its Own Ribs
The tropical forests of Asia are home to a lizard that can launch from a tree and travel through the air using a structure unlike the wings of birds or …
How to Propagate Succulents From a Single Leaf
Learning propagating succulents leaf cuttings is one of the easiest ways to turn a healthy succulent into several new plants without buying anything new. A single intact leaf from the …
Saving Pepper Seeds: How to Save Pepper Seeds for Next Year
Saving pepper seeds is an easy and rewarding way to preserve a favorite pepper variety for another growing season. When done correctly, saving pepper seeds lets you collect mature seeds …
Aye-Aye Middle Finger: How It Finds Hidden Prey
The aye-aye middle finger is one of the strangest feeding adaptations among primates. Extremely thin, long, and unusually mobile, this specialized finger helps the aye-aye locate and extract food hidden …
Why the Saiga Antelope Has Such a Strange Nose
Few mammals have a face quite like the saiga antelope. Hanging over its mouth is a large, flexible, downward-facing nose that can look almost trunk-like when viewed from the side. …
Why Mudpuppies Keep Their Gills Their Entire Lives
Most salamanders begin life in water with gills and later transform into adults better equipped for life on land. Mudpuppies take a very different path. The striking mudpuppy external gills …