Shark-eating shark snapped in Australia

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• It's a shark-eat-shark world out there. Or so researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found out while diving on the Great Barrier Reef. They discovered a tasselled wobbegong shark (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon) tucking into a meal of another shark. Wobbegongs usually lie in wait on the sea floor for a passing fish or a tasty invertebrate to swim [..]

‘Space diver’ to attempt first supersonic freefall

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• A "space diver" will try to smash the nearly 50-year-old record for the highest jump this year, becoming the first person to go supersonic in freefall. The stunt could help engineers design escape systems for space flights. On 16 August 1960, US Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger made history by jumping out of a balloon at an altitude of some 31,333 [..]

Nerve probe controls cyborg moth in flight

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• Government spooks want cyborg insects to snoop on their enemies. Biologists want to tap into the nervous systems of insects to understand how they fly. A probe that can be implanted into moths to control their flight could help satisfy both parties. One day, it could even help rehabilitate people who have had strokes. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency [..]

Most fish in the sea evolved on land

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• Family histories don't come much more bizarre. Three-quarters of the fish in the sea can trace their origins back to a freshwater ancestor. The finding highlights how important rivers and lakes are as a source of new species, just as that supply is under threat from disappearing freshwater habitats. Fish first evolved in the sea. The oceans have been teeming with [..]

The only primate to communicate in pure ultrasound

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• A tarsier could be screaming its head off and you would never know it. Uniquely among primates, some of the diminutive mammal's calls are made up of pure ultrasound. Marissa Ramsier of Humboldt State University in California and her colleagues were puzzled to sometimes hear no sound when Philippine tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta) opened their mouths as if to call. Placing 35 [..]