Jake Buehler

Jake Buehler is a freelance science writer, covering natural history, wildlife conservation and Earth's splendid biodiversity, from salamanders to sequoias. He has a master's degree in zoology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

All Stories by Jake Buehler

  1. Life

    Mega El Niños kicked off the world’s worst mass extinction

    Long-lasting, widespread heat and weather extremes may have caused the Great Dying extinction event 252 million years ago.

  2. Life

    Remote seamounts in the southeast Pacific may be home to 20 new species

    A recent expedition to the intersection of two undersea mountain chains has revealed a new seamount and a rich world of deep-sea biodiversity.

  3. Animals

    This spider makes its home in the burrows of extinct giant ground sloths

    Caves made by extinct giant ground sloths make the perfect home for a newly discovered type of long-spinneret ground spider from Brazil.

  4. Animals

    Hundreds of snake species get a new origin story

    Elapoid snakes, including cobras, mambas and sea snakes, may have evolved in Asia, not Africa as many researchers once thought.

  5. Animals

    Pheromone fingers may help poison frogs mate

    Specialized glands in the fingertips of some males may produce seductive chemical signals.

  6. Plants

    This tentacled, parasitic ‘fairy lantern’ plant is new to science

    The bizarre new plant from Malaysia parasitizes subterranean fungi and only briefly erupts from the soil to flower.

  7. Paleontology

    Early ants may have had complex social lives, fossil data suggests

    The earliest ants may have been primed for a highly social life — 100 million years ago, the insects had antennae tuned to key communication functions.

  8. Life

    The largest known genome belongs to a tiny fern

    Though 'Tmesipteris oblanceolata' is just 15 centimeters long, its genome dwarfs humans’ by more than 50 times.

  9. Animals

    Tiger beetles may weaponize ultrasound against bats

    In response to recordings of echolocating bats, tiger beetles emit noises that mimic toxic moths that bats avoid.

  10. Animals

    Glowing octocorals have been around for at least 540 million years

    Genetic and fossil analyses shine a light on how long the invertebrates have had bioluminescence — a trait thought to be volatile.

  11. Life

    This marine alga is the first known eukaryote to pull nitrogen from air

    An alga’s bacterial symbiote has evolved into an organelle that turns atmospheric nitrogen into ammonia, making the alga unique among eukaryotes.

  12. Neuroscience

    Chickadees use memory ‘bar codes’ to find their hidden food stashes

    Unique subsets of neurons in a chickadee’s memory center light up for each distinct cache, hinting at how episodic memories are encoded in the brain.