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In winter, when temperatures dip below freezing and food supplies dwindle, some animals enter hibernation—an inactive state in which metabolism nearly stops, body temperature drops, and heart rate may slow to one or two beats a minute. Though the exact stimulus that triggers hibernation is unknown, infusing an extract from the blood of a hibernating animal into an active potenti...

The life cycle of fig wasps is intimately intertwined with that of the fig trees they inhabit. It begins when a female wasp enters the fruit through a natural opening and deposits her eggs inside, pollinating the inner flowers in the process. Next, non-pollinating wasps deposit their eggs. After maturing inside the fig, male offspring's only jobs are to mate with the females—whi...

In Mexico and parts of Central America, el Día de los Muertos, or "the Day of the Dead," is a time when families and friends gather to pray for and remember loved ones who have died. Altars made of flowers, sugar skulls, and the favorite foods of the dead are often erected for the holiday, observed on the first two days of November to coincide with the Christian All Saint...

In the Pacific Ocean, there is a vortex of ocean currents that occupies an area of approximately 10 million square miles (26 million sq km). Called the North Pacific Gyre, it has a relatively stationary center whose circular rotation draws in waste material, leading to a massive, floating accumulation of debris known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Though such debris has his...

The third largest lake in Africa and ninth largest in the world, Lake Malawi is bounded on the west and south by Malawi, on the east by Mozambique, and on the north by Tanzania. Also known as Lake Nyasa—so named by Scottish missionary David Livingstone in 1859—it is approximately 360 miles (580 km) long with an average width of 25 miles (40 km). Fed by 14 rivers, it is home to m...