Discovery reports on a Binghampton University study that suggests female water striders prefer less aggressive males, and in fact produce more eggs when mating with them. Lovable dork and guest columnist Cynthia Mills writes: READ MORE

Remember that hot Science Times article from this summer explicating just how fireflies' light flashes are a call-and-response mating system? "In at least some species," wrote bug smut peddler Carl Zimmer, of stuff he learned from Tufts University evolutionary ecologist Dr. Sara Lewis. "Females may use flashes to pick out males with the biggest gifts." ("Nuptial gifts" being coiled packages of protein males fireflies inject into female fireflies along with their sperm.) Well, turns out that the phosphorescent flashes serve another, less sexy purpose, too. READ MORE