51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ

If someone wants to build a dragon, how can it be made to breathe fire? It seems that all the elements that can make a dragon breathe fire can be found in nature without the help of artificial flamethrowers.

No fantasy world is complete without a fire-breathing dragon. SpaceX founder Elon Musk even wants to make a cyborg version a reality, or so he tweeted April 25. But if someone was going to make a dragon happen, how would it get its flame? Nature, it seems, has all the parts a dragon needs to set the world on fire, no flamethrower required. The creature just needs a few chemicals, some microbes — and maybe tips from a tiny desert fish.

Reliably bringing all of the ingredients together without harming the dragon could, however, get explosive

Scientists study how animals hibernate and how doing so might benefit people

For a half-century, scientists have debated whether animals can hibernate for as little as a day

Frank Van Breukelen is a 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ researcher who studies Pupfish. He said the fish help scientists understand humans and evolution.

In the dark recesses of a tiny cave two hours northwest of Las Vegas, about 100 fish the size of your thumb live a very tough life.

Here’s a fish story for you: Five years ago, researchers at 51³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ launched what they expected to be a simple, one-week study of the endangered Devil’s Hole pupfish. What they netted instead was a metabolic mystery that seems to defy the rules of biology.