Fight or flight, freeze and fright

Clouds of noxious gas, stink bombs and purple smokescreens may sound like schoolboy pranks, but the animal world is just as capable of executing arresting chemical warfare, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee

W hen a peacock mantis shrimp strikes, it generates the heat of a star. The crustacean retracts a spring-loaded mouthpart known as a dactyl club and puts it on a latch, like a cowboy cocking the hamme

Yossi Yovel The Genius Bat Understanding our most mysterious mammal 336pp. Oneworld. £20. Philosophy begins with wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. As for philosophy, so, and more so, for biolo

David Farrier Nature’s Genius Evolution’s lessons for a changing planet 288pp. Canongate. £20. In David Farrier’s latest book, he warns us that humanity is endangering every facet of life on Earth thr

w hether or not we have free will is a question philosophers have been debating for millennia. In the early 1980s, there was a brief moment when it appeared the debate may finally have been settled. T

In this new series, I’ll explore just how clever plants are, the complex ways in which they respond to the environment around them, the adaptations they make and the survival strategies they employ. I