Halloween Headlines

What a great holiday—monsters, creepy animals, scary costumes, and more! Here are some of our favorite science news stories with a bit of a spooky angle.

Best video!

NPR produced this wonderful video on the science and history of pumpkins—it’s hilarious and informative! (I didn’t know that pumpkins, winter squash and summer squash are all the same species! Super cool!)

Want something a little more frightful? Carl Zimmer has some zombie videos at National Geographic.

Speaking of Zombies…

Wired has more zombie videos and zombie info, including disco snails. And the Academy’s president, John Hafernik of San Francisco State University, was on NPR this morning talking about Zombees.

Other Bees

Slate teaches you how to survive killer bees, but hornets have no protection from these Japanese bees from hell, according to Robert Krulwich.

Bats

Halloween’s favorite mammal—bats—are fully covered this week—from photos, to cool facts, to myths debunked.

Vampires

We’ve heard of vampire bats, but did you also know there are vampire squirrels and vampire frogs? Watch out!

Spiders

If you want a spider taco, head to Mexico City, according to this New York Times video. But if you want a house full of 4,000 venomous spiders, or a four-acre spider web, you don’t have to leave the U.S. Lucky you!

Animal costumes

Some animals don’t need costumes, but some people need costumes to protect animals.

Leftover candy

Can Halloween candy power the world? What happens to your body when you die? What are the seven creepiest science experiments of all time? (Hint: one involves crows and Dick Cheney!)

Image: José Antonio Gil Martínez/Wikipedia