Background noise is generally regarded as a nuisance that can mask important sounds. But noise can be beneficial too. It can convey information about important environmental conditions and allow animals to make informed decisions. When bat researchers recorded and played back rain sounds for two different species of bats, both species chose to delay emergence from their roosts.

Amphibians are victims of lethal skin-disease epidemics. In the first global-scale study, researchers from 31 universities and research centers, including the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), collected skin bacteria from more than 2,300 healthy frogs and salamanders from 12 countries to describe microbes on a wide range of host animals to improve knowledge of the distribution of frog-skin bacteria, known to be important in maintaining amphibian health.

If you asked Mike Logan’s high school teachers whether they thought he would ever lead an international team of scientists in the first major experiment to show the genetic basis for animal adaptation to climate change in the wild, they probably would have laughed in your face. Mike, chosen to receive STRI’s coveted three-year Tupper post-doctoral fellowship in 2018, managed to graduate from high school, but he thinks his teachers just wanted to get rid of a disruptive student who made their lives miserable.