News
- Animals
Most bats don’t echolocate in broad daylight. Here’s an exception
Egyptian fruit bats in Tel Aviv regularly navigate by sound during midday hours to avoid obstacles and forage, despite their excellent vision.
- Astronomy
A newly discovered planet renews debate about how some giant worlds form
An implosion of gas may have given birth to this young exoplanet, which orbits too far from its star to have been built up bit by bit, researchers say.
- Archaeology
This hieroglyph is the oldest known record of the Maya calendar
Plaster fragments with the markings date to at least 200 B.C. and indicate that the calendar system, still used today, might be centuries older.
- Planetary Science
This is the biggest known comet in our solar system
The nucleus of comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is about 120 kilometers across — about twice the width of Rhode Island — and is darker than coal.
- Anthropology
How ancient, recurring climate changes may have shaped human evolution
Climate changes drove where Homo species lived over the last 2 million years, with a disputed ancestor giving rise to H. sapiens, a new study claims.
- Agriculture
More than 57 billion tons of soil have eroded in the U.S. Midwest
Researchers discovered startling soil erosion rates in the Midwest. Farming has worsened erosion, but no-till practices and cover crops can help.
- Science & Society
Ukrainian identity solidified for 30 years. Putin ignored the science
Social scientists have mapped Ukrainian allegiances shifting from Russia toward Ukraine since the country’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
- Climate
Climate change intensified deadly storms in Africa in early 2022
Tropical storms battered southeast Africa in quick succession from January through March, leading to hundreds of deaths and widespread damage.
- Planetary Science
New thermal maps of Neptune reveal surprising temperature swings
Neptune's atmospheric temperatures show a global drop and later, a weird isolated spike at the south pole. Scientists don't yet know why.
- Life
How a mound-building bird shapes its Australian ecosystem
In Australia’s mallee woodlands, malleefowl dutifully construct mounds to incubate their eggs, redistributing nutrients across the landscape.
- Planetary Science
Mars has two speeds of sound
High-pitched clacks from a laser on NASA’s Perseverance rover zapping rocks traveled faster than the lower-pitched hum of the Ingenuity helicopter’s blades.
- Particle Physics
The W boson might be extra hefty. If so, it could hint at new physics
A new measurement of the W boson’s mass, made by smashing particles together, reveals a potential crack in physics’ standard model.
