Notebook
- Animals
Melatonin makes midshipman fish sing
Melatonin lets people sleep but starts male midshipman fish melodiously humming their hearts out.
- Climate
Extreme lightning events set records
A lightning flash stretching 321 kilometers across and one that lasted 7.74 seconds have been named the most extreme events on record, thanks to a new rule change.
- Materials Science
Superflexible, 3-D printed “bones” trigger new growth
New ultraflexible material could be the future of bone repair, but awaits human testing.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, noise was a nuisance (it still is)
In 1966, scientists warned of the physical and psychological dangers of a louder world.
- Oceans
Atlantic monument is home to unique and varied creatures
A region of ocean off the coast of Cape Cod has become the first U.S. marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Plants
Flower lures pollinators with smell of honeybee fear
When it comes to attracting pollinators, one flower species catches more flies with honeybees.
- Animals
Extreme bird nests bring comforts and catastrophe
Extreme bird nests of Southern Africa’s weaverbirds offer condo living in tough temperatures.
- Tech
Wi-Fi can help house distinguish between members
Using Wi-Fi, computers could one day identify individual family members in a smart home.
- Health & Medicine
It’s time to retire the five-second rule
Wet food can slurp bacteria off the floor in less than a second.
- Astronomy
Old-school contraptions still work for weighing astronauts
To weigh themselves, astronauts still use technology invented about 50 years ago.
- Astronomy
The sun isn’t the only light source behind that summer tan
About 99.999% of the light that creates a suntan comes from the sun; the rest comes from the Big Bang and galaxies throughout the universe.
- Genetics
To study Galápagos cormorants, a geneticist gets creative
To collect DNA from four cormorant species, this scientist called in bird scientists far and wide.
