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Science & Society

Lost wallets are more likely to be returned if they hold cash

Worldwide, return rates of lost wallets goes up as the money inside increases, contradicting the idea that people act in their own self-interest.

Animals

U.S. honeybees had the worst winter die-off in more than a decade

Colonies suffered from parasitic, disease-spreading Varroa mites. Floods and fire didn’t help.

Oceans

The world’s fisheries are incredibly intertwined, thanks to baby fish

A computer simulation reveals how one nation's management of its fish spawning grounds could significantly help or hurt another country's catch.

Neuroscience

Mice and bats’ brains sync up as they interact with their own kind

The brain activity of mice and bats aligns in social settings, a coordination that may hold clues about how social context influences behavior.

Genetics

DNA confirms a weird Greenland whale was a narwhal-beluga hybrid

DNA analysis of a skull indicates that the animal had a narwhal mother and beluga father.

Materials Science

50 years ago, bulletproof armor was getting light enough to wear

In 1969, bulletproof armor used boron carbide fibers. Fifty years later, bulletproof armor is drastically lighter and made from myriad materials.

Climate

Cold War–era spy satellite images show Himalayan glaciers are melting fast

Declassified spy satellite photographs reveal that glacier melt in the Himalayas has sped up dramatically in the last two decades.

Life

This body-on-a-chip mimics how organs and cancer cells react to drugs

The multiorgan system could help test new and existing drugs for effectiveness and unwanted side effects.

Chemistry

How seafood shells could help solve the plastic waste problem

Chitin and chitosan from crustacean shells could put a dent in the world’s plastic waste problem.

Physics

A computer model explains how to make perfectly smooth crepes

Here’s how to prepare thin pancakes that are perfectly smooth, according to science.

Life

‘Sneezing’ plants may spread pathogens to their neighbors

A “surface tension catapult” can fling dewdrops carrying fungal spores from water-repellent leaves.

Health & Medicine

Rotavirus vaccines may lower kids’ chances of getting type 1 diabetes

Vaccination against rotavirus is associated with a reduced incidence of type 1 diabetes in children, according to an analysis of U.S. insurance data.