Uncategorized
- Astronomy
The highest-energy photons ever seen hail from the Crab Nebula
An experiment in Tibet spotted photons with over 100 trillion electron volts of energy.
- Health & Medicine
New approaches may help solve the Lyme disease diagnosis dilemma
Lyme disease is hard to detect, but scientists are investigating new diagnostic approaches.
- Animals
Parasites ruin some finches’ songs by chewing through the birds’ beaks
Parasitic fly larvae damage the beaks of Galápagos finches, changing their mating songs and possibly causing females to pick males of a different species.
- Astronomy
The cosmic ‘Cow’ may be a strange supernova
New observations suggest the strange bright burst called the ‘Cow’ was a supernova, rather than a shredded star.
- Tech
How NASA’s portable atomic clock could revolutionize space travel
An atomic clock designed to enable self-driving spaceships and GPS-like navigation on other planets is about to take a yearlong test flight.
- 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.
