Science Quickly

Western ears consider a pitch at double the frequency of a lower pitch to be the same note, an octave higher. The Tsimane’, an indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon basin, do not. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

BBC and Netflix nature documentaries consistently shy away from showing viewers the true extent to which we’ve damaged the planet. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A slight temperature difference at night between a surface losing heat and the surrounding air can be harnessed to generate electricity to power lights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Homo erectus used hand axes to butcher elephants and other game. But a new study suggests they also used finer, more sophisticated blades. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microplastic particles are everywhere, but in freshwater systems, 60 percent of particles are clothing lint from laundry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A study finds no deleterious effects on mental health when kids spend their leisure time texting and engaging in other online activities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the little structures grow, their constituents specialize into different types of brain cells, begin to form connections and emit brain waves. They could be useful models for development and neurological conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Squirrels constantly scan their surroundings for hawks, owls and other predators. But they also surveil for threats by eavesdropping on bird chatter. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lava flow records and sedimentary and Antarctic ice core data show evidence of planetary magnetic field activity 20,000 years before the beginning of the last pole reversal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the Kermadec Islands, humpbacks from all over the South Pacific converge and swap songs. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Better food labeling could prevent people from throwing away a lot of “expired” food that’s still perfectly edible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The conditions of sunlight, temperature, humidity and wind that make cropland good for agriculture also maximize solar panel efficiency. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s not easy to recycle polyurethane, so it’s usually tossed out or burned. But a chemical tweak can turn polyurethane into glue. Christine Herman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wild animals that live near humans have higher cholesterol than their rural counterparts—and our food could be to blame. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Hurricane Dorian approaches Florida, consider that feeding style means that aggressive tangle-web spider colonies produce more offspring after severe weather, while docile colonies do better in calm conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A small patch of graphene on human skin seemed to block the mosquitoes’ ability to sense certain molecules that trigger a bite. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microbes fly tens of miles over Chile’s dry, UV-blasted Atacama Desert—and scientists say the same could happen on Mars. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A program at the University of Illinois trains indigenous scientists in genomics—in hopes that future work will be aimed at benefiting those communities. Christine Herman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Military Academy cadets wear the colors black, gray and gold for reasons found in gunpowder’s chemistry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists found an interstellar iron isotope in Antarctic snow samples—which hints that our region of the universe may be the remnant of an ancient exploding star. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some people go on dates just to score a free meal—a phenomenon known as a “foodie call.” But it takes a certain personality type. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers trained machine-learning algorithms to read Amazon reviews for hints that a food product would be recalled by the FDA. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slight changes around the eyes are indeed a giveaway as to whether a smile is sincere or faked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers slowed the approach of greedy gulls by an average of 21 seconds by staring at the birds versus looking elsewhere. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Honest, involuntary laughter cued people to laugh more at some really bad jokes than they did when hearing forced laughter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By killing off many of New Zealand’s endemic birds, humans destroyed 50 million years’ worth of evolutionary history. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly half of bacteria gathered in public settings around the city were resistant to two or more commonly used antibiotics, such as penicillin and erythromycin. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mating is risky business for black widow males—so they hitchhike on the silk threads left by competitors to more quickly find a mate. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Babies as young as a year and a half want leaders to fix situations in which they see someone else being treated unfairly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Released or escaped parrots are now living in most states and are breeding in at least 21. For some, it’s a second chance at survival. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few brief reports about international science and technology from Guatemala to Australia, including one about the first recorded tornado in Nepal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Photographs snapped by safari tourists are a surprisingly accurate way to assess populations of African carnivores. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Computer modeling revealed that insects with a celestial compass can likely determine direction down to just a couple degrees of error. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Engineer John Houbolt pushed for a smaller ship to land on the lunar surface while the command module stayed in orbit around the moon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just before Neil Armstrong climbed back into the lunar module, he scooped up a few last-minute soil samples--which upturned our understanding of planetary formation. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers dissected the jaws of ants infected with the Ophiocordyceps fungus to determine how the fungus hijacks the ants' behavior. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Youths rated as attractive were less likely to have negative encounters with the criminal justice system—but only if they were women. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A proof-of-concept study got transgenic tobacco plants to make a useful enzyme in their chloroplasts, not nuclei, minimizing chances for transfer to other organisms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting in 2017, an artificial intelligence monitoring system at the Welgevonden Game Reserve in South Africa has been helping to protect rhinos and their caretakers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The pack produces a steady trickle of electricity from the swinging motion of your stuff. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of the 2019 edition of the Major League baseball points to reasons why it's leaving ballparks at a record rate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lab analysis found that even an all-beef frankfurter had very little skeletal muscle, or "meat." So what’s in there? Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People who spent at least two hours outside—either all at once or totaled over several shorter visits—were more likely to report good health and psychological well-being. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geneticist Natalie Telis noticed few women asking questions at scientific conferences. So she publicized the problem and set about to make a change. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Males that allow females to take food right out of their mouths are more likely to sire offspring with their dining companions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By switching fruit flies' sensory neurons on and off with light, scientists were able to create the sensation of sweet or bitter tastes. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wheat plants' leaves repel water, which creates the perfect conditions for dew droplets to catapult off the leaves—taking pathogenic spores for the ride. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mice that were fed bacteria isolated from elite athletes logged more treadmill time than other mice that got bacteria found in yogurt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few brief reports about international science and technology from Canada to Kenya, including one about how humans thousands of years ago in what is now Argentina butchered and presumably ate giant ground sloths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rather than wiping microbes out, antiperspirants and foot powders increased the diversity of microbial flora in armpits and between toes. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices