Science Quickly

When researchers fed mosquitoes a drug used to treat people for obesity, the insects were less interested in hunting for their next human meal ticket. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deer populations have exploded in North American woodlands, changing forest ecology—and how sounds, like birdsong, travel through the trees. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elephants have six sets of teeth over their lives, sometimes two sets at once. At those times, they can extract more nutrition from food and put on weight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rover Opportunity has called it quits after working for more than 14 years on Mars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Although millennials' memory of recent pop tunes drops quickly, their ability to identify top hits from the 1960s through 1990s remains moderately high. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conservation biologists can track the whereabouts of endangered species by the sounds they make, avoiding cumbersome trackers and tags. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An environmental assessment of the nation's largest desalination plant finds mixed results. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humpback populations from the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet up south of Africa and trade song stylings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adult humans, as well as mice, slept better when gently rocked. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By turning off certain brain cells, researchers were able to make mice sense painful stimuli—but not the associated discomfort. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Javelin throwers chucking replicas of Neandertal spears were able to hit targets farther away, and with greater force than previously thought to be possible. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers built a small, flexible device that harvests wi-fi, bluetooth and cellular signals, and turns them into DC electricity. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few brief reports about international science and technology from Papua New Guinea to Kazakhstan, including one on the slow slide of Mount Etna in Italy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cod egg survival stays high with limited warming, but plummets when the temperature rises a few degrees Celsius in their current spawning grounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A species of hermit crab appears to have evolved a large penis to enable intercourse without leaving, and thus possibly losing, its adopted shell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By coupling audio recordings with satellite data and camera traps, ecologists can keep their eyes—and ears—on protected tropical forests. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though Saturn formed about 4.5 billion years ago, its rings were added relatively recently—only 100 million to 10 million years ago. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Detroit residents declined an offer of free street trees—but were more willing to accept them if they had a say in the type of tree. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A total lunar eclipse will grace the skies this Sunday, January 20—and it may or may not be red. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Mona Lisa effect is the illusion that the subject of a painting follows you with her gaze, despite where you stand. But da Vinci's famous painting doesn't have that quality. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ants infected with fungal pathogens steer clear of other cliques within the colony—avoiding wider infection, and allowing for a sort of immunity. Lucy Huang reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate change is shifting population numbers and nest building by resident and migratory birds in Europe—sometimes leading to deadly conflict. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In animal studies, a set of 24 genes involved in neural development, learning and memory, and cognition, seem to be associated with monogamy. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Subject who saw a Superman poster were more likely to offer help than were people who saw another image. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists are working to correct a genetic defect in cystic fibrosis patients by having them inhale RNA. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than a quarter of the seedlings sampled at native plant nurseries were infected with pathogens—which could hamper restoration work. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Users of the social network said they'd require payment of more than $1,000 to quit the platform for one year. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few brief reports about international science and technology from Germany to Rwanda, including one on the discovery of the world's oldest known brewery, discovered in Israel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pine needles can easily be broken down into sugars as well as the building blocks of paint, adhesives and medicines. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fructose and sucrose can make it all the way to the colon, where they spell a sugary death sentence for beneficial bacteria. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new algorithm raises parking rates in busy neighborhoods and lowers them elsewhere, guaranteeing free parking spots regardless of location. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry, also makes food, and food smells, irresistibly appealing. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Peafowls' head crests are specifically tuned to the vibrations produced by feather-rattling male peacocks, thus acting as a sort of antenna. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new study suggests that, unconsciously, we actually do believe that looking exerts a slight force on the things being looked at. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So-called "relaxation music" is only about as effective as a soothing Chopin piece at lulling listeners into a relaxed state. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hormone irisin encourages bone remodeling, in part by first triggering another substance that encourages some bone breakdown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bahia's broad-snout casque-headed tree frog needs a pool to raise its young that's just right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A particular set of brain neurons may be behind registering itch and inducing us to scratch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting December 16, ocean scientists will live-tweet the BBC documentary series Blue Planet II, available via Netflix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions of years from now, the geologic record of the "Anthropocene" will be littered with plastics, yes, but also chicken bones. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ichthyosaurs had traits in common with turtles and modern marine mammals, like blubber and countershading camouflage. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When trouble lurks, juvenile aphids drop off of the plants they're eating and hitch a ride on bigger aphid escapees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration is shrinking Utah's desert monuments, stripping some federal protections for wild pollinators. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An estimate of dog intelligence requires looking at non-dogs as well to understand what's special to canines and what is just typical of the taxonomic groups they're in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By analyzing the network connections between 47,000 films on IMDb, researchers found the most influential films ever made. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last few decades blue whale calls have been getting lower in pitch—and a rebound in their numbers may be the reason. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Smart meters on showerheads encouraged hotel guests to conserve—even though they personally saved no money. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The sounds of the Mars InSight Mission control room during the tense minutes leading to the landing on the surface. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Taking a swig of red wine before eating Brussels sprouts appears to moderate Brussels sprouts' polarizing flavor. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Freak heavy rainstorms in 2015 and 2017 wiped out many dry-adapted microbes in the Atacama Desert, useful info in the search for life off Earth. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices