Science Quickly
1,942 episodes — Page 22 of 39
Join <i>Blue Planet II</i> Live-Tweet
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
Big-Boned Chickens May Be Humans' Geologic Legacy
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
Ancient Marine Reptiles Had Familiar Gear
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
Little Aphids Ride Big Ones to Safety
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
Utah's Deserts Are Bee Hotspots
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
Who's a Smart Dog?!
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
Data Reveals Most Influential Movies
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
Blue Whales Have Changed Their Tune
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 Speed Showers
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
Mars Mission Makes Clean Landing
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
Do Wine over Those Brussels Sprouts
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
Rains Bring a Microbial Massacre to Chilean Desert
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
Consensual Hugs Seem to Reduce Stress
People who had a conflict in a given day but also got hugged were not as affected by the negative interaction as were their unhugged counterparts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
World's Largest Organism Faces Bleak Future
The single organism that is the Utah aspen grove known as Pando is on the decline due to herbivores wiping out its youngest tree outgrowths Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
U.S. Immigrants Leave Country&mdash;and Microbes&mdash;Behind
Immigrants to the U.S. lose their native mix of gut microbes almost immediately after arriving in the U.S.—which researchers can't quite explain. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Science News Briefs from All over
A few very brief reports about international science and technology from Alaska to Indonesia, including one on offshore dairy farming from the Netherlands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Babies and Chimps Share a Laugh
Adult humans laugh primarily on the exhale, but human babies laugh on the inhale and the exhale—as do chimps. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Singing Fish Reveal Underwater Battles in the Amazon
Researchers recorded piranha "honks" and catfish "screeches" in the Peruvian Amazon, which might illuminate fish activity in murky jungle waters. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Social Construct of Race Imposes Biology
Anthropologist Jennifer Raff argues that race is culturally created, but has biological consequences. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pandas Swoon to Particular Croons
Listening to the sounds panda pairs make when they're introduced could lead to better breeding success. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
First Benefit of Knowing Your Genome
The "low hanging fruit" of genome-related health care will be knowing which drugs are likely to treat you best, says science journalist Carl Zimmer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For Halloween, Consider the Chocolate Midge
A tiny fly, related to biting no-see-ums, pollinates cacao trees and enables our chocolate cravings. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dolphins Dumb Down Calls to Compete with Ship Noise
Bottlenose dolphins simplify and raise the pitch of their whistles to be heard above underwater shipping noise. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Asocial Octopuses Become Cuddly on MDMA
Octopuses react to MDMA much like humans do. And not surprisingly, given their anatomy, the animals are excellent huggers. Annie Sneed reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wild Songbirds Can Pick Up New Tunes
Researchers taught two dozen wild sparrows new songs, by playing them the recordings of sparrows that live thousands of miles away. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Health Care Let Neandertals "Punch above Their Weight"
By caring for their sick and injured, Neandertals were able to expand into more dangerous environments and pursue more deadly prey. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nice People Have Emptier Wallets
A study correlating personality traits with financial data found that agreeable people had lower savings, higher debt and higher bankruptcy rates. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Solar Eclipse Was a Buzzkill for Bees
Bees suddenly fell silent when the sun disappeared during last year's solar eclipse—perhaps because they were tricked into night mode. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Confident Tone Overcomes Accent Distrust
English as-a-first-language Canadian study subjects were less trusting of statements in English spoken with a foreign accent, unless the speaker sounded confident about their assertion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mom's Genes Make Some Giraffes Hard to Spot
Baby giraffes inherit aspects of their mothers' patterning—which could give them a survival advantage if good camouflage runs in the family. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Economics Nobel Highlights Climate Action Necessity
William Nordhaus shared the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, "for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis,” with Paul Romer, "for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Highway Crossings Protect Migrating Pronghorns&mdash;and Motorists
Twice a year, thousands of pronghorn antelope and mule deer migrate through Wyoming, and newly built highway crossings are sparing the lives of animals—and motorists. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Beer Fermentation Hops Along
The bittering agents called hops have enzymes that chew up starch and unleash more fermentable sugar—which can boost alcohol and CO2 in the finished brew. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nobel in Chemistry for New and Useful Chemical Entities via Evolutionary Principles
Frances H. Arnold, George P. Smith and Gregory P. Winter share the 2018 chemistry Nobel for developing evolutionary-based techniques that lead to the creation of new chemical entities with useful properties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nobel in Physics for Controlling Laser Light
Arthur Ashkin, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland share the 2018 physics Nobel for their work with lasers that have led to numerous practical applications, such as eye surgery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nobel for Helping the Immune System Fight Cancer
James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo share the Nobel Prize for their work on harnessing the cancer patient's own immune system to destroy tumors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Blasey Ford Spells Out Trauma Memory Formation
Christine Blasey Ford's professional expertise came into play during her testimony regarding the Supreme Court nomination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Scanning Ancient Civilizations from the Skies
An aerial laser scan of more than 800 square miles of Guatemalan jungle revealed Maya buildings, canals, roads and bridges. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Antifreeze Surface Fights Ice with Ice
Patterning a surface with tiny stripes of ice prevents frost formation on the rest of the surface—a technique that could keep planes or roads frost-free. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Scale Can Measure Medicine&mdash;and Play a Scale, Too
Researchers have designed a musical instrument that can detect counterfeit drugs by the pitch of its notes. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Diverse Tree Portfolio Weathers Droughts Better
Forests with numerous tree species, and therefore a mix of water-management strategies, appear more tolerant of drought. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pirates Needed Science, Too
On International Talk Like a Pirate Day, here's an eye-patch-witness account of how science helps in all peg-leg walks of life, even piracy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sea Otters' Powerful Paw Prey Perception
The marine mammals have extraordinarily sensitive touch—which helps them nab prey in the absence of other sensory cues. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Science News Briefs from Around the World
A few very brief reports about science and technology from around the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Genetic Tweak Gave Early Humans a Leg Up
A mutation in a key gene may have endowed humans with superior endurance—allowing them to compete better with other animals on the savanna. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Earlier Springs May Mean Mistimed Bird Migrations
Springtime's arriving earlier across North America. But the degree of change isn't the same everywhere, which could spell trouble for migratory birds. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Survey the Wildlife of the "Great Indoors"
Biologists are enlisting citizen scientists to poke around under the sink and behind the curtains, for wildlife living in the "great indoors." Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When Neutron Stars Collide
Astrophysicists have gotten a better glimpse at what happens to crashing neutron stars by listening in on the electromagnetic echoes of the collision. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bonnethead Sharks Are Underwater Lawn Mowers
The hammerhead relatives consume copious amounts of sea grass, and have the digestive machinery to process it—making them true omnivores. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hurricane Is a Natural Selection Experiment
When Hurricane Irma blew through the Turks and Caicos, lizards with shorter hindlimbs lucked out. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices