Science Quickly

An intrepid undergrad led the way to understanding the physics of snapping strands of spaghetti. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few very brief reports about science and technology from around the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Costa Rican scientists are extracting valuable materials from the peel and stubble of pineapples. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mosquitoes want your blood for its proteins...or simply to hydrate on a hot, dry day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Digital assistants have to respond quickly, but correctly—so researchers are studying how real humans navigate that trade-off, to design better machines. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The birds are arriving in the Arctic up to 13 days earlier than they used to. But at a cost: hunger. Annie Sneed reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fire ants tunnels got excavated efficiently by only a small percentage of the group doing most of the work, thus avoiding pileups in tight spaces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Genetic information from the bones of macaws found in abandoned pueblos suggests they were bred and distributed as a commodity. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Milkweed grown with more carbon dioxide in the air supplies fewer toxins to monarch butterflies that need the toxins to fight off gut parasites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crows are what's known as "partial migrants"—as cold weather approaches, some crows fly south whereas others stay put. And that behavior appears to be ingrained. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 80 percent of Earth's biomass is plant life, with humans about equal to krill way down the heft chart. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Michigan Scientific Literacy Survey of 2017 found that last year's total solar eclipse got Americans more interested in celestial science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The insects fashion and use "baffles"—sound controllers—made of leaves to produce sound more efficiently. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers programmed a computer to compare structures and toxic effects of different chemicals, making it possible to then predict the toxicity of new chemicals based on their structural similarity to known ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both men and women tended to pursue mates just 25 percent more desirable than themselves—suggesting they are "optimistic realists." Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whale ancestors probably never had teeth and baleen at the same time, and only developed baleen after trying toothlessness and sucking in prey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A variety of corn from Oaxaca, Mexico, has aerial roots that harbor nitrogen-fixing bacteria, allowing the corn to suck nitrogen straight from the air. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Birds become good at avoiding danger by eavesdropping on the alarm calls of other birds—and the learning occurs without even seeing their peers or predators. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of the Hong Kong metro found microbes, including some with antibiotic resistance genes, freshly disperse throughout the system each day. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Different people have differing aptitudes for observing small changes and particular features. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About 5 percent of crows will attempt to copulate with other crows that have joined the choir invisible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Certain proteins that coordinate the healing response are present at higher levels in oral tissue—meaning wounds in the mouth fix faster. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 2,500 scientists signed a letter saying that an expanded U.S.–Mexico border wall would threaten both biodiversity and scientific research. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers used a couple of hundred dollars worth of materials to turn a wall into a giant touch screen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By analyzing the proteins in ancient dental plaque, archaeologists determined that British menus almost three millennia ago featured milk, oats and peas. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chemicals designed to simulate honeybee alarm pheromones could deter elephants from farmers’ crops, easing conflicts with humans. Annie Sneed reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extreme sea level rise could swamp internet cabling and hubs by 2033—and coastal cities like New York, Seattle and Miami are at greatest risk. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shark researchers used a system for recognizing patterns in star field photographs to identify whale sharks, which have individual spot patterns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A study of human–mammal interaction across the globe found animals are more prone to take to the night around humans. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The International Astronomical Union reports that there are now 79 known Jovian moons, with a dozen found last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some moth species have evolved long wing tails that flutter and twist as the moth flies, which distract hungry bats. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Very brief reports about science and technology from around the globe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A prototype flexible electronic mouth guard can measure lactate levels in an athlete’s saliva, tracking muscle fatigue during training and performance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wine book author Kevin Begos explains that just a few varieties of wine grapes dominate the industry, which leaves them vulnerable to potentially catastrophic disease outbreaks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Iridescence appears to break up the recognizable shape of objects—making them harder to spot. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By analyzing 200 surgeries, anthropologists found mixed-gender operating room teams exhibited the highest levels of cooperation. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visitors can see and learn about sharks and their environment in the new "Ocean Wonders: Sharks!" facility at the Wildlife Conservation Society's New York Aquarium. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most invertebrates get smaller on average in cities, although a few very mobile species respond to urbanization by growing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of the movement of some 40,000 people suggests most of us frequent only 25 places—and as we sub in new favorites, we drop old ones. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listeners to a person letting loose with a roar can accurately estimate the size and formidability or the human noise maker. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Six months of piano lessons can heighten kindergartners' brain responses to different pitches, and improve their ability to tell apart two similar-sounding words. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many people assume only male birds do the singing. But females also sing in at least 660 species and perhaps many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Certain motifs in swamp sparrow songs can last hundreds, even thousands of years—evidence of a cultural tradition in the birds. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers tested the hearing of beluga whales in an Alaskan bay and found that they seem to have suffered little hearing loss due to ocean noise. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Foods high in both carbs and fats tickle the brain’s reward circuits more so than snacks that showcase just one or the other. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Juno spacecraft data suggest lightning on Jupiter is much more common than we thought—but it congregates near the poles, not the equator as on Earth. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new analysis found the flood protection benefits of coral reefs save the global economy $4 billion dollars a year. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hippo poop is piling up in Tanzania’s freshwater fisheries—which is bad news for biodiversity, and deleterious for the dinner plate. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers engineered a portable device that detects even the tiniest trace of hydrogen sulfide—one of the primary offenders in bad breath. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the AMA annual meeting the organization's president petitioned for an evidence-based, science-driven analysis of gun violence and solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices