Science Quickly

A single-point mutation in corn's ancestor teosinte got rid of the hard shell that used to encase every kernel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers have developed a new ecofriendly sunscreen molecule that protects against both UV-A and UV-B rays, and could also be used to create more durable paints and plastics. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microbes 2,500 meters below the seafloor in Japan are most closely related to bacterial groups that thrive in forest soils on land, suggesting that they might be descendants of ones that survived when their terrestrial habitat was flooded 20 million years ago Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a study of nearly half a million volunteers in China, those who ate chilies just a couple times a week had a 10 percent lower risk of death. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Animal communication studies have shown only fixed vocalizations, such as alarm cries. But Bonobo chimps appear to have a call that has different meanings in different contexts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adults of the west African Baka people and east African Efé and Sua peoples average less than five feet tall. But while the Efé and Sua are born small, the Baka have slow growth rates in infancy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tree growth lags below normal for several years following droughts, a detail about carbon sequestration that climate models currently overlook. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Certain vaccines prevent sickness and death, but don't block transmission—meaning they may actually give some viral strains an extra shot at survival. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of the acoustical characteristics of screams found that the sounds are unusually rough, that is, they rapidly change in frequency, which has an alarming effect on the listener's brain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his induction speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame, pitcher John Smoltz hoped that the number of such procedures could be lessened in the future Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mediocre main dishes taste even worse when they follow delectable appetizers—an example of the so-called "hedonic effect." Erika Beras reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A survey of nearly 5,000 13- to 15-year-olds in the U.K. found that 40 percent of overweight and obese teens did not self-identify as “too heavy.” Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner talks about the just-announced $100-million Breakthrough Listen Project to search for extraterrestrial technological civilizations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Southern Ocean is the cloudiest place on Earth, a condition caused in part by phytoplankton particles kicked up by sea spray. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

During courtship, male black widow spiders snip and bundle up the female's web in their own silk, which discourages other suitors from stopping by. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers gathered data from various Army databases to analyze nearly 10,000 attempted suicides of active duty personnel. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers suggest farmers should consider harvesting when fields are dry, to prevent dangerous bacteria blooms from contaminating food. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nematode worms hitch rides inside the guts of slugs and other invertebrates, and emerge alive and well after exiting with the rest of the digestive track's products. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rock of the Campi Flegrei Caldera, west of Naples, Italy, has an intricate network of mineral fibers—just like the famed Roman concrete. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Astronomers have discovered more than 800 so-called "ultradiffuse galaxies" that are virtually invisible because they have relatively few stars and are mostly dark matter. Clara Moskowitz reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Male nightingales use singing virtuosity to signal prospective mates that they will be the most doting dads. Sabrina Imbler reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We currently have a maximum of about 60 minutes to prepare for tech disruptions on Earth due to coronal mass ejections from the sun, but an improved forecasting system could lengthen that lead time by hours. Maria Temming reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People who smoke pot and drink are twice as likely to do both at the same time than to do just one, with the combo associated with bad decision-making; and chronic pot smokers who had not indulged in a month were still more likely to have faulty memories than were nonsmokers. Erika Beras reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mexican Jays compare peanuts to determine which one has the most meat inside before choosing one for a meal. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all perceive smells differently—and two people’s preferences may give clues to their degree of genetic similarity. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Background app updates, cell tower pings and other hidden activity accounts for almost half the battery drain on Android phones. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The vast majority of ice loss in Alaska glaciers comes from those that sit completely on land—which contributes meltwater to sea level rise. Julia Rosen reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sangeeta Bhatia of M.I.T. talks about efforts to get bacteria to home in on tumors and let us know they're there. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Even four hours of intense activity may be enough to let bacteria escape from the gut into the blood, setting off a chain of inflammation. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On June 3, 2015, Vilhelm Bohr talked about his famous grandfather's life, including the relationship with Einstein, at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The same particles that streak through Earth's atmosphere as "shooting stars" kick up lunar dust when they strike the surface of the atmosphere-less moon. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Test subjects rode stationary bikes 25 percent faster when they simultaneously tackled some relatively easy cognitive challegnes. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The "odorous house ant" smells like blue cheese or rotten coconut because it produces chemical compounds similar to those found in its nose-sakes. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists have found ancient "impact glass" on the surface of Mars, which formed when asteroids struck, a billion or more years ago. If anything was alive at the time, biological materials could be trapped inside. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new documentary film presents the science behind when and why people lie. Daisy Yuhas reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In west Africa researchers observed wild chimps seek out and drink fermented tree sap left outside by humans. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People tend to remember a color they saw, for example green-blue teal, as being closer to a more stereotypical variant, such as straight blue or green. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fragments of edible marine snail shells found in Lebanon support the idea that ancient humans went from Africa to Europe through the Levant. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all emit slightly different brain waves in response to stimuli, and researchers say that an individual’s specific "brainprints" could be used to validate our identities. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A galaxy 12.5 billion light-years away gives off the light of 300 trillion suns, because its feeding black hole produces enough heat to set the whole galaxy's dust glowing. Lee Billings reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An experimental leishmaniasis vaccine relies on eliciting an immune response to a protein from the saliva of the sand fly that carries the leishmania parasite, rather than on anything from the parasite itself. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new study suggests that chimps have the cognitive skills necessary for cooking—such as patience—even if they don't control fire. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Emergency room visits due to high heel shoe–related injuries doubled between 2002 and 2012. Erika Beras reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Parrotfish munching on algae ingest coral and then eliminate the rocky substrate, creating island-building grade sediment in places like the Maldives. Julia Rosen reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A DNA-based vaccine gave rats six months of protection against high blood pressure as well as healthier hearts. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skull fragments dating back 430,000 years appear to be those of the world's first known murder victim, based on the damage observed. Dina Maron reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1994 researchers made a mummy. Now scientists have reverse engineered the process to figure out how it's done, with the mummy makers still around to tell them how they did. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High-tech sticks could help visually impaired people spot obstacles and even identify acquaintances as they approach. Larry Greenemeier reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unusual adrenal and lung conditions seen in dead dolphins in the months after the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill point to the oil as the cause. Steve Mirsky reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The skin of a California octopus species has a molecular light-sensing mechanism that allows it to change color to match its surroundings with no input from the creature's eyes or brain. Dina Fine Maron reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices