News
- Animals
How hummingbirds fly through spaces too narrow for their wings
Using high-speed cameras, a new study reveals Anna’s hummingbirds turn sideways to shimmy through gaps half as wide as their wingspan.
- Environment
Grassland and shrubland fires destroy more U.S. homes than forest fires
Grassland and shrubland fires destroyed nearly 11,000 homes in the contiguous United States from 1990 to 2020.
- Climate
The last 12 months were the hottest on record
The planet’s average temperature was about 1.3 degrees Celsius higher than the 1850–1900 average, a new report finds.
- Life
Head lice hitched a ride on humans to the Americas at least twice
The genes of head lice record the story of their human hosts’ global voyages.
- Physics
A controversial room-temperature superconductor result has now been retracted
The retraction by Nature is the third for beleaguered physicist Ranga Dias, who still stands by his claim of a room-temperature superconductor.
- Animals
The mysterious deaths of dozens of Zimbabwe’s elephants has been solved
A bacterium never before identified in elephants or implicated in deadly internal hemorrhaging killed Zimbabwe elephants in 2020, genetic tests show.
- Health & Medicine
The CDC is expanding its disease surveillance of international travelers
Passengers at four major U.S. airports will now be tested for over 30 pathogens through a mix of wastewater testing and voluntary nasal swabs.
- Animals
Here’s how high-speed diving kingfishers may avoid concussions
Understanding the genetic adaptations that protect the birds’ brains when they dive for food might one day offer clues to protecting human brains.
- Neuroscience
In a Jedi-like feat, rats can move a digital object using just their brain
In a new study, rats could imagine their way through a 3-D virtual world, hinting at how brains can think about places that they’re not physically in.
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Rock from the impact that formed the moon may linger in Earth’s mantle
When the young Earth and a Mars-sized body collided 4.5 billion years ago, it left behind dense mantle rock that survives to today, a study finds.
- Life
Faking death lets some female frogs slip the mating grip of a male
Suddenly looking dead, grunting like a guy or vigorously rotating can help female frogs survive mating balls in species with aggressively grabby males.
- Plants
On some Australian islands, sea level rise may be helping mangroves thrive
Rising seas usually spell trouble for mangroves. But the first survey of the Howick Islands in 50 years finds that mangroves there have expanded a lot.
