All Stories by Jack J. Lee
- Animals
Gray wolves scare deer from roads, reducing dangerous collisions
The predators use roads as travel corridors, creating “a landscape of fear” that keeps deer away and saves millions of dollars a year, a study finds.
- Animals
How researchers can keep birds safe as U.S. wind farms expand
Tracking bald eagle abundance and migrating whooping cranes provides a clearer picture of where wind turbines could be safely built.
- Earth
Color-coded radar maps reveal a patchwork of California wildfire destruction
A composite made up of fine-scale vegetation maps from different years lets researchers track the story of plant loss and regrowth around Los Angeles.
- Life
Life on Earth may have begun in hostile hot springs
What researchers learn at hot springs and seafloor vents may guide the search for life on icy moons and Mars.
- Space
How do you clean up clingy space dust? Zap it with an electron beam
An electron beam is the newest addition to a suite of technologies for cleaning sticky and damaging lunar dust off surfaces.
- Health & Medicine
New coronavirus tests promise to be faster, cheaper and easier
Researchers are developing a smorgasbord of tests to detect RNA and proteins from the virus that causes COVID-19.
- Climate
Hurricanes have names. Some climate experts say heat waves should, too
A newly formed international alliance aims to raise awareness about extreme temperatures and protect vulnerable populations.
- Health & Medicine
Human sperm don’t swim the way that anyone had thought
High-speed 3-D microscopy and mathematical analyses reveal that rolling and lopsided tail flicks keep the cells swimming in a straight line.
- Animals
A South American mouse is the world’s highest-dwelling mammal
At 6,739 meters above sea level, the yellow-rumped leaf-eared mouse survives low oxygen and freezing conditions atop a dormant volcano.
- Health & Medicine
Coronavirus-infected cells sprout filaments that may spread the virus
Like other coronaviruses, the virus behind COVID-19 causes infected cells to grow spindly projections that may act as highways to other cells.
- Genetics
A bacterial toxin enables the first mitochondrial gene editor
Researchers have engineered a protein from bacteria that kills other microbes to change DNA in a previously inaccessible part of the cell.
- Animals
A sparrow song remix took over North America with astonishing speed
A variation on the white-throated sparrow’s song spread 3,300 kilometers in just a few decades.
