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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
These tiny beetles fly fast thanks to wing bristles and a weird, wide stroke
Minuscule featherwing beetles have evolved a unique way of flying that lets them match the speed of beetles three times as big.
- Animals
Here are 7 incredible things we learned this year that animals can do
From wielding weapons to walking on the underside of water, these are the creature capabilities that most impressed us in 2021.
- Planetary Science
Ingenuity is still flying on Mars. Here’s what the helicopter is up to
NASA’s Ingenuity craft was originally planned to operate only 30 Martian days.
- Health & Medicine
Tiny living machines called xenobots can create copies of themselves
When clusters of frog cells known as xenobots form a Pac-Man shape, they are especially efficient at replicating in a new way, researchers say.
- Physics
New high-speed video reveals the physics of a finger snap
Inspired by the infamous snap of the Avengers rival Thanos, scientists set out to investigate the physics behind finger snapping.
- Animals
Huge numbers of fish-eating jaguars prowl Brazil’s wetlands
Jaguars in the northern Pantanal ecosystem primarily feed on fish and caiman, living at densities previously unknown for the species.
- Animals
Bloodthirsty vampire bats like to drink with friends over strangers
Cooperation among vampire bats extends beyond the roost. New research suggests that bonded bats often drink blood from animals together.
- Agriculture
Potty-trained cattle could help reduce pollution
About a dozen calves have been trained to pee in a stall. Toilet training cows on a large scale could cut down on pollution, researchers say.
- Earth
How AI can help forecast how much Arctic sea ice will shrink
Trained on sea ice observations and climate simulations, IceNet is 95 percent accurate in forecasting sea ice extent two months in advance.
- Animals
A giant tortoise was caught stalking, killing and eating a baby bird
Video captures the first documented instance of a tortoise hunting another animal.
- Health & Medicine
What science tells us about reducing coronavirus spread from wind instruments
Performers struggled to find evidence that would free them from musical lockdown, so they partnered with researchers to get some answers.
- Animals
Squirrels use parkour tricks when leaping from branch to branch
Squirrels navigate through trees by making rapid calculations to balance trade-offs between branch flexibility and the distance between tree limbs.
