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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Lions have a second roar that no one noticed until now
A machine learning analysis of wild lion audio reveals they have two roar types, not one. This insight might help detect where lions are declining.
- Oceans
Combining western science with Indigenous knowledge could help the Arctic
Polar marine ecologist Marianne Falardeau investigates how Arctic ecosystems are shifting under climate change.
- Animals
A wolf raided a crab trap. Was it tool use or just canine cunning?
Video from the Haíɫzaqv Nation Indigenous community shows a wolf hauling a crab trap ashore. Scientists are split on whether it counts as tool use.
- Animals
This parasitic ant tricks workers into committing matricide
Newly mated parasitic queen ants invade colonies and spray their victims with a chemical irritant that provokes the workers to kill their mother.
- Neuroscience
To decode future anxiety and depression, begin with a child’s brain
A child-friendly brain imaging technique is just one way neuroscientist Cat Camacho investigates how children learn to process emotions.
- Archaeology
Peru’s Serpent Mountain sheds its mysterious past
No, aliens had nothing to do with a winding 1.5-kilometer-long path of holes. First used as a market, the Inca then repurposed it for tax collection.
- Planetary Science
How did Pluto capture its largest moon, Charon?
Planetary scientist Adeene Denton runs computer simulations to investigate Pluto, the moons of Saturn and other icy bodies in the solar system.
- Space
Black holes are encircled by thin rings of light. This physicist wants to see one
Theoretical physicist Alex Lupsasca is pushing for a space telescope to glimpse the thin ring of light that is thought to surround every black hole.
- Animals
Which venomous snakes strike the fastest?
Vipers have the fastest strikes, but snakes from other families can give some slower vipers stiff competition.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum ‘echoes’ reveal the potential of Google’s quantum computer
Google says its quantum computer achieved a verifiable calculation that classic computers cannot. The work could point to future applications.
- Animals
Scientists and fishers have teamed up to find a way to save manta rays
Thousands of at-risk manta and devil rays become accidental bycatch in tuna fishing nets every year. A simple sorting grid could help save them.
- Health & Medicine
Most women get uterine fibroids. This researcher wants to know why
Biomedical engineer Erika Moore investigates diseases that disproportionately affect women of color.
