Video
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Plants
Watch live plant cells build their cell walls
Imaging wall-less plant cells every six minutes for 24 hours revealed how the cells build their protective barriers.
- Physics
Calls to restart nuclear weapons tests stir dismay and debate among scientists
Many scientists say “subcritical” experiments and computer simulations make nuclear weapons testing unnecessary.
- Animals
You might be reading your dog’s moods wrong
A dog's physical cues often take a back seat to environmental ones, skewing humans' perceptions, a small study suggests.
- Neuroscience
Parrots and humans share a brain mechanism for speech
Brain activity in vocalizing budgerigar parrots showed a pattern that harkened to those found in the brains of people.
- Animals
Narwhals may use their iconic tusks to play
Videos show narwhals using their tusks in several ways, including prodding and flipping a fish. It’s the first reported evidence of the whales playing.
- Science & Society
It’s ‘personal.’ What the Stand Up for Science rally meant for attendees
Stand Up for Science rallies in Washington, D.C., and across the United States drew crowds of people worried about cuts to scientific funding.
- Physics
The sound of clapping, explained by physics
The “Helmholtz resonator” concept explains the frequencies of sound produced by clapping the hands together in different configurations.
- Animals
In a first, zebra cams reveal herds on the move with giraffes
Six zebras wore video cameras attached to collars, capturing the equines’ daily life. Sticking with giraffes may let the two species protect each other.
- Animals
Wild baboons don’t recognize themselves in a mirror
In a lab test, chimps and orangutans can recognize their own reflection. But in the wild, baboons seemingly can’t do the same.
- Animals
Cricket frogs belly flop their way across water
Cricket frogs were once thought to hop on the water’s surface. They actually leap in and out of the water in a form of locomotion called porpoising.
- Health & Medicine
Lethal snake venom may be countered by new AI-designed proteins
The current way to produce antivenoms is antiquated. Experiments in mice suggest that an artificial intelligence approach could save time and money.
- Tech
Flying cars could soon become a reality
Engineers have all the technology they need to make flying cars, but there are still some barriers to getting these sci-fi mainstays off the ground.
