Science & Society
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Animals
Elephants can tell men’s voices from women’s
Amboseli elephants may pick out age and gender — and even distinguish between languages — when listening to human voices.
- Ecosystems
City spiders may spin low-vibe webs
Spider webs built on human-made materials have less background bounce than those built on trees and other natural surfaces, which might shrink the arachnid’s hunting success.
- Science & Society
Domestic violence arrests may be counterproductive
Mandatory arrest laws may increase mortality rates, especially among employed black women.
- Astronomy
NASA releases 2015 budget with some mission cuts
NASA $17.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2015 supports big missions, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. But there are plans to put the SOFIA telescope in storage.
- Science & Society
Alternatives needed to do-it-yourself feces swaps
Three researchers are calling for the FDA to regulate feces as a human tissue rather than a drug to make it easier for doctors to perform fecal transplants.
- Psychology
Lend an ear to science
Pop music hit maker Clive Davis knows a catchy song when he hears one. Now an app aims to define that elusive quality more concretely.
- Chemistry
X-rays uncover hidden faces in Rembrandt painting
Lead paint under the surface of the work gives away the artist’s indecisiveness.
- Health & Medicine
Introducing the first bank of feces
A new nonprofit called OpenBiome is hoping to do for fecal transplants what blood banks have done for transfusions. It’s a kind of Brown Cross.
- Earth
The Sixth Extinction
On only five occasions in Earth’s long history has a large fraction of the planet’s biodiversity disappeared in a geological instant. But, journalist Kolbert reminds us in her new book, we are well on our way to making it six.
- Science & Society
Naturalists at Sea
For centuries after Columbus, the flora and fauna of the New World remained a mystery to Europeans. But in the 1600s and 1700s, explorers began to visit and describe what were then considered remote corners of the Earth.
- Science & Society
Figure skating judges get a 10 for duplicity
Sport’s reform efforts have resulted in more nationalistic bias and vote trading.
- Science & Society
In a nuclear attack, there’s no avoiding the brutal math
Knowing a few key numbers could help save your life if a nuclear bomb drops.
