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The latest stories in science, brought to you by the @ScienceMagazine news team.

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In November 2017, an ecologist was in the middle of a research expedition in central Amazonia when he spotted something strange: a black-chinned antbird resting on a branch with an erebid moth on the back of its neck. The moth was probing one of the bird's eyes with its proboscis and appeared to be drinking from it. About 45 minutes later, they came across a different moth drinking from the eye of another resting antbird. Butterflies and bees also drink the eye secretions of other animals—butterflies are partial to basking crocodiles, whereas bees like turtle tears. But fast-moving birds are unlikely hosts for these insects. Learn more: #ScienceMagArchives

In November 2017, an ecologist was in the middle of a research expedition in central Amazonia when he spotted something strange: a black-chinned antbird resting on a branch with an erebid moth on the back of its neck. The moth was probing one of the bird's eyes with its proboscis and appeared to be drinking from it. About 45 minutes later, they came across a different moth drinking from the eye of another resting antbird. Butterflies and bees also drink the eye secretions of other animals—butterflies are partial to basking crocodiles, whereas bees like turtle tears. But fast-moving birds are unlikely hosts for these insects. Learn more: #ScienceMagArchives

1,271,565 просмотров

Hiding out-of-sight on our produce, pipes, and even teeth are tiny bacterial cells enmeshed within a sticky web. These microbial clusters—known as biofilms—are more resistant to antibiotics and other weapons. Researchers have discovered another surprising way they survive: ejecting some of their cells as if they were escape pods jettisoned from a doomed sci-fi spaceship, researchers report. Learn more:

Hiding out-of-sight on our produce, pipes, and even teeth are tiny bacterial cells enmeshed within a sticky web. These microbial clusters—known as biofilms—are more resistant to antibiotics and other weapons. Researchers have discovered another surprising way they survive: ejecting some of their cells as if they were escape pods jettisoned from a doomed sci-fi spaceship, researchers report. Learn more:

23,360 просмотров

Hiding out-of-sight on our produce, pipes, and even teeth are tiny bacterial cells enmeshed within a sticky web. These microbial clusters—known as biofilms—are more resistant to antibiotics and other weapons. Researchers have discovered another surprising way they survive: ejecting some of their cells as if they were escape pods jettisoned from a doomed sci-fi spaceship, researchers report. Learn more:

Hiding out-of-sight on our produce, pipes, and even teeth are tiny bacterial cells enmeshed within a sticky web. These microbial clusters—known as biofilms—are more resistant to antibiotics and other weapons. Researchers have discovered another surprising way they survive: ejecting some of their cells as if they were escape pods jettisoned from a doomed sci-fi spaceship, researchers report. Learn more:

30,312 просмотров

In a lab in central Pennsylvania, a tiny fly is suspended in a magnetic field inside a dome lined with rotating LED bulbs. The insect flaps its wings and spins, believing it’s actually buzzing through this virtual reality environment—one that can even distort what the fly sees. The contraption may seem like the work of mad scientists—and indeed, it wouldn’t be out of place among other recent setups that let fruit flies ride on a carousel or spun locusts in a centrifuge. But like those experiments, this tiny virtual reality flight simulator has a deeper purpose. Here, researchers are probing the inner workings of the insect brain. Learn more this #InsectWeek:

In a lab in central Pennsylvania, a tiny fly is suspended in a magnetic field inside a dome lined with rotating LED bulbs. The insect flaps its wings and spins, believing it’s actually buzzing through this virtual reality environment—one that can even distort what the fly sees. The contraption may seem like the work of mad scientists—and indeed, it wouldn’t be out of place among other recent setups that let fruit flies ride on a carousel or spun locusts in a centrifuge. But like those experiments, this tiny virtual reality flight simulator has a deeper purpose. Here, researchers are probing the inner workings of the insect brain. Learn more this #InsectWeek:

27,097 просмотров

Hammer a nail into a tree, and it will get stuck. So why doesn't the same thing happen to the sharp beaks of woodpeckers? Scientists may finally have the answer. In a 2021 study, researchers took high-speed videos of two black woodpeckers pecking away at hardwood trunks in zoos and analyzed them frame by frame to see how the head and beak moved throughout each peck. The bird's secret: an ability to move its upper and lower beaks independently, the team reports. Learn more: #ScienceMagArchives

Hammer a nail into a tree, and it will get stuck. So why doesn't the same thing happen to the sharp beaks of woodpeckers? Scientists may finally have the answer. In a 2021 study, researchers took high-speed videos of two black woodpeckers pecking away at hardwood trunks in zoos and analyzed them frame by frame to see how the head and beak moved throughout each peck. The bird's secret: an ability to move its upper and lower beaks independently, the team reports. Learn more: #ScienceMagArchives

73,672 просмотров

Most salamanders live in streams and under rocks or logs, but the wandering salamander has a high-flying lifestyle. These 13-centimeter-long amphibians spend much or all of their lives in coastal redwoods, some of the tallest trees in the world. In 2022, a laboratory study showed how they can descend by jumping, slowing their fall by spreading their limbs like a skydiver. Learn more during #AmphibianWeek:

Most salamanders live in streams and under rocks or logs, but the wandering salamander has a high-flying lifestyle. These 13-centimeter-long amphibians spend much or all of their lives in coastal redwoods, some of the tallest trees in the world. In 2022, a laboratory study showed how they can descend by jumping, slowing their fall by spreading their limbs like a skydiver. Learn more during #AmphibianWeek:

25,972 просмотров

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About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual. When Veronika had an itch, she would grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body. Over the years, the brown bovid’s technique improved. She could pick up objects as large as a broom or rake and move them around with her prehensile tongue, changing their length and orientation to ensure the best possible scratch. The behavior isn’t just a clever trick: It’s the first documented case of tool use in cattle, scientists report. And, it turns out, one of Veronika’s skills has only been seen in humans and chimpanzees. Learn more:

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual. When Veronika had an itch, she would grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body. Over the years, the brown bovid’s technique improved. She could pick up objects as large as a broom or rake and move them around with her prehensile tongue, changing their length and orientation to ensure the best possible scratch. The behavior isn’t just a clever trick: It’s the first documented case of tool use in cattle, scientists report. And, it turns out, one of Veronika’s skills has only been seen in humans and chimpanzees. Learn more:

News from Science

660,378 просмотров • 22 дней назад

Physicists say they have successfully demonstrated via high-resolution simulations that a DNA molecule can in principle behave like an Archimedes screw in nanoscale. Learn more:

Physicists say they have successfully demonstrated via high-resolution simulations that a DNA molecule can in principle behave like an Archimedes screw in nanoscale. Learn more:

News from Science

95,934 просмотров • 14 дней назад

When key “housekeeper” brain cells grow in lab dishes, they spawn unusual microscopic vesicles that can move on their own and carry energy-generating organelles, a research team revealed earlier this year. The biologists have dubbed their discovery zombosomes because the blobs can move like cells for a period despite lacking a nucleus, which acts as a cell's control center. The group also showed the membrane-bound messengers ferry proteins related to Parkinson’s disease, suggesting they may contribute to it and other brain disorders. Learn more on #WorldBrainDay:

When key “housekeeper” brain cells grow in lab dishes, they spawn unusual microscopic vesicles that can move on their own and carry energy-generating organelles, a research team revealed earlier this year. The biologists have dubbed their discovery zombosomes because the blobs can move like cells for a period despite lacking a nucleus, which acts as a cell's control center. The group also showed the membrane-bound messengers ferry proteins related to Parkinson’s disease, suggesting they may contribute to it and other brain disorders. Learn more on #WorldBrainDay:

News from Science

34,997 просмотров • 5 дней назад

In November 2024, environmental police in Rochedo, Brazil, stumbled on an unexpected sight: thousands of orange-and-black bumblebee catfish scaling the slippery rocks behind waterfalls on the Aquidauana River. A week later, a team of Brazilian scientists arrived to document the unprecedented event, detailing their findings. These videos provide rare insight into the lives and migrations of these little-studied catfish, the authors said. This genus of small South American fish, which inhabits the rocky bottoms of fast-flowing streams, only became known to science in 2017. Learn more:

In November 2024, environmental police in Rochedo, Brazil, stumbled on an unexpected sight: thousands of orange-and-black bumblebee catfish scaling the slippery rocks behind waterfalls on the Aquidauana River. A week later, a team of Brazilian scientists arrived to document the unprecedented event, detailing their findings. These videos provide rare insight into the lives and migrations of these little-studied catfish, the authors said. This genus of small South American fish, which inhabits the rocky bottoms of fast-flowing streams, only became known to science in 2017. Learn more:

News from Science

915,738 просмотров • 6 месяцев назад

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual. When Veronika had an itch, she would grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body. Over the years, the brown bovid’s technique improved. She could pick up objects as large as a broom or rake and move them around with her prehensile tongue, changing their length and orientation to ensure the best possible scratch. The behavior isn’t just a clever trick: It’s the first documented case of tool use in cattle, scientists report. And, it turns out, one of Veronika’s skills has only been seen in humans and chimpanzees. Learn more:

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual. When Veronika had an itch, she would grab a stick in her mouth and use it to scratch her body. Over the years, the brown bovid’s technique improved. She could pick up objects as large as a broom or rake and move them around with her prehensile tongue, changing their length and orientation to ensure the best possible scratch. The behavior isn’t just a clever trick: It’s the first documented case of tool use in cattle, scientists report. And, it turns out, one of Veronika’s skills has only been seen in humans and chimpanzees. Learn more:

News from Science

551,591 просмотров • 6 месяцев назад

Dragonflies perform an amazing stunt so quickly most people never see it. After emerging from a pond dive, the insects execute several summersaults in midair—a feat scientists have captured for the first time with high-speed video. The bugs aren’t showing off: The quick dip cools them down, and the loop-the-loops help them dry off by flicking away the water. Learn more:

Dragonflies perform an amazing stunt so quickly most people never see it. After emerging from a pond dive, the insects execute several summersaults in midair—a feat scientists have captured for the first time with high-speed video. The bugs aren’t showing off: The quick dip cools them down, and the loop-the-loops help them dry off by flicking away the water. Learn more:

News from Science

324,998 просмотров • 6 месяцев назад

Rapid color changes in marlins may prevent the predators from impaling one another during group attacks. Learn more:

Rapid color changes in marlins may prevent the predators from impaling one another during group attacks. Learn more:

News from Science

804,162 просмотров • 2 лет назад

Homing pigeons orient themselves by the Sun’s position under sunny skies and rely on their magnetic sense when it is cloudy. Under overcast conditions, homing pigeons with their normal liver macrophages had little issue flying a 19-kilometer route for which they had been trained. When injected with clodronate liposomes that knocked out the liver macrophages, the pigeons could navigate the route without issue when it was sunny. Under overcast skies, however, homing pigeons with depleted liver macrophages struggled mightily to find their way home—suggesting the immune cells play a role in the birds’ magnetic sense. Learn more:

Homing pigeons orient themselves by the Sun’s position under sunny skies and rely on their magnetic sense when it is cloudy. Under overcast conditions, homing pigeons with their normal liver macrophages had little issue flying a 19-kilometer route for which they had been trained. When injected with clodronate liposomes that knocked out the liver macrophages, the pigeons could navigate the route without issue when it was sunny. Under overcast skies, however, homing pigeons with depleted liver macrophages struggled mightily to find their way home—suggesting the immune cells play a role in the birds’ magnetic sense. Learn more:

News from Science

17,387 просмотров • 24 дней назад

In July 2023, researchers on a whale watching expedition in the Caribbean Sea encountered an unusual scene: 11 sperm whales clustered tightly at the water’s surface. The animals began to inch closer and closer together in the waters off the island of Dominica, with their attention turned to one individual, until a burst of blood tinted the water. At first, the scientists—part of Project CETI, a nonprofit that studies how sperm whales interact—thought the animal had been attacked. But then they saw a tiny tail pop out of the water. The researchers quickly realized they had in fact observed a group of whales helping a calf take its first breath. Even more fortuitous, they had captured it on video from a drone. Read more:

In July 2023, researchers on a whale watching expedition in the Caribbean Sea encountered an unusual scene: 11 sperm whales clustered tightly at the water’s surface. The animals began to inch closer and closer together in the waters off the island of Dominica, with their attention turned to one individual, until a burst of blood tinted the water. At first, the scientists—part of Project CETI, a nonprofit that studies how sperm whales interact—thought the animal had been attacked. But then they saw a tiny tail pop out of the water. The researchers quickly realized they had in fact observed a group of whales helping a calf take its first breath. Even more fortuitous, they had captured it on video from a drone. Read more:

News from Science

55,948 просмотров • 4 месяцев назад

In a Southern California aquarium, a young leopard shark rushes headfirst toward a plastic squid toy and then—as if in a game of chicken—makes a last-minute dash to the left, barely clearing the dangling rubber tentacles. Meanwhile, his tankmate, a California skate, grabs an orange ring with her mouth, rolling the textured plastic around with her tongue. And over at the tank’s sandy bottom, a hovering horn shark glides over to a bright yellow hoop and squeezes himself—along with all his jutting fins—right through it. These cartilaginous fish aren’t putting on a show. It seems they’re playing—just for the fun of it, according to the team behind the new study. The findings, the researchers say, offer the strongest evidence yet that sharks engage in play behavior. Learn more:

In a Southern California aquarium, a young leopard shark rushes headfirst toward a plastic squid toy and then—as if in a game of chicken—makes a last-minute dash to the left, barely clearing the dangling rubber tentacles. Meanwhile, his tankmate, a California skate, grabs an orange ring with her mouth, rolling the textured plastic around with her tongue. And over at the tank’s sandy bottom, a hovering horn shark glides over to a bright yellow hoop and squeezes himself—along with all his jutting fins—right through it. These cartilaginous fish aren’t putting on a show. It seems they’re playing—just for the fun of it, according to the team behind the new study. The findings, the researchers say, offer the strongest evidence yet that sharks engage in play behavior. Learn more:

News from Science

61,058 просмотров • 7 месяцев назад

In July 2019, a remotely operated vehicle filmed an unusual creature 2 kilometers below the waves near Jarvis Island in the central Pacific Ocean. Three meters long with pink and gray skin, jaws that can snap outward in a flash, and a comically elongated snout, the animal leisurely glid along the sea floor. Five years later, researchers spotted the same species near Tonga. Both were goblin sharks, an odd and poorly understood animal that had never been filmed in its deep-sea home. Learn more:

In July 2019, a remotely operated vehicle filmed an unusual creature 2 kilometers below the waves near Jarvis Island in the central Pacific Ocean. Three meters long with pink and gray skin, jaws that can snap outward in a flash, and a comically elongated snout, the animal leisurely glid along the sea floor. Five years later, researchers spotted the same species near Tonga. Both were goblin sharks, an odd and poorly understood animal that had never been filmed in its deep-sea home. Learn more:

News from Science

15,054 просмотров • 1 месяц назад

It’s not exactly the T-1000—yet. But researchers have created a liquid metal robot that can mimic the shape-shifting abilities of the silvery, morphing killer robot in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

It’s not exactly the T-1000—yet. But researchers have created a liquid metal robot that can mimic the shape-shifting abilities of the silvery, morphing killer robot in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

News from Science

213,561 просмотров • 3 лет назад

Bluefin tuna can stretch 3 meters, weigh a metric ton, and reach speeds of 60 kilometers per hour. Yet they still turn on a dime when hunting, thanks in part to their lymphatic systems. Unlike humans, who use their lymphatic systems to produce and transport white blood cells, tuna use theirs to move two of their fins, research finds. Learn more on #WorldTunaDay:

Bluefin tuna can stretch 3 meters, weigh a metric ton, and reach speeds of 60 kilometers per hour. Yet they still turn on a dime when hunting, thanks in part to their lymphatic systems. Unlike humans, who use their lymphatic systems to produce and transport white blood cells, tuna use theirs to move two of their fins, research finds. Learn more on #WorldTunaDay:

News from Science

13,222 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад

Tuna (or any seafood for that matter) is an odd favorite for cats—an animal that evolved in the desert. On #InternationalCatDay, explore the research that may give a biological explanation for this curious craving:

Tuna (or any seafood for that matter) is an odd favorite for cats—an animal that evolved in the desert. On #InternationalCatDay, explore the research that may give a biological explanation for this curious craving:

News from Science

34,528 просмотров • 11 месяцев назад

Labs have the highest rate of canine obesity of any breed. But it’s really not their fault: They’re ravenous almost all of the time, thanks to a genetic quirk. Learn more in Science Magazine’s daily newsletter, #ScienceAdviser:

Labs have the highest rate of canine obesity of any breed. But it’s really not their fault: They’re ravenous almost all of the time, thanks to a genetic quirk. Learn more in Science Magazine’s daily newsletter, #ScienceAdviser:

News from Science

62,859 просмотров • 2 лет назад

This colossal squid has been filmed in its natural habitat for the first time. Learn more:

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This colossal squid has been filmed in its natural habitat for the first time. Learn more:

News from Science

21,968 просмотров • 1 год назад

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