Sebastian Echeverri always had a passion for animals. Studying spiders, though, wasn’t originally part of the plan. That changed when a professor showed him a close-up video of the fiery-haired paradise jumping spider. Regular fashionistas, the males of this species sport a bright red face and green legs. They also “sing” through the ground using…
Sophie Balk loved to dance. She used to take part in dance competitions, doing West Coast Swing — a bouncy, twirly partner dance. At first, the music’s volume didn’t bother her. But after a while, her ears began to hurt. Sometimes her ears were ringing as she left the dance club. Balk eventually developed a…
Air pollution may rob some night-blooming flowers of their signature scent, researchers show. This could make it hard for pollinators to find the blooms. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle conducted field and lab tests with the pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida). When the fragrance of its blooms interacts with certain air pollutants…
Nearly everyone in the world carries a unique ID right at their fingertips. These are their fingerprints — the swooping, swirling patterns in the fine ridges of skin on the pads of their fingers. No two people have the same fingerprints. Not even identical twins. That’s why some phones can be unlocked with a user’s…
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is raising big questions about the early universe. In its first images, JWST captured what appeared to be huge galaxies in the ancient universe. In fact, those galaxies looked much too big to fit scientists’ current theory of how the universe grew up. This has raised some concerns that the history…
Digital footprint (noun, “DIH-jih-tuhl FOOT-print”) Your digital footprint is all of the information about you that is available online. Posting on social media, visiting websites and signing up for apps adds to your footprint. But this digital “trail” doesn’t just include the information you post online. It also includes the data that websites collect when…
In a humid coastal rainforest, a litter of pink, hairless babies snuggle with their mom. They stir and squeak for milk and drink from their mother until they are full. But these are no puppies or cubs. They are snake-shaped amphibians, far closer to frogs than to foxes. Mammals are named for their ability to…
It’s an ordinary day in Minecraft … until a bot walks into a village and starts destroying a house. The bot was trained to collect resources and craft items. So why is it attacking? To the bot, the beam in a house looks just like a tree, explains Karolis Ramanauskas. He’s a PhD student in…
“How can I help you today?” asks ChatGPT in a pleasing, agreeable manner. This bot can assist with just about anything — from writing a thank-you note to explaining confusing computer code. But it won’t help people build bombs, hack bank accounts or tell racist jokes. At least, it’s not supposed to. Yet some people…
With a little help from the sun, blue jeans are going “green.” By accident, researchers stumbled on a new way to give jeans their iconic blue hue. The light-driven process could help dye denim with fewer harsh chemicals. Denim is usually dyed with indigo. But this compound doesn’t easily dissolve in water. So harsh chemicals…
Scientists have long thought that when it comes to mammals, males tend to be larger than females. That may not be true after all, it now appears. A new study looked at hundreds of mammal species. In just over half, females are as big as or bigger than males. Researchers shared their new findings March 12…
Supercontinent (noun, “SOOP-er-con-ten-ent”) A supercontinent is a continent containing most or all of Earth’s land. When a continent contains at least 75 percent of the Earth’s land, researchers call it a supercontinent. None of the landmasses on Earth today qualify as supercontinents. But Earth’s continents haven’t always looked this way. Throughout our planet’s history, continents…
