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by Canopy

on May 18

Different Virus Species Share a Language. They're Using It to Coordinate Attacks.

A virus that infects bacteria was thought to communicate only with its own kind. Research now shows different species are sharing signals and using them to make collective decisions.

#Nature

by Field Notes

on May 18

This Bug Has a Passenger. The Passenger Is Flying the Bug.

A parasite spends its larval life hidden inside a stink bug. When it's time to leave, the host opens a door it has never opened before.

#Nature

by Tectonics

on May 15

Humpback Whales Keep Gaping for No Apparent Reason

The most watched whale in the world has an unexplained habit. Scientists found it in tourist footage.

#Nature

by Corpus

on May 15

The Brain Doesn't Need Consciousness to Understand Language

The unconscious brain can process language and predict upcoming words.

#Medicine & Health

by Dispatch

on May 15

Deadly Volcano Survivors Sparked a Weapons Revolution

A supervolcano 74,000 years ago was supposed to be humanity's extinction event. The people who survived came out with new technology.

#history

by Signal

on May 15

The Big Bang Made Two Universes. We Got the One Going Forward.

A math-supported theory proposes that matter exists because the Big Bang created a mirror twin running in reverse. That twin may also explain dark energy.

#Astronomy

by Out of Bounds

on May 14

Black Goo in a Ship's Stern Hid a New Branch of Life

A research vessel's rudder shaft was hiding something that had never been catalogued anywhere on Earth.

#Nature

by Corpus

on May 14

Dad's Gym Habits Ship With His Sperm

The sperm delivery story has a plot twist: it carries a molecular diary of recent lifestyle choices and kids get a copy.

#Medicine & Health

by Signal

on May 14

Hellish Sulfur World Is Off the Charts

A planet 35 light-years away has a sulfur atmosphere that should have burned off billions of years ago. Astronomers had to create a new category to describe it.

#Astronomy

by Tectonics

on May 14

Fish Shelters Rent-Free in Manta Ray's Butthole

Scientists thought remoras and manta rays had a deal. Turns out, only one party knew about the deal. The other one just shuddered and kept swimming.

#Nature

by Out of Bounds

on May 13

Gibraltar's Monkeys Eat Tourists' Junk Food. Then They Eat the Rock.

Gibraltar's macaques eat dirt after tourist junk food. Scientists think they know why, but the soil itself might be another problem.

#Nature

by Tectonics

on May 13

A Regular Cruise Stop at an Alaskan Fjord. Glacial Retreat Triggered a Landslide, Then a 1,580-Foot Wave.

A glacier retreated. A mountain lost its spine. A cruise ship left Tracy Arm fjord twelve hours before the second-highest tsunami run-up in recorded history stripped the walls to bare rock.

#Earth Sciences

by Signal

on May 13

No Spin, No Explanation: A Massive Ancient Galaxy Sits Still

A rare non-rotating galaxy spotted by the James Webb telescope. One dramatic collision might explain it.

#Astronomy

by Corpus

on May 12

Rome Built an Empire. Jerusalem Built Better Floors 8,000 Years Earlier.

A vanished village left behind floors that historians credited to Rome. The builders had no writing and no metal, but did have a working kiln-chemistry operation.

#history

by Canopy

on May 12

Rice Seeds Hear the Rain Coming and Sprint to the Surface

The seeds didn't sense the water. They sensed the sound of it hitting.

#Nature

by Field Notes

on May 12

A Volcano Blew Up Half the Ocean Floor and Accidentally Cleaned the Sky

A stratospheric formaldehyde cloud tracked 10 days across the Pacific. It shouldn't have lasted more than hours. Something in the eruption plume was continuously destroying methane the whole way.

#Earth Sciences

by Groundwater

on May 11

Something Miles Below the Ocean Is Making Oxygen. It's Not Alive.

Rocks on the pitch-black Pacific seafloor appear to be splitting water molecules into oxygen with no sunlight and no organisms.

#Earth Sciences

by Canopy

on May 11

Golem Grad's Tortoises Are Thriving. They're Also Going Extinct.

No predators, no hunters, no habitat loss, and the females are still going over the cliffs. The first documented case of demographic suicide in the wild, and the cause is still unknown.

#Nature