The final holdout woolly mammoths had large numbers of harmful mutations—which would have given them satiny coats and a weakened sense of smell. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Climate change and overfishing have made the penguins’ feeding grounds a mirage—which has led to a drop in penguin population. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers found that Neandertal gene variants still affect the way genes are turned off and on in modern humans. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Doing large studies of marijuana's potential as medicine means getting it removed from an official federal list of substances with no official medical use—which requires more proof of its potential as medicine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Red blood cells retain a memory of high-altitude exposure, allowing for faster acclimation next time. But that memory fades within four months. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Properly fermented foods deliver probiotics that could help cut disease risk, said a researcher at the annual meeting of the AAAS. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In urban Asian areas myopia among teenagers is topping 90 percent—but foresight may be able to bring those numbers way down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guppies exposed to predators tend to aggregate into smaller, more tightly knit groups, which may allow them to coordinate their predator avoidance strategies. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Astronauts’ gray matter is compressed by time in space—except in an area that controls feeling and movement in the legs. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers and administrators at the CDC dare not utter the words guns or firearms for fear of budget cuts from Congress, according to health policy researcher David Hemenway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Critters living more than six miles below the ocean surface contain high levels of harmful compounds like PCBs and flame retardants. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers have developed a heat sensor that can detect temperature changes of just ten thousandths of a degree Celsius—comparable with the sensitivity of pit vipers. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Pacific Northwest housing boom is encroaching on songbird habitat, forcing the birds to flee their homes—and their mates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A thin film coating can chill a vat of water to 15 degress Fahrenheit cooler than its surroundings, by absorbing—and then emitting—the sun's infrared rays. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Women rate a man they see with an attractive woman as more desirable than an unattached man. Erika Beras reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The low-oxygen waters of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico result in smaller shrimp, and a spike in large shrimp prices. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The amphibians' saliva is what's known as a "shear-thinning fluid," like ketchup—sometimes thick, sometimes thin and flowing. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Charles Platkin, director of the New York City Food Policy Center at Hunter College, published tips on what it would take to burn off the calories we typically consume during the Super Bowl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Arctic heat waves melt sea ice, which promotes more warming and even more ice loss. In other words, it’s a snowball effect—or in this case, an anti-snowball effect. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nomadic jellyfish and poisonous puffer fish are the poster children of an invasion of non-native species into the Mediterranean, with environmental and economic costs. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The critically endangered birds have done well in captive breeding, meaning they may be ready once more for wild living, and the repertoire of calls associated with it. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The cichlid, a small fish, has one of the most incredible visual systems known—which allows it to adapt to differently colored environments. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When LSD binds to serotonin receptors, it pulls a "lid" closed behind it, locking it in place for hours, and explaining its long-lasting effects. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sunscreen or beach umbrellas alone were unable to completely prevent sunburns—so researchers suggest combining the methods instead. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The six-legged savants appear to use celestial cues and three forms of memory, as they blaze a trail back to the nest. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A study examines the effects of a high-sugar diet on the life spans of fruit flies. Another studies how the flies’ appetite-suppressing pathways may be similar to ours. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A common pesticide additive, known as an "inert" ingredient, could be one of the causes of the die-offs beekeepers have observed in their hives. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chemists have synthesized the most complex molecular knot ever, using a strand just 192 atoms long. The advance could lead to new tougher materials. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Using algorithms developed for human speech recognition, researchers decoded which bats in an experimental colony were arguing with each other, and what they were arguing about. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Some predators are attracted to the food in bird feeders, and end up targeting nestlings, too. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
