Pounding and slicing meat and vegetables would have saved our ancestors millions of tough chews a year—potentially explaining the evolution of smaller jaws and teeth. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Arachnophobic study subjects estimated the size of spiders as bigger than did people who do not fear the eight-legged beasties. Jason Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Smart Bat sensor captures swing data and reenacts the motion on a smartphone app. Larry Greenemeier reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The dragonfly Pantala flavescens can travel 9,000 to 11,000 miles, and may interbreed across the globe. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wading birds in the Everglades prefer to nest near resident gators for protection. And the arrangement appears to be mutually beneficial. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A pair of astrophysicists advise searchers of intelligent life to look in the narrow band of galactic sky from which any alien observers would see Earth transit the sun—a method we use to detect exoplanets. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A conversation following a play about the famous Milgram experiments about conformity and authority included mention of a just-published new version of the test. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The immune systems in bats are in a continuous state of activation, which may explain why they can carry viruses like Ebola without harm. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Some 300,000 premature deaths could be avoided by 2030 if the U.S. abides by the ambitious Paris Climate Agreement, according to a new analysis. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
“Fast radio bursts” detected here on Earth last only a thousandth of a second, but are the result of a faraway source briefly shining a billion or more times brighter than our sun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California paid $17,000 to regain access to their patient digital information and other data held hostage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jessica Witt of Colorado State University explains that how well you're performing affects your visual perception of the world around you, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Gypsyamber D’Souza of Johns Hopkins University discussed the rise in HPV-related oral cancer, its connection to oral sex and the risk for men at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mantis shrimp shells contain ultrathin polarizing materials, which could find use in optical computer chips. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, addressed ways to deal with the U.S. opioid epidemic at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Almost all the ivory in large stockpiles seized by law enforcement originates in just two locations in Africa, informing authorities about where to focus their resources. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mice with the right mix of microbes were spared the worst of a malaria infection, possibly via some sort of "booster effect" on the immune system. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Greenland's glacial rivers may flush some 400,000 tons of phosphorus into ocean waters—on par with the Mississippi or the Amazon. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aegean wall lizards are the first wild animals to be observed explicitly choosing the best background for their particular coloration to disappear into. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
About 47,000 years ago, newcomer humans to Australia helped to wipe out an enormous flightless bird by collecting and cooking its eggs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Developed nations that drive climate change incur relatively few of the costs whereas countries that produce few greenhouse gas emissions will be hard-hit, like nonsmokers exposed to second-hand smoke. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A public health advocate determined how much exercise is required to burn off various typical big game foods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bears’ gut summer bacteria are more diverse and include species that tend to promote energy storage than are the bacteria that live in them during their hibernation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A new review paper emphasizes the crucial role birds play in helping trees colonize new habitats—especially in the face of a changing climate. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Laboratory tests suggest that when the shellfish suck in tiny plastic particles, their reproductive success suffers. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At a Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health forum on diet and health, Walter Willett, chair of the school's nutrition department, talked about benefits and risks associated with antioxidant supplements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The newly discovered Himalayan forest thrush looks a great deal like the alpine thrush, but its far silkier song stylings gave it away as a potential new species. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The presence of a gun increases the likelihood that someone in the home will die a violent death, particularly by suicide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A tiny primate, the marmoset, appears to process pitch perception the same way we do, implying that the ability evolved in a common ancestor at least 40 million years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Antibiotics work against bacterial infections but are often prescribed to people with viral infections, which don't respond to the drugs. But a new gene test could show if a patient's infection is viral or bacterial. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
