Six months of piano lessons can heighten kindergartners' brain responses to different pitches, and improve their ability to tell apart two similar-sounding words. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Many people assume only male birds do the singing. But females also sing in at least 660 species and perhaps many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Certain motifs in swamp sparrow songs can last hundreds, even thousands of years—evidence of a cultural tradition in the birds. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers tested the hearing of beluga whales in an Alaskan bay and found that they seem to have suffered little hearing loss due to ocean noise. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Foods high in both carbs and fats tickle the brain’s reward circuits more so than snacks that showcase just one or the other. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Juno spacecraft data suggest lightning on Jupiter is much more common than we thought—but it congregates near the poles, not the equator as on Earth. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A new analysis found the flood protection benefits of coral reefs save the global economy $4 billion dollars a year. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hippo poop is piling up in Tanzania’s freshwater fisheries—which is bad news for biodiversity, and deleterious for the dinner plate. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers engineered a portable device that detects even the tiniest trace of hydrogen sulfide—one of the primary offenders in bad breath. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At the AMA annual meeting the organization's president petitioned for an evidence-based, science-driven analysis of gun violence and solutions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A structure known as a metal organic framework traps water vapor by night, then releases it when heated the next day. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Some 5,000 to 7,000 years ago, the diversity of Y chromosomes plummeted. A new analysis suggests clan warfare may have been the cause. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Warning a child that something, like a vaccine shot, will hurt can actually increase their perception of the pain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Humans and other primates often reciprocate good deeds. A new study suggests a nonprimate, the dwarf mongoose, does so, too, even after a delay. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
During extreme heat waves, a species of eucalyptus copes by releasing water and taking advantage of evaporative cooling. Other trees may do the same. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The best facial-recognition algorithms are now as good as the best forensic examiners are. But the best results come by combining human and computer skills. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sea lions and fur seals in Uruguay have become a tourist attraction—but the animals have become less, not more, accepting of humans. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
An evolutionary analysis of pop tunes revealed that over the past 30 years songs have grown sadder—but the big hits buck that trend. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Pediatric cardiologist Ismée Williams discusses her young adult novel, Water in May, about a teenage girl whose newborn has a life-threatening heart condition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The new Google AI voice assistant, called Duplex, highlights the intricacies of carrying out a mundane human-style conversation, as it keeps you off the phone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Orangutans were observed to use plant extracts to treat their own pain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Racing pigeons is big business—and doping is common. Now scientists have devised a way to detect doping in the avian athletes. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Scientists have added radar info to seismic data, isotope measurements and optical imagery to study covert nuclear tests. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hunting regulations in Sweden prohibit killing brown bear mothers in company of cubs—causing mama bears to care for their young longer. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sediment records have confirmed that Jupiter and Venus change Earth's orbit from virtually circular to noticeably elliptical and back every 405,000 years. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The InSight Mission will look at Mars's seismic activity and latent heat to find out more about how planets get made--and how humans might live there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tomato plants detected snail slime in soil near them and mounted preemptive defenses, even though they were not directly touched. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ancient tools on Mediterranean islands could predate the appearance of modern humans—suggesting Neandertals took to the seas. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thierry Zomahoun, president of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, talks about the potential and needs of science on the continent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Advice from an N.Y.U. food policy symposium: eating healthfully means you can't ever let down your guard when shopping. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
