How lizards keep detachable tails from falling off
Lizards are famous for losing their tails, but perhaps the bigger question should be: How do their tails stay on? The answer may lie...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
A technique borrowed from ecology hints at hundreds of lost medieval legends
King Arthur’s lasting renown is one for the books. But a statistical spotlight now shines on medieval European literature’s round table of lost and...
Artificial intelligence challenges what it means to be creative
When British artist Harold Cohen met his first computer in 1968, he wondered if the machine might help solve a mystery that had long...
Sunlight helps clean up oil spills in the ocean more than previously thought
Sunlight may have helped remove as much as 17 percent of the oil slicking the surface of the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010...
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Imagine removing a branch of the U.S. government, say the Supreme Court. What are the myriad ways that such an upheaval might reshape people’s...
‘From Data to Quanta’ defends Niels Bohr’s view of quantum mechanics
From Data to QuantaSlobodan PerovićUniv. of Chicago, $45 Ever since Max Planck introduced the idea of the quantum to the world, physicists have argued...
Chewing sugar-free gum reduced preterm births in a large study
Chewing a sugar-free gum daily reduced preterm births in a large study in Malawi. The oral intervention was inspired by past research linking poor...
How ‘hot Jupiters’ may get their weirdly tight orbits
Strange giant planets known as hot Jupiters, which orbit close to their suns, got kicked onto their peculiar paths by nearby planets and stars,...
Freshwater ice can melt into scallops and spikes
Water’s wacky density leads to strange effects that researchers are still uncovering. Typically, liquids become denser the more they cool. But freshwater is densest...
These are the first visible-light images of Venus’ surface captured from space
By serendipity, scientists have photographed Venus’ surface from space for the first time. Though the planet’s rocky body is concealed beneath a thick veil...
A new treatment could restore some mobility in people paralyzed by strokes 
What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars? 
This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces 
Greta Thunberg’s new book urges the world to take climate action now