Here’s how polar bears might get traction on snow
Tiny “fingers” can help polar bears get a grip. Like the rubbery nubs on the bottom of baby socks, microstructures on the bears’ paw...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Bizarre aye-aye primates take nose picking to the extreme
Aye-ayes are true champions of nose picking. A new video offers the first evidence that these nocturnal lemurs of Madagascar stick their fingers up...
Insect swarms might generate as much electric charge as storm clouds
You might feel a spark when you talk to your crush, but living things don’t require romance to make electricity. A study published October...
Wind turbines could help capture carbon dioxide while providing power
Wind turbines could offer a double whammy in the fight against climate change. Besides harnessing wind to generate clean energy, turbines may help to...
Mountain lions pushed out by wildfires take more risks
Mountain lions have no interest in people, or the built-up areas we enjoy. But after a 2018 wildfire in California, local lions took more...
Meet the BOAT, the brightest gamma-ray burst of all time
The brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded recently lit up a distant galaxy — and astronomers have nicknamed it the BOAT, for Brightest of All...
A new treatment for debilitating nightmares offers sweeter dreams
For people haunted by recurring nightmares, untroubled sleep would be a dream come true. Now in a small experiment, neuroscientists have demonstrated a technique...
Mixing gold ions into whiskey can reveal its flavor
A new kind of “gold standard” could soon permeate the whiskey industry. Whiskey distillers typically age spirits in charred, wooden casks for years, allowing...
Particles from space provide a new look inside cyclones
Particles raining down from space offer 3-D views inside swirling tropical storms. Muons created from cosmic rays that smash into Earth’s upper atmosphere have...
Why fuzzy definitions are a problem in the social sciences
U.S. millennials are rejecting suburbia and moving back to the city. That was a prevailing idea in 2019, when I started as the social...
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