Science Quickly

Fruit bats raised hearing different pitches of sounds vocalized in keeping with their aural environment as they matured. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It takes months for members of a mongoose breeding society to trust newcomers with important tasks like watching for predators. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A big data analysis involving more than 1.5 million patients could find no relationship between weather and complaints to doctors about joint or back pain.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Siting solar panels over rooftops, parking lots, reservoirs and contaminated land could generate heaps of energy—with minimal effects on agriculture or the environment. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Gulf corvina produces a chattering chorus that’s one of the loudest underwater animal sounds on the planet. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Repeating something can render that thing melodious—even the sound of a shovel being dragged across the pavement. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A flash of radiation drastically reduced arrhythmia in a small group of patients, for at least a year after treatment. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists are exploring the use of fiber-optic cables—like the ones that form the backbone of the internet—to monitor earthquakes. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Noshing while shopping convinces consumers to buy the featured product more often than does simply seeing end-of-aisle displays. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Machine-learning algorithms teased seven distinct dolphin clicking patterns from a library of more than 50 million clicks, identifying one species by sound alone. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following dietary guidelines would mean eating less meat and dairy—and fewer calories overall—reducing greenhouse gases and other pollution. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New beaver ponds in the Arctic may contribute to the destruction of the permafrost that holds that landscape together.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When sharks prowl shallow waters, fish quit foraging and hide—sparing seaweed from being grazed in those areas. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For thousands of years, women in agricultural societies seem to have had arms stronger than members of modern rowing teams.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Coquí frogs are invasive species in Hawaii. But they don’t seem to bug the islands’ native and nonnative birds. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hospitals consistently score low on quietness surveys. An acoustician suggests a few ways hospitals could keep the peace and quiet. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rosemarie Truman, CEO of the Center for Advancing Innovation, says a better system of governance for federally funded inventions could lead to many more good ones becoming commercialized.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers trained machine-learning algorithms to pinpoint the location of a cargo ship simply by eavesdropping on the sound of its passing. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Analysis of alleged yeti samples found them to be from less fantastic beasts, such as bears, but also shed light on the evolution of those local bear populations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of voter opinions finds that half of Republican voters think climate change is happening, and would support regulating CO2 as a pollutant. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the World Conference of Science Journalists in October, Nathan Myhrvold, co-founder of Intellectual Ventures, charged innovation outfits with changing the lives of the world's most disadvantaged.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A social scientist studies how car stickers turn the roads into actual information highways.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By listening to the calls of their brethren, chimps seem to be able to understand the mind-sets and perspectives of other chimps. Jason Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

About half the honeybees in a test exhibited no sidedness, but the other half was split 50–50 between righties and lefties—perhaps to navigate obstacles more efficiently.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers attached cameras to humpback whales and found that they flap their flippers to help power forward swimming.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices