Science Quickly

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

Estimating cranberry harvests involves tedious hand-counting. But microwave analysis could change all that. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new analysis treats bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies as species in an evolutionary model—and finds bitcoin has no selective advantage. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Salmon excavate streambed holes in which to lay eggs, setting off a chain of events that has surprisingly large geographical effects.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New World societies long ago likely had less income inequality than those in the Old World, and the difference might have been an oxen gap. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The crested pigeon, found in Australia, has a modified wing feather that helps produce an alarm signal sound to warn other birds when there's trouble.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A campaign calls for the creation of a statue to recognize Félicette, the first cat to be sent into space.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bryde's whale has come up with a passive but more efficient feeding strategy in the hypoxic waters of the Gulf of Thailand.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Computer scientists borrowed insights from the fruit fly brain to create a more accurate search algorithm. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With some training, sheep were able to select a celebrity's face over that of a stranger they'd never seen. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SETI pioneer Jill Tarter and Berkeley researcher Dan Werthimer talk about how the discovery of nearby exoplanets is inspiring new efforts to gain info about these galactic neighbors.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On National Bison Day, a look at the role the Bronx played in reestablishing herds of bison on the American plains.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a sample of 98 woolly mammoth remains, researchers found that 70 percent were male—which suggests males were more likely to die accidentally. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists used muons, a by-product of cosmic rays, to image the interior of the Great Pyramid—and found a previously unknown space inside. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The wood tiger moth is the first species known in which fluids from various parts of the moth’s body each target a different type of predator. Jason Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As news coverage of California's most recent drought intensified, water use trends went down—suggesting news might inspire consumers to conserve. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The wintertime smog in China's northeastern provinces is so severe it blocks more than 20 percent of sunlight from reaching the region's solar panels. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wolves appear to have better cooperation skills than dogs—unless the pups partner up with humans. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Firearm deaths and injuries went up in California communities after gun shows in neighboring Nevada—but not after more strictly regulated California gun shows. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mosquitos stealthily float off us after filling up, by virtue of fast wingbeats that generate almost instant lift with only an imperceptible additional push from the legs.    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Up-to-date software, apps, browsers and router software offer the best protection against a potential flaw in wi-fi security called a key reinstallation attack, or KRACK.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exhaust fumes from oceangoing vessels lead to an almost doubling of lightning activity over shipping lanes compared to adjacent areas of the sea.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By playing the online game Foldit, players might help design an enzyme that can stop aflatoxins from making millions sick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jellyfish exhibit signs of a sleep state, which could mean that sleep predates the evolutionary development of central nervous systems.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Under certain circumstances squirrels will bury all of the same kind of nut near one another, a mnemonic strategy known as chunking.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices