Science Quickly

Parrotfish munching on algae ingest coral and then eliminate the rocky substrate, creating island-building grade sediment in places like the Maldives. Julia Rosen reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A DNA-based vaccine gave rats six months of protection against high blood pressure as well as healthier hearts. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skull fragments dating back 430,000 years appear to be those of the world's first known murder victim, based on the damage observed. Dina Maron reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1994 researchers made a mummy. Now scientists have reverse engineered the process to figure out how it's done, with the mummy makers still around to tell them how they did. Cynthia Graber reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

High-tech sticks could help visually impaired people spot obstacles and even identify acquaintances as they approach. Larry Greenemeier reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unusual adrenal and lung conditions seen in dead dolphins in the months after the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill point to the oil as the cause. Steve Mirsky reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The skin of a California octopus species has a molecular light-sensing mechanism that allows it to change color to match its surroundings with no input from the creature's eyes or brain. Dina Fine Maron reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Contemporary women's baseball chronicler Jennifer Ring says the fastest women pitchers currently hit speeds in the 80s (mph) and it keeps going up. Steve Mirsky reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Analysis of clamshell and screw-shaped shells reveals the structures withstand much greater forces than would a simple sphere or cylinder. Cynthia Graber reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An animal behaviorist ponders a future where some Spots are robots. Larry Greenemeier reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Models show that leaving sea cucumbers unharvested in some underwater zones for two years at a time stabilizes the overall population and actually increases yield for fishers. Cynthia Graber reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research blames 40 percent of the rise in obesity on the ubiquity of supercenters, warehouse clubs and restaurants. Gretchen Cuda Kroen reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, gave his view of the next couple of decades in the evolution of TV-watching at the re:publica 15 digital culture conference in Berlin on May 5    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Chris Wood explains the May 9 Global Big Day event, in which birders worldwide are invited to spot birds and upload their findings to the eBird database. Steve Mirsky reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mice exposed to radiation akin to what astronauts to Mars would receive experienced cognitive impairment. Lee Billings reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists have introduced genes into the American chestnut from wheat that help disarm the fungus that killed almost all three billion of the trees in the eastern U.S. David Biello reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An investigation of more than 17,000 hit tunes suggests popular music undergoes periods of shifting diversity, and that new styles evolve in bursts. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A vast region of space colder than expected is also largely devoid of galaxies, and the two observations are no coincidence. Clara Moskowitz reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Engineers devised a latex-laced honeycomb material that could make an airplane cabin sound more like a quiet living room. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Device stimulates hand muscles to counteract writing issues experienced by some people with Parkinson’s. Larry Greenemeier reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new survey suggests that most kids by age two are using tablets and smartphones, sometimes while watching TV. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feline audiogenic reflex seizures, or FARS, was discovered after a few cat owners reported the issue to an advocacy group   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blood tests on 10 professional musicians before and after playing showed that specific genes got turned on by performance, some of which are also active in songbirds. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Analysis of 168 bottles of bubbly that sat at the sea bottom for 170 years shows how the old-timers tweaked their champagne taste. Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientific American's David Biello hosts a new episode of the TV series Beyond the Light Switch, focusing on the means to and effects of a more electricity-powered country. Steve Mirsky reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices