Science Quickly

People of all ages find background sound distracting, but noise appears to impede memory formation in older people. Erika Beras reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new genetic analysis reveals a massive migration from the central Asian grasslands into Europe 4,500 years ago—implying that some languages followed. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two studies, one with bees and one with mice, show that the brain can be manipulated into having a memory of an occurrence that did not in reality happen. Karen Hopkin reports     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Whale females, like humans, live well past menopause, a trait possibly selected for because their knowledge base can help their entire clan survive. Dina Fine Maron reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mice fed a diet high in sodium had increased immune cell activity in their skin that helped ward off infection. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Saturn's moon Titan is too cold for cell membranes to form as they do on Earth. But researchers have come up with a cell membrane that could exist on Titan. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe carried a snowball onto the Senate floor to insinuate that climate change was not real, after which Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse torched Inhofe's argument. Steve Mirsky reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gen. John Hyten, Commander, U.S. Air Force Space Command, talks about the task of tracking all the materials in orbit and keeping them from crashing into one another. Steve Mirsky and Larry Greenemeier report     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sediments at a Britsh archaeological site include wheat remains dating back 8,000 years, meaning that Britons were bringing in European wheat two millennia before they grew it. Cynthia Graber reports         Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flow sensors on the bodies of many fishes act like a hydrodynamic antenna, picking up signals about the flow of water around them. Gretchen Cuda Kroen reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Science was in the spotlight at the 87th annual Academy Awards ceremony Sunday night, from actors playing scientists to winners thanking them. Steve Mirsky reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Beaver enamel is rich in iron—which is even more effective than fluoride at staving off cavities. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In addition to fuel, nectar from various plant species contains chemical compounds that reduce the numbers of a common gut parasite in bumblebees. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marijuana boosts users' appetities by changing the signals brain cells produce from sated to still hungry. Karen Hopkin reports.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rodents fed capsaicin voluntarily exercised more than their furry friends on a lower-heat diet. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A reexamination of museum mastodon specimens provides evidence that that last ones were gone from what's called the Beringia region well before any humans showed up. Emily Schwing reports        Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some random historical facts about the number 13 may be behind some people's irrational aversion to Friday the 13th. Karen Hopkin reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fifteen million unwanted pregnancies in 35 low- and middle-income countries could be avoided if women had access to and freedom to use contraception. Cynthia Graber reports        Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ice cores show a sudden rise in heavy metal air pollution in South America 240 years before the industrial revolution, probably due to metallurgy and mining. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists sequenced genetic material found in all 468 New York City subway stations, and nearly half matched no known organism. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buried in one of Isaac Newton's college notebooks is a page on which he fairly accurately theorizes on the process of transpiration in plants, two centuries before the concept was elucidated. Karen Hopkin reports     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

According to sports economist Andrew Zimbalist, most cities that win the right to host the Olympics will spend far more to prepare for the games than they estimate in their winning bid. Steve Mirsky reports        Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Quadcopters appear to be a relatively benign tool to study the behavior and numbers of wetland birds. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Savino di Lernia, director of the Archaeological Mission in the Sahara at the Sapienza University of Rome, says violence and unrest threaten World Heritage sites and researchers. Cynthia Graber reports        Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Regions that send a team to the Super Bowl saw on average an 18 percent increase in flu deaths among those over 65, probably because of increased transmission due to gatherings of people at parties during the height of the flu season. Karen Hopkin reports      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices