Science Quickly

Today we bring you the third episode in a new podcast series: COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By collecting the larvae of the fast flyers, researchers have turned the insects into “biosentinels” that can track mercury pollution across the country. Berly McCoy reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can you pick a lock with just a smartphone? New research shows that doing so is possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New research tries to tease out whether our closest animal relatives can be selfless Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we bring you the second episode in a new podcast series: COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists studied three varieties of house mice and found that those who had lived alongside humans the longest were also the craftiest at solving food puzzles. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New research shows that when faced with an impossible task, the marsupials look to humans for help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we begin a new podcast series: COVID, Quickly. Every two weeks, Scientific American’s senior health editors Tanya Lewis and Josh Fischman catch you up on the essential developments in the pandemic: from vaccines to new variants and everything in between. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You can call it the “revenge of the computer scientist.” An algorithm that made headlines for mastering the notoriously difficult Atari 2600 game Montezuma’s Revenge can now beat more games, achieving near perfect scores, and help robots explore real-world environments. Pakinam Amer reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Decoy sea turtle eggs containing tracking tech are new weapons against beach poachers and traffickers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spotted hyena males do not fight for mates, so how are certain males shut out of the mating game? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After an intense game of cat and mouse with different particles, atomic physicists have measured the radius of the helium nucleus five times more precisely than before. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are some brief reports about science and technology from around the world, including one from Costa Rica about decoy sea turtle eggs with the potential to catch poachers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The research team determined that the city of Raipur in central India has at least one street cow for every 54 human residents. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some dog population genetics show similarities to ours, such as in the ability to digest grains. But other lineages differ.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The prospect of death by giant hornet has pushed some Asian honeybees to resort to a poop-based defense system Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Unlike humans, wolves can subsist on protein alone for months—so scientists say we may have lobbed leaner leftovers their way. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers help farmers in Namibia avoid costly cattle losses by tracking big cat hangouts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Linguist Ben Zimmer says the pandemic has turned us all into amateur epidemiologists utilizing terms such as “superspreader” and “asymptomatic.” Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are some brief reports about science and technology from around the world, including one from Panama about the toll lightning takes on tropical trees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Juvenile ravens performed just as well as chimps and orangutans in a battery of intelligence tests—except for assays of spatial skills. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bee larvae and pupae appear to secrete a chemical that does the work of a late-night cup of coffee for their nurses. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New research tracked the canines in northern Minnesota for years to see just how they reshape their ecosystems. Audio of wolves inside Voyageurs National Park, courtesy of Jacob Job.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A study of adults learning a new language found that speaking primarily activated regions in the left side of the brain, but reading and listening comprehension were much more variable Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nurse Kristen Choi says health care providers need to better educate patients about possible side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices