Science Quickly

Satellite data can help geologists predict major floods up to 11 months in advance in areas where snow melt or groundwater is a significant contributor. Cynthia Graber reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The bacteria found on someone's mobile phone is a good match for the most common kinds of bacteria that live on their hands. Christopher Intagliata reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mice infected with the parasites that cause their type of malaria produce odorous compounds that attract mosquitoes, increasing the odds that the parasites will be spread to the next victims Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By analyzing what came out of Neandertals, researchers have verified that at least some of them mixed vegetation into their meaty diet. Cynthia Graber reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All mammals that weigh more than about six-and-a-half pounds take about the same time to urinate, thanks to the structure of the urethra. Karen Hopkin reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The smallest galaxies in the universe gave rise to an unexpectedly large proportion of stars. Karen Hopkin reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kids deemed cool in early adolescence have a poor chance to keep that status by their early 20s, because their behavior gets old. Erika Beras reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The guts of white bread eaters appear to contain more lactobacillus, a type of bacteria that wards off digestive disorders. Karen Hopkin reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tiny spores from mosses, algae and lichens can stick in bird feathers, travel from the Arctic to the bottom of South America and grow into whole new specimens. Erika Beras reports    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Recently discovered galaxies shaped like jellyfish leave a long trail of hot gas and dust, victims of even hotter gas from their surrounding cluster of galaxies   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new analysis says that the asymmetry between the two faces of the moon is due to crust thickness differences that resulted from variable cooling rates after the molten formation of our companion. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five-year-olds in highly decorated classrooms were less able to hold their focus, spent more time off-task and had smaller learning gains than kids in bare rooms. Erika Beras reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eleven-year-old Simon Kaschock-Marenda's science fair project led to a publication about the insecticidal effects of the sweetener Truvia. Karen Hopkin reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As northern Europe warms, the light-colored butterflies and dragonflies typically found in the Mediterranean are moving north, and outcompeting their darker-colored rivals. Erika Beras reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Isotope composition within fish tails found in London archaeological digs shows that the city began importing cod from northern Scandinavia some 800 years ago. Cynthia Graber reports   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The May Camelopardalids meteor outburst turned out to be a dud, because meteor storm prediction is not a sure thing, unlike, for example, calculating the next eclipse   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices