Science Quickly

A model of the dolphin vocal apparatus shows that they need a coating of mucus to produce their distinctive sounds.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The discerning insects returned to flowers with sweetened pollen, but avoided revisiting flowers with bitter pollen. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A genetic analysis of leftovers from an exotic dinner in 1951 reveals that the diners got less than they were promised.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Center for Science Education's annual Colorado River trip through the Grand Canyon highlights the differences between the scientific and creationist outlooks.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new study suggests the best predictor of wildlife abundance in public lands is not human activity, but factors like forest connectivity and nearby housing density. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New research suggests that our feline companions understand the principle of cause and effect. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An aquaculturist used selective breeding to create strains of farmed fish that fatten up fast on cheap, plentiful feeds such as soybeans and corn. Emily Schwing reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

By analyzing the vocal patterns of couples in therapy, an algorithm was able to predict whether a relationship would get worse or improve. Erika Beras reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new theory suggests the Red Planet once had a spectacular lunar system. Lee Billings reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listeners can tell the difference between CD-quality music and better-than-CD quality—but only if they train their ears first. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The call of the tufted titmouse conveys important information about the presence of potential predators. But only if other birds can hear it. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Urban light pollution in the U.K. is pushing tree springtime behavior a full week earlier than usual. Christopher Intagliata reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over their lifetimes, macaques follow the same trajectory as humans in the amount of interest they have in observing what another individual is looking at.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Czeisler, director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, talked about the dangers of drowsy driving at a recent Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health Forum called Asleep at the Wheel.       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Social spiders in artificially assembled groups of all bold or all shy members fared less well against predators than a group with some shy and some bold members.      Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reducing fat from chocolate can gum up manufacturing equipment, making low-fat chocolate hard to produce—but an electric field can help. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When immune cells rush to the site of a mosquito bite, viruses hijack the cells and turn them into viral factories—in mice, at least. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first known example of a mutualistic relationship between two mammal species in which neither is a primate, mongooses feast on ticks and other parasites infesting warthogs.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lizard's stripes may make them look like they’re moving slower than they really are, confusing predators that tend to aim at the head but may wind up with the tail.     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More particulate matter in the air can build stronger, longer-lasting thunderstorms over the tropics, leading to more extreme storms. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The microbes found in crushed grapes were linked to certain chemical fingerprints in the finished wine. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In mice, intestinal microbes respond to a high-fat diet by producing acetate, which triggers the release of a hormone that makes mammals feel hungry, causing them to eat even more.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wildlife researcher Joel Berger dons a polar bear outfit to study the reactions of musk oxen to the threat of bears increasingly driven onto the land for food.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What looked like human-made structures underwater off Greece turned out to be millions-of-years-old concretions deposited by bacteria.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An energy-efficient alternative to LEDs has greater focusing power, for microscopes and spotlights. Christopher Intagliata reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices