Science Quickly

Almost all southern right whale calves off the coast of Argentina’s Peninsula Valdez are being fed upon, some fatally, by kelp gulls, which was a rare occurrence four decades ago   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thinner sea ice is getting pushed farther by Arctic winds, which makes polar bears walk more to stay in the same place, increasing their need for food.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Using climate models and tree physiological data, researchers forecast a near-complete annihilation of evergreens in the southwest by the year 2100. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers designed a chip that transfers data not with electrons but with photons—resulting in a potential 10-fold boost in speed. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Heavy drinkers age 18 to 25 who got texts before and after each weekend about their weekend drinking plans cut their alcohol intake compared with those who got no texts or more perfunctory texts   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A compound found in extra virgin olive oil and red wine reduced mice’s risk of clogged arteries. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicholas Matzke, an American evolutionary biologist currently at the Australian National University in Canberra, performed a phylogenetic-style analysis of dozens of antievolution education bills in various state legislatures to track their relatedness   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stickleback fish in Alaska evolved from living in seawater to freshwater in just 50 years, with the help of freshwater traits in their genome. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marion Nestle, author of Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (and Winning), talked December 14 in New York City about Coca-Cola's attempt to fund research designed to find sugared soft drinks innocent in contributing to obesity   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a study of first graders, teachers rated low-performing minority students more positively than low-performing white students, but they ranked high-performing minority students lower than white students at the same level Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A brief portion of the December 9 conversation during the climate talks in France between Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Scientific American’s David Biello   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Roaches get the signal to gather together from pheromones produced by their gut microbes and released in the insects’ excrement. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Among its goals, the coalition of countries, including the U.S., wants an agreement that the world must aim as soon as possible to hold global warming to 1.5-degree Celsius and work toward a long-term low-carbon future   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis determines that many road-building projects in Africa would bring only modest benefits to people, while devastating the environment. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientists can provide the info to make sure that the correct areas are chosen for protection to help ensure the continued robustness of a region's biodiversity   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Closely tracking 800 people's blood glucose levels in response to meals allowed researchers to develop a predictive algorithm for individuals   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Overweight men’s sperm undergo epigenetic changes that may alter a child’s brain development and appetite control. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Flies, beetles, butterflies and moths may account for some 40 percent of the world’s pollination. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gentrifying residents in two Brooklyn neighborhoods view their new surroundings differently, depending on the race of those who traditionally live there. Erika Beras reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers sampled 10 espresso machines and found that most of them harbored coffee residues rich in bacteria—including some potentially pathogenic strains. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A tree survey in the Amazon by more than 150 researchers led to an estimate that up to 57 percent of Amazon trees could qualify for threatened species status by 2050   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A study found that the stronger a subject's memory of a particular food, the more likely they were to choose it again, even over foods they professed to enjoy more   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Volunteers taking an "implicit bias" test who were unlikely to associate images of women with leadership titles like executive or president were far less likely to vote for a woman in a race against a man of equal qualification   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty minutes into a meal, E. coli pump out appetite-suppressing proteins, which could influence our feeling of hunger. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers took cells from donated vocal cord tissue and successfully grew them on a three-dimensional scaffold to produce new vocal cords that can produce sound   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices