Science Quickly

Healthy ants wanted nothing to do with free-radical-rich foodstuff, but ants exposed to a pathogenic fungus sought it out, which upped their odds of survival. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crown-of-thorns sea stars are an "underwater swarm of locusts" that devour coral—unless the coral is protected by a layer of seaweed. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of some 300 cosmetics ads in magazines found the vast majority of their science claims to be either false or too vague to judge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two new studies find that a deeper voice gives a politican an edge over a higher-pitched opponent Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Using a simulated vomiting device, scientists determined that projectile vomiting can aerosolize noroviruslike particles, allowing the infection to spread short distances through the air. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The grime on city buildings and may actively contribute to urban air pollution. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A newly discovered strain of bacteria found in Arctic permafrost harvests methane from the air—meaning it could help mitigate the effects of warming. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers linked dated graffiti about droughts in a cave in China to physical evidence in the cave of the water shortages, such as changes in ratios of stable isotopes in specific layers of stalagmites   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Both hemispheres are involved in the brains of people interpreting a whistled variant of Turkish, compared with a left hemisphere dominance when listeners hear the spoken language   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some 95 percent of catalogued species in one family of Hawaiian land snails could already be extinct, and similar rates of invertebrate extinction could be happening around the world. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers isolated a bacterial enzyme that could break down nicotine before smokers get the buzz that keeps them coming back for more. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indoor climate control systems are based on 1960s standards that envisioned the typical office worker to be a 40-year-old, 68-kilogram man     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A single-point mutation in corn's ancestor teosinte got rid of the hard shell that used to encase every kernel    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers have developed a new ecofriendly sunscreen molecule that protects against both UV-A and UV-B rays, and could also be used to create more durable paints and plastics. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microbes 2,500 meters below the seafloor in Japan are most closely related to bacterial groups that thrive in forest soils on land, suggesting that they might be descendants of ones that survived when their terrestrial habitat was flooded 20 million years ago   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a study of nearly half a million volunteers in China, those who ate chilies just a couple times a week had a 10 percent lower risk of death. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Animal communication studies have shown only fixed vocalizations, such as alarm cries. But Bonobo chimps appear to have a call that has different meanings in different contexts   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Adults of the west African Baka people and east African Efé and Sua peoples average less than five feet tall. But while the Efé and Sua are born small, the Baka have slow growth rates in infancy   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tree growth lags below normal for several years following droughts, a detail about carbon sequestration that climate models currently overlook. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Certain vaccines prevent sickness and death, but don't block transmission—meaning they may actually give some viral strains an extra shot at survival. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of the acoustical characteristics of screams found that the sounds are unusually rough, that is, they rapidly change in frequency, which has an alarming effect on the listener's brain    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his induction speech at the Baseball Hall of Fame, pitcher John Smoltz hoped that the number of such procedures could be lessened in the future   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mediocre main dishes taste even worse when they follow delectable appetizers—an example of the so-called "hedonic effect." Erika Beras reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A survey of nearly 5,000 13- to 15-year-olds in the U.K. found that 40 percent of overweight and obese teens did not self-identify as “too heavy.” Cynthia Graber reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner talks about the just-announced $100-million Breakthrough Listen Project to search for extraterrestrial technological civilizations   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices