60-second Science

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.

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.

Decoy sea turtle eggs containing tracking tech are new weapons against beach poachers and traffickers.

Spotted hyena males do not fight for mates, so how are certain males shut out of the mating game?

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.

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.

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.

Some dog population genetics show similarities to ours, such as in the ability to digest grains. But other lineages differ. 

The prospect of death by giant hornet has pushed some Asian honeybees to resort to a poop-based defense system

Unlike humans, wolves can subsist on protein alone for months—so scientists say we may have lobbed leaner leftovers their way. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Researchers help farmers in Namibia avoid costly cattle losses by tracking big cat hangouts

Linguist Ben Zimmer says the pandemic has turned us all into amateur epidemiologists utilizing terms such as “superspreader” and “asymptomatic.” Christopher Intagliata reports.

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.

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.

Bee larvae and pupae appear to secrete a chemical that does the work of a late-night cup of coffee for their nurses.

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. 

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

Nurse Kristen Choi says health care providers need to better educate patients about possible side effects from the COVID-19 vaccine. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Nanoparticles that attach to photoreceptors allowed mice to see infrared and near-infrared light for up to two months.

The wrinkle-faced bat covers its face with a flap of skin, seemingly as part of its courtship rituals.