Science

Science

Researchers Create A Tiny Camera To Be Carried By Beetles

4:05pm July 15, 2020

A research team at the University of Washington has developed a small, lightweight wireless camera that can be carried by beetles. In the future, the device could also allow tiny robots to see.

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Prairie strips in fields of corn or soybeans can protect the soil and allow wildlife to flourish. This strip was established in a field near Traer, Iowa, in 2015.

How Absentee Landowners Keep Farmers From Protecting Water And Soil

12:02pm July 14, 2020

by Dan Charles

America's vast fields of corn and soybeans have displaced wildlife and polluted waterways. Farmers could help solve those problems, but often don't, in part because they rent that land.

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A letter from current CDC staff recently submitted to Director Robert Redfield demands that the agency address structural racism toward Black employees.

CDC Employees Call Out Agency's 'Toxic Culture Of Racial Aggressions'

6:20pm July 13, 2020

Pointing to the pandemic's disproportionate toll on people of color, over 1,200 workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call on the agency to declare racism a public health crisis.

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Illustration depicting adults and school-children wearing masks.

Nation's Pediatricians Walk Back Support For In-Person School

4:41pm July 10, 2020

by Anya Kamenetz

In a new statement made jointly with teachers unions, the American Academy of Pediatrics now says "science and community circumstances must guide decision-making."

Coronavirus Pandemic Halts Climate Data Collection

3:46pm July 10, 2020

by Rebecca Hersher

The pandemic has hindered climate data collection from ships and buoys in the oceans. The U.N. warns it could negatively affect climate models' accuracy unless scientists find new ways to gather data.

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A colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell (green) heavily infected with particles (orange) from the virus that causes COVID-19, isolated from a patient sample.

WHO: Aerosolized Particles Unlikely To Be Significant Source Of COVID-19 Transmission

7:46pm July 09, 2020

by Pien Huang

After 239 scientists raised concerns about transmission by aerosolized particles, the World Health Organization has issued a brief on the role of aerosolized particles — and called for more research.

Mice that exercise produce more of an enzyme that can improve memory and other brain functions.

An Enzyme That Increases With Exercise Can Improve Memory In Mice, And Maybe People

6:49pm July 09, 2020

by Richard Harris

When scientists revved up the production of an enzyme called GPLD1 in older mice, it stimulated nerve growth in their brains and the animals navigated a maze better.

Scientists Discover Enzyme That Could Result In A Drug Substitute For Exercise

5:59pm July 09, 2020

by Richard Harris

Scientists have discovered an enzyme that is elevated in people and mice who exercise a lot. They hope the discovery could lead to medicine that would have some of the benefits of exercise.

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Faced with a rat trapped in a restrainer, a free rat opens the trap's door to liberate the trapped animal (while stepping on its head — "very rat-ish behavior," says University of Chicago neurobiologist Peggy Mason).

To Come To The Rescue Or Not? Rats, Like People, Take Cues From Bystanders

4:50pm July 08, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Experiments in people have long shown that the presence of indifferent bystanders hurts the chances that someone will help a stranger in an emergency. Rats, it turns out, behave the same way.

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Science

Scientists Discover A New Formula To Calculate A Dog's Age In Human Years

3:56pm July 08, 2020

Scientists have come up with a new formula to calculate a dog's age in human years — and it is much more complicated than multiplying its real age by seven.