A risk-tolerant immune system may enable house sparrows’ wanderlust
For animals exploring new territory, taking risks is key to survival. But eating unfamiliar foods can be dicey, since they…
Extraordinary heat waves have readers asking how A/C affects greenhouse gas emissions
An extraordinary heat wave last week toppled thousands of temperature records across Asia, from Iran to Japan. In Iran’s highlands,…
Why Japan issued its first-ever mega-earthquake alert
On August 8, the Japanese Meteorological Agency issued its first-ever “megaquake alert,” after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocked the Miyazaki…
Squall line tornadoes are sneaky, dangerous and difficult to forecast
Meteorologist Thea Sandmael watched the storm close in. It was near enough for her to spot a rotating dome of…
Zigzag walls could help buildings beat the heat
Here’s a twist: Adding zigzags to walls could help cool an overheated building, even as global temperatures rise. Researchers devised…
50 years ago, scientists blamed migraines on cheese and chocolate
Chocolate, cheese and migraines — Science News, August 10, 1974 A new study of migraine and food ingestion … is reported in…
Some meteors leave trails lasting up to an hour. Now we may know why
To leave a lasting trail, meteors need to aim low. A new survey of shooting stars shows that meteors that…
Earthquakes added to Pompeii’s death toll
In A.D. 79, a massive volcano in southern Italy suddenly, explosively awoke, leading to one of the ancient world’s deadliest…
Record-breaking Coral Sea temperatures threaten the Great Barrier Reef
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef faces critical danger from back-to-back bouts of extreme ocean heat. Ocean heat in the Coral Sea…
Hundreds of snake species get a new origin story
The ancestors of cobras and related snakes first emerged in Asia roughly 35 million years ago. Many researchers thought the…
