Prosthetic teeth could make great hearing aids. Vibrations applied to replacements for lost teeth travel well through jawbones to the inner ear, researchers report in the September Journal of the…
Author: ID
Save Our Sequoias Act Poses More Threat than Promise
By Susan Britting and Isabella Langone Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) at the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias; Image: Jeff Bisbee In the last two years, California’s leaders have allocated unprecedented…
‘Fen, Bog & Swamp’ reminds readers why peatlands matter
Fen, Bog & SwampAnnie ProulxSimon & Schuster, $26.99 A recent TV ad features three guys lost in the woods, debating whether they should’ve taken a turn at a pond, which…
A Caribbean island gets everyone involved in protecting beloved species
The coral reef, once bustling with more than 5,000 long-spined sea urchins, became a ghost town in a matter of days. White skeletons with dangling spines dotted the reef near…
In Maya society, cacao use was for everyone, not just royals
In ancient Maya civilization, cacao wasn’t just for the elites. Traces of the sacred plant show up in ceramics from all types of neighborhoods and dwellings in and around a…
Mangrove forests expand and contract with a lunar cycle
The glossy leaves and branching roots of mangroves are downright eye-catching, and now a study finds that the moon plays a special role in the vigor of these trees. Long-term…
How ghostly neutrinos could explain the universe’s matter mystery
The answer to one of the greatest mysteries of the universe may come down to one of the smallest, and spookiest, particles. Matter is common in the cosmos. Everything around…
This face mask can sense the presence of an airborne virus
Face masks — the unofficial symbol of the COVID-19 pandemic — are leveling up. A mask outfitted with special electronics can detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and other…
After eons of isolation, these desert fish flub social cues
Getting out into society after a long isolation gets awkward. Ask the Pahrump poolfish, loners in a desert for some 10,000 years. This hold-in-your-hand-size fish (Empetrichthys latos) has a chubby,…
A protogalaxy in the Milky Way may be our galaxy’s original nucleus
The Milky Way left its “poor old heart” in and around the constellation Sagittarius, astronomers report. New data from the Gaia spacecraft reveal the full extent of what seems to…
