60-second Science

Researchers found extra bones within a 240-million-year-old ichthyosaur fossil—which they determined to be the ichthyosaur’s last, possibly fatal meal. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Butterflies, fish and frogs sport rear-end eyespots that reduce predation. Painting eye markings on cows similarly seems to ward off predators.

Hermit warblers in California have developed 35 different song dialects, apparently as a result of wildfires temporarily driving them out of certain areas.

Scientists determined that “lava world” exoplanets do not derive their brightness from molten rock but possibly get it from reflective metallic clouds. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Climate change is expected to bring more frequent droughts and heat waves to Africa’s Kalahari Desert. And aardvarks might not be able to cope. Jason G. Goldman reports.

Scientists spotted a mouse at the summit of Llullaillaco, a 22,000-foot-tall volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina. Julia Rosen reports.

A decline in smell was the sense loss most strongly associated with such risk in a recent study. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Rather than undergoing active chameleonlike color changes, glass frogs’ translucency allows light to bounce from their background and go through them—making their apparent color close to their setting. 

Compared with traditional lineup techniques, a series of two-faces-at-a-time choices led to more accurate identification by study witnesses.

An analysis of fox fossils found evidence that they scavenged from wolf and bear kills until Homo sapiens supplied plenty of horse and reindeer remains.

Now submerged caves in the Yucatán Peninsula contain remains of ocher-mining operations that date back at least 10,000 years.

Soap bubbles are sticky enough to carry a pollen payload and delicate enough to land on flowers without harm.

Here are some brief reports about science and technology from all over, including one about how a lizard population responded to hurricanes by developing larger and stickier toe pads on average.

COVID-19-related lockdowns dampened human activity around the globe—giving seismologists a rare glimpse of the earth’s quietest rumblings. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Art museums are filled with centuries-old paintings with details of plants that today give us clues about evolution and breeding practices.

Meteorologists take advantage of weather data collected by commercial jetliners at different altitudes and locations. Fewer flights mean less data.

The sword-tailed cricket can discern bats’ echolocation signals by only responding to calls of a certain volume—at which point it plummets out of their approach.

The system works like noise-cancelling headphones but fits over an open window. Christopher Intagliata reports. 

Vaccination used against smallpox during the Civil War reveals the identity of the distantly related virus used to keep troops disease-free.

Individuals aren’t very good at judging whether someone coughing or sneezing has an infectious condition or is simply reacting to something benign.