Advances

Spotted lanternflies are sometimes drawn to power line vibrations—and scientists are taking notice

Try to solve a traveling salesman’s directional dilemma

Gene-cutting diagnostic tests could be as easy as a rapid COVID test and as accurate as PCR

Programmable liquids could aid robot grippers, shock absorption, acoustics, and more

Australian conservationists introduced juvenile cane toads ahead of invasions to help prepare native monitor lizards

Ultrathin gold was achieved with the help of a century-old sword-making technique

Female elephants address one another with individualized rumbles

Most orangutans take seven years to learn to make their own beds

Recycled materials contribute to a pollutant-neutralizing paint

Scientists are putting together a catalog of communications from belugas’ forehead “melon”

Bubbles shaped like teardrops, flattened eggs and worms reveal ice’s inner life

Rather than relying on bacteria, whiteflies cut out the middleman and acquired their own genes to process nitrogen