Sing Solo for Higher Fidelity
By tracking duetting choir singers, researchers found that when an individual singer's pitch drifts off tune their partner’s tend to too. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Stories by Christopher Intagliata
Edible Insect Breeding Led to Larger but Not Necessarily Better Larvae
Researchers aiming to lower the cost of mealworms were able to double the worms' size, but the larger larvae had fewer eggs and weaker offspring. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Busting Earth-Bound Asteroids a Bigger Job Than We Thought
A new model suggests smashing killer space rocks with insufficient force could let gravity pull the pieces back together. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Warm-Blooded Animals Lost Ability to Heal the Heart
Thyroid hormone, which helps warm-blooded animals regulate body temperature, also appears to put a halt on heart regeneration. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Animal Migrations Track with Wikipedia Searches
By analyzing nearly 2.5 billion Wikipedia page views, researchers found species searches reflect seasonal animal migrations and plant blooming. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Background Music Might Stifle Creativity
Volunteers who listened to music solved fewer word puzzles than others who worked in silence. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Budding Yeast Produce Cannabis Compounds
Biologists have taken the genes that produce cannabinoids in weed and plugged them into yeast, making rare and novel compounds more accessible. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Who Has "the Right Stuff" for Mars?
Humans traveling to Mars will be required to operate with a degree of autonomy human astronauts have never had, due to communication delays. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Should Robots Have a License to Kill?
Artificial intelligence experts, ethicists and diplomats debate autonomous weapons. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Warming Climate Implies More Flies—and Disease
The incidence of foodborne illness could jump in a warming world, due to an increase in housefly activity. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Light-Skin Variant Arose in Asia Independent of Europe
A new genetic study of Latin Americans provides evidence that gene variants for lighter skin color came about in Asia as well as in Europe. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Grazing Deer Alter Forest Acoustics
Deer populations have exploded in North American woodlands, changing forest ecology—and how sounds, like birdsong, travel through the trees. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Our Brains Really Remember Some Pop Music
Although millennials' memory of recent pop tunes drops quickly, their ability to identify top hits from the 1960s through 1990s remains moderately high. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Biologists Track Tweets to Monitor Birds
Conservation biologists can track the whereabouts of endangered species by the sounds they make, avoiding cumbersome trackers and tags. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Desalination Could Cause Ecological Sea Change
An environmental assessment of the nation's largest desalination plant finds mixed results. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Neandertal Spears Were Surprisingly Deadly
Javelin throwers chucking replicas of Neandertal spears were able to hit targets farther away, and with greater force than previously thought to be possible. Christopher Intagliata reports...
"Rectenna" Converts Wi-Fi to Electricity
Researchers built a small, flexible device that harvests wi-fi, bluetooth and cellular signals, and turns them into DC electricity. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Ecologists Eavesdrop with Bioacoustics
By coupling audio recordings with satellite data and camera traps, ecologists can keep their eyes—and ears—on protected tropical forests. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Saturn's Blingy Rings Are a Recent Upgrade
Though Saturn formed about 4.5 billion years ago, its rings were added relatively recently—only 100 million to 10 million years ago. Karen Hopkin reports.
Viewing This Weekend's Lunar Eclipse
A total lunar eclipse will grace the skies this Sunday, January 20—and it may or may not be red. Christopher Intagliata reports.
