If you’ve ever taken a swipe at a buzzing fly, you know how frustratingly fast the winged menaces can zip out of swatting range. Now, scientists have discovered the aerial maneuvers the common fruit fly (Drosophila hydei) utilizes in its speedy escape plan.
Republican lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives are raising objections to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plan to lift a 1983 ban on Libyan nationals receiving pilot training or studying nuclear science in the United States. At a hearing last week, supporters of lifting the ban said the move is needed to help Libya rebuild global ties after decades of international sanctions during the dictatorship of Muammar Gaddafi. Critics, however, worried it could help train potential terrorists.
Parkinson’s patients could one day ditch their pills for a stretchy skin patch with a mind of its own. Using specialized sensors, the patch would monitor the wearer’s vital signs, beam the information to a doctor, and administer medication as needed. While such devices still face substantial obstacles before wide-scale implementation, two teams of researchers have announced innovations combining standard electronics with flexible materials that may bring the futuristic concept closer to reality.
The windowpane oyster sports a shell so transparent and durable that some Indian and Philippine cities use the coverings as an affordable alternative to window glass. Yet windowpane oyster (Placuna placenta) shells are made up of 99% calcite, a usually brittle material, with a small amount of organic material. A team of researchers wondered how the shellfish’s fingernail-thick armor could survive multiple blows while remaining transparent, a feat unmatched by humanmade materials.
When beetles brawl, they put professional wrestlers to shame. Male Cyclommatus metallifer stag beetles use their long jaws, called mandibles, in scuffles for rotten wood and mating rights (as seen in the above video). During a bout, the beetles maneuver their opponent between their pinching pincers and try to flip them helplessly upside down.
The scorching colors of a large volcanic blast can stain sunsets around the world for years after the initial eruption cools down. Droplets of sulfuric acid spewed into the atmosphere scatter away blue light, creating vivid crimson twilights. Inspired by these stunning sunsets, famous artists included the fiery colors in the backgrounds of their paintings, such as the above 1818 piece Woman before the Setting Sun by German artist Caspar David Friedrich. Two years earlier, the ash from an unusually large number of major volcanic eruptions reflected so much sunlight that 1816 became known as the year without a summer.
A loblolly pine tree on the 17th hole of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia blocked so many of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s shots that in 1956 he tried to get the tree chopped down. Now, loblolly pines (Pinus taeda) are making a different kind of history: Their genome is the largest of any organism yet sequenced.
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For the jumping spider, it pays to live in a dangerous neighborhood. Researchers have discovered that wild Philippine jumping spiders (Phintella piantensis) erect their web-spun homes directly above nests of spider-eating weaver ants. Because weaver ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) enjoy snacking on jumping spiders, as seen in the above photo, the team wondered why the spiders would move in so close to their natural enemy.
The works of ancient Greek playwrights are getting a second act as clues for climate scientists. Few historical accounts of Mediterranean weather exist prior to the third century B.C.E. Climate researchers are particularly interested in the regular occurrence of sunny midwinter periods, called Halcyon days, during ancient times.
Over the past century, x-ray crystallography has transformed scientists’ understanding of the structure and behavior of materials.
Timeline published in both print and interactive versions. Also covered in the Science Podcast.