60-second Science

Algorithms are already used to remove online hate speech. Now scientists have taught an AI to respond—which they hope might spark more discourse. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to John Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino “for the development of lithium-ion batteries.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to James Peebles “for theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology” and to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine goes to William G. Kaelin, Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” They identified molecular machinery that regulates gene activity in response to changing levels of oxygen.

DNA from the teeth of medieval plague victims indicates the pathogen likely first arrived in eastern Europe before spreading across the continent.

Scientists found eight species of nematodes living in California’s harsh Mono Lake—quintupling the number of animals known to live there. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tiny insects called treehoppers produce very different mating songs at higher versus lower temperatures, but the intended recipient still finds the changed songs attractive.

Adult corals can reshuffle their symbiotic algae species to adapt to warming waters—and, it appears they can pass those adaptations on. Christopher Intagliata reports. 

The brains of those who are blind repurpose the vision regions for adaptive hearing, and they appear to do so in a consistent way.

A few brief reports about international science and technology from Hungary to Japan, including one about a wine grape in France that DNA testing shows has been cultivated for almost a millennium.

Western ears consider a pitch at double the frequency of a lower pitch to be the same note, an octave higher. The Tsimane’, an indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon basin, do not.

BBC and Netflix nature documentaries consistently shy away from showing viewers the true extent to which we’ve damaged the planet. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A slight temperature difference at night between a surface losing heat and the surrounding air can be harnessed to generate electricity to power lights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Homo erectus used hand axes to butcher elephants and other game. But a new study suggests they also used finer, more sophisticated blades. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Microplastic particles are everywhere, but in freshwater systems, 60 percent of particles are clothing lint from laundry.

A study finds no deleterious effects on mental health when kids spend their leisure time texting and engaging in other online activities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the little structures grow, their constituents specialize into different types of brain cells, begin to form connections and emit brain waves. They could be useful models for development and neurological conditions.

Squirrels constantly scan their surroundings for hawks, owls and other predators. But they also surveil for threats by eavesdropping on bird chatter. Christopher Intagliata reports. 

Lava flow records and sedimentary and Antarctic ice core data show evidence of planetary magnetic field activity 20,000 years before the beginning of the last pole reversal.

At the Kermadec Islands, humpbacks from all over the South Pacific converge and swap songs. Christopher Intagliata reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices