This Microscopic Fungus Survived NASA’s Sterilization Protocols—and Is Potentially Hardy Enough to Contaminate Mars

www.smithsonianmag.com

The microbe was gathered from the agency’s clean rooms, where experts build spacecraft in carefully controlled environments. The findings reveal gaps in the agency’s procedures to prevent durable hitchhikers A shell that protected the Perseverance rover during its descent…

Something startling is happening in the Gulf of Mexico

yaleclimateconnections.org

Its waters are heating up twice as fast as the global oceans, with huge implications for hurricane risk.

Brain’s Endurance Program: Hypothalamus Remembers Exercise – Neuroscience News

neurosciencenews.com

Is endurance all in your head? A new study reveals that VMH neurons in the brain direct the body to boost physical stamina.

NASA changed an asteroid’s orbital path around the sun, a first for humankind

www.scientificamerican.com

Smashing a spacecraft into a binary asteroid system has managed to alter its path around the sun, a new analysis reveals

Even Though They Don’t Have Brains Jellyfish And Sea Anemones Sleep Like Humans

www.smithsonianmag.com

Sleep may have evolved to help reduce DNA damage in nerve cells long before they became centralized in the brain, a study suggests

Surviving the Hook

oceanbites.org

What is the likelihood of a shark surviving a catch and release from a recreational fishery?

Get to know the western spotted skunk – High Country News

www.hcn.org

‘The stench kind of permeates everything’: What it takes to study a stinky, secretive skunk

These Parasitic Ant Queens Found A Sneaky Way To Stage A Coup Trick A Colony Into Killing Its Mother

www.smithsonianmag.com

While ant queen violence is well-known, scientists recently documented the first evidence of parasite-induced matricide

Bat vs. Robin—Scientists Capture Real-Life Audio of Midair Hunt

www.scientificamerican.com

For the nearly three-year-old female bat soaring into the Spanish skies in March 2023, it was just another night of striving to feed herself. But her overnight exploits were about to become the stuff that scientists’ dreams are made of.The…

To Catch A Killer Shark

www.biographic.com

Using DNA analysis, scientists linked the same shark to two bites on people. Now, they want to use the work to save other sharks' lives.

Colds Bring Lots of Snot—But Just How Much?

Scientific American

When you’re struggling through a case of the common cold, the snot pouring from your nose seems endless. You go through countless tissues to mop up all the chunky, bright yellow boogers and thin, runny mucus, heaping up mountain ranges…

We thought this bear was out cold. We were mistaken.

A weak radio signal led us to several empty dens, and as the sun set, we considered turning back. Then a curtain of snow collapsed, revealing a sandstone cave. It narrowed to a dark tunnel, and the musky scent of wild animal steamed from within.

Insects in the Mail

JSTOR Daily

In 1733, French scientist Ferchault de Réaumur received a strange package in the mail. It contained a few stalks of asparagus and a collection of leaves. But, among the plants, Réaumur found what he had requested: beetles and bugs in various stages of development.

Risking His Own Extinction to Rescue the Rarest of Flowers

In Australia, he went plant hunting by helicopter and waded in crocodile-infested waters to watch a water lily bloom. In Mauritius, he grabbed a plant specimen off the ledge of a cliff.

How Soon Might the Atlantic Ocean Break? Two Sibling Scientists Found an Answer—and Shook the World

WIRED

Off the southwest tip of Iceland, you’ll find what’s often called a “marginal” body of water. This part of the Atlantic, the Irminger Sea, is one of the stormiest places in the northern hemisphere. On Google Maps it gets three stars: “very windy,” says one review.

Introducing co-cultures: When co-habiting animal species share culture

Interactions between Japanese macaques and Sika deer. Credit: Trends in Ecology & Evolution (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.05.

The Worm Charmers

Oxford American

Later, the men noticed worms appearing when they chopped wood or ran saws against saplings. Gary remembered using an axe handle as a stob, rubbing the blade of another axe against it.

The Great Psychedelic Experiment

The Great Psychedelic Experiment | Broadcast

“If there is one quick truism about psychedelic drugs it is that anyone who tries to write about them without first-hand experience is a fool and a fraud.” — Hunter S.

The Man Who Turned the World on to the Genius of Fungi

One evening last winter, Merlin Sheldrake, the mycologist and author of the best-selling book “Entangled Life,” was headlining an event in London’s Soho. The night was billed as a “salon,” and the crowd, which included the novelist Edward St.

‘Bees are sentient’: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers

the Guardian

When Stephen Buchmann finds a wayward bee on a window inside his Tucson, Arizona, home, he goes to great lengths to capture and release it unharmed. Using a container, he carefully traps the bee against the glass before walking to his garden and placing it on a flower to recuperate.