60-second Science

Whereas most predators kill the young or infirm, humans claim a disproportionate number of mature healthy adults of reproductive age  

Signs that say "Share the Road" with bicycles may have far less influence over motor vehicle driver behavior than would signs saying "Bicycles May Use Full Lane."   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new lightweight material that heals itself when punctured could help spacecraft survive run-ins with debris. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers built a "phantom road" through wilderness using tree-mounted speakers to play traffic sounds, and witnessed a decline in bird fitness and diversity. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scientific papers with shorter titles receive more citations than those with long-winded headings  

Healthy ants wanted nothing to do with free-radical-rich foodstuff, but ants exposed to a pathogenic fungus sought it out, which upped their odds of survival. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crown-of-thorns sea stars are an "underwater swarm of locusts" that devour coral—unless the coral is protected by a layer of seaweed. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An analysis of some 300 cosmetics ads in magazines found the vast majority of their science claims to be either false or too vague to judge

Two new studies find that a deeper voice gives a politican an edge over a higher-pitched opponent

Using a simulated vomiting device, scientists determined that projectile vomiting can aerosolize noroviruslike particles, allowing the infection to spread short distances through the air. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The grime on city buildings and may actively contribute to urban air pollution. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A newly discovered strain of bacteria found in Arctic permafrost harvests methane from the air—meaning it could help mitigate the effects of warming. Christopher Intagliata reports

Researchers linked dated graffiti about droughts in a cave in China to physical evidence in the cave of the water shortages, such as changes in ratios of stable isotopes in specific layers of stalagmites  

Both hemispheres are involved in the brains of people interpreting a whistled variant of Turkish, compared with a left hemisphere dominance when listeners hear the spoken language  

Some 95 percent of catalogued species in one family of Hawaiian land snails could already be extinct, and similar rates of invertebrate extinction could be happening around the world. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Researchers isolated a bacterial enzyme that could break down nicotine before smokers get the buzz that keeps them coming back for more. Christopher Intagliata reports

Indoor climate control systems are based on 1960s standards that envisioned the typical office worker to be a 40-year-old, 68-kilogram man    

A single-point mutation in corn's ancestor teosinte got rid of the hard shell that used to encase every kernel   

Researchers have developed a new ecofriendly sunscreen molecule that protects against both UV-A and UV-B rays, and could also be used to create more durable paints and plastics. Christopher Intagliata reports

Microbes 2,500 meters below the seafloor in Japan are most closely related to bacterial groups that thrive in forest soils on land, suggesting that they might be descendants of ones that survived when their terrestrial habitat was flooded 20 million years ago