60-second Science

Volunteers who listened to music solved fewer word puzzles than others who worked in silence. Christopher Intagliata reports. 

A few brief reports about international science and technology from Greenland to Palau, including one on the discovery of a trove of mummified cats in Egypt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Grandmothers can enhance the survival of grandchildren. That is, unless grandma’s too old or lives too far away. Karen Hopkin reports.

Artificial intelligence experts, ethicists and diplomats debate autonomous weapons. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The incidence of foodborne illness could jump in a warming world, due to an increase in housefly activity. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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.

Seismologist and policy advisor Lucy Jones says science education needs to teach how science works more than just what it finds out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When researchers fed mosquitoes a drug used to treat people for obesity, the insects were less interested in hunting for their next human meal ticket. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deer populations have exploded in North American woodlands, changing forest ecology—and how sounds, like birdsong, travel through the trees. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elephants have six sets of teeth over their lives, sometimes two sets at once. At those times, they can extract more nutrition from food and put on weight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The rover Opportunity has called it quits after working for more than 14 years on Mars.

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.

Conservation biologists can track the whereabouts of endangered species by the sounds they make, avoiding cumbersome trackers and tags. Christopher Intagliata reports.

An environmental assessment of the nation's largest desalination plant finds mixed results. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Humpback populations from the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet up south of Africa and trade song stylings.

Adult humans, as well as mice, slept better when gently rocked.

By turning off certain brain cells, researchers were able to make mice sense painful stimuli—but not the associated discomfort. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.