60-Second Science

An expert on climate denial offers tips for inoculating people against coronavirus conspiracy notions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Prey animals flash biochemically produced light to confuse elephant seals hunting in the dark. But at least one seal turned the tables. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Analyzing keywords on Twitter can offer a loose measure of the subjective well-being of a community, as long as you don’t count three words: good, love and LOL. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Silent Cities project is collecting sound from cities around the planet during the coronavirus pandemic to give researchers a database of natural sound in areas usually filled with human-generated noise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Here are some brief reports about science and technology from around the planet, including one about an incredibly well-preserved horned lark (Eremophila alpestris), like the one pictured, that lived 46,000 years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exposed to mildly warmer waters, some corals turn neon instead of bleaching white. The dramatic colors may help coax symbiotic algae back. Christopher Intagliata reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A gene whose mutated form is associated with cancer in humans turns out to have a role in burning calories over a long evolutionary history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mosquitoes that like to bite at night are being thwarted by bed nets, leading to the rise of populations that prefer to bite when the nets are not up yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump pointed out yesterday that if we didn't do any testing for the virus we would have very few cases, which forces us to confront the issues posed by testing in general. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Food sharing is mainly found in adult animals as a part of social bonding. But in a rarely observed behavior in birds, older barn owl chicks will share food with younger ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices