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As thousands fly from caves at dusk, the cacophony can briefly stymie echolocation A greater mouse-tailed bat flying alone can easily echolocate obstacles, but scientists studied how bats navigate in the equivalent of a loud cocktail party with the echolocation pings of many airborne together. " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040825_sm_bat-flight_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040825_sm_bat-flight_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> A greater mouse-tailed bat flying alone can easily echolocate obstacles, but scientists studied how bats navigate in the equivalent of a loud cocktail party with the echolocation pings of many airborne together. ...

In Slither , Stephen S. Hall challenges us to rethink the much-maligned serpent The new book Slither dives into the complex nature of rattlesnakes (one shown) and other serpents, as well as humans’ love-hate relationship with them.   " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/050125_vj_review-slither_feat-1.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/050125_vj_review-slither_feat-1.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> The new book Slither dives into the complex nature of rattlesnakes (one shown) and other serpents, as well as humans' love-hate relationship with them.   David McNew/Getty Images ...

New findings in mice reveal that the newly rediscovered rete ovarii may communicate with the ovary The rete ovarii (in red) extends from the ovary, curving around the organ like a horseshoe. " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040125_mw_new-ovarian-organ_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040125_mw_new-ovarian-organ_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> The rete ovarii (in red) extends from the ovary, curving around the organ like a horseshoe. D. Anbarci et al / eLife 2025 When an...

Fossil footprints reveal both carnivores and herbivores strolled by an ancient lagoon A theropod dinosaur and a sauropod dinosaur strolling through soft sediments on what’s now the Isle of Skye in this artist’s reconstruction. " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040725_cg_dino-dance-floor_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040725_cg_dino-dance-floor_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> A theropod dinosaur and a sauropod dinosaur strolling through soft sediments on what’s now the Isle of Skye in this artist’s reconstruction. Tone Blakesley and Scott Reid, CC-BY 4.0 ...

Their names are Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, and they’re the first dire wolves to walk the Earth in over 10,000 years — or so one biotech company and a flurry of recent headlines say. On April 7, Colossal Biosciences announced what they called the “world’s first de-extinction,” the births of three dire wolves, extinct animals that lived during the ice ages of the Pleistocene. The pups were instant icons. With snowy-white coats and muscular bodies, they looked like they could have walked straight out of the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones . News reports heralded the animals as “ scientifically seismic ” and said “ the dire wolf is back .” Still, some scientists aren’t buying it. “That is no more a dire wolf than I am Wonder Woman,” says Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist at the University of Maine in Orono. The issue largely boils down to genetics. Colossal didn’t create the animals from a fully reconstructed dire wolf genome. Instead, the company reli...

A fossil jaw originally netted by fishermen off the ocean floor near Taiwan’s west coast belonged to a member of a mysterious hominid population known as Denisovans , scientists report in the April 11 Science . Their new findings indicate that Denisovans, known from their ancient DNA and a handful of bones found at a couple of Asian sites, spread over a larger area than previously thought. DNA from fragmentary bones and teeth excavated in Siberia’s Denisova Cave first identified Denisovans as close relatives of Neandertals in 2012. Researchers determined that Denisovans visited the Siberian site from around 300,000 to 50,000 years ago. Although their evolutionary status remains unclear, Denisovans mated with Neandertals , and some modern East Asian populations have inherited Denisovan genes as a result of interbreeding with ancient Homo sapiens . The newly identified Denisovan jaw, along with a range of ancient animal fossils, was netted by commerc...

The KATRIN experiment nearly halved the maximum possible mass for the subatomic particles The KATRIN experiment (pictured) measures the energies of electrons produced in radioactive decays of tritium to determine the mass of neutrinos. " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/041025_ev_neutrino-mass_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/041025_ev_neutrino-mass_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> The KATRIN experiment (pictured) measures the energies of electrons produced in radioactive decays of tritium to determine the mass of neutrinos. Markus Breig/KIT ...

In late 2022, pharmacist Joseph Lambson got an unusual call from a poison control specialist. He said, “Hey Joe, I’m getting these weird calls about semaglutide.” According to the specialist’s calculations, people were giving themselves 10 times the correct dose. But that didn’t make sense. The drug is the key ingredient in the blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medications Ozempic and Wegovy. Both come in prefilled injector pens, which typically take the guesswork out of dosing. Lambson, a board-certified toxicologist, knew right away what was going on. “This drug is probably being compounded,” he remembers thinking. He was right. After investigating, Lambson’s team at the Utah Poison Control Center in Salt Lake City reported that people were overdosing on compounded semaglutide. That means “a lot of nausea, a lot of vomiting, a lot of diarrhea,” he says. Ozempic and Wegovy, made by Novo Nordisk, had both been on the U.S. Food and Drug Administrat...

Scientists are experimenting with strengthening or weakening memories Altering people’s memory could become possible and even be therapeutic. But is it ethical? " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/050125_technically-fiction_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/050125_technically-fiction_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> Altering people's memory could become possible and even be therapeutic. But is it ethical? Tim McDonagh In the world of Harry Potter , one’s memory can be manipu...

Long-gone grasslands may have provided migration routes at times over the past 8 million years The Arabian Desert is today a vast and barren landscapes. But humid periods over the last 8 million years may have brought ephemeral rivers and grasslands to the region, a new study suggests. " data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040925_mk_green-arabia_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/040925_mk_green-arabia_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> The Arabian Desert is today a vast and barren landscapes. But humid periods over the last 8 million years may have brought ephemeral rivers and grasslands to the region, a new study suggests. ...

It’s a bright day for computing — literally. Two tech companies have unveiled computer components that use laser light to process information. These futuristic processors could soon solve specific real-world problems faster and with lower energy requirements than conventional computers. The announcements, published separately April 9 in Nature , mark a major leap forward for this alternative approach to computing. Lightelligence, based in Boston, and Lightmatter, in Mountain View, Calif., have shown that light-based, or photonic, components “can do things that we care about, and that they can do them better than electronic chips that we already have,” says Anthony Rizzo, a photonics engineer at Dartmouth College who was not involved in either study. Lasers already zap data across the world via fiber optic cables , and photonics plays a role in moving data in advanced data centers. In March, for example, tech company NVIDIA, based in Santa Clara, Calif...