All Stories by Darren Incorvaia
- Plants
On hot summer days, this thistle stays cool to the touch
Its yellow flowers can cool themselves substantially, staying up to 10 degrees C (18 degrees F) cooler in extreme heat.
- Plants
To spy this palm’s blooms and fruits, start digging underground
Plants across 33 families are known for subterranean flowering or fruiting. But this palm is extremely rare. It does both.
- Animals
Pollen-seeking honeybees sometimes turn to theft
Observations of honeybee pollen theft from bumblebees suggest it may be a crime of convenience, based on ease of access to the prized food.
- Physics
How much fruit can you pull from a display before it topples?
About 10 percent of the fruit in a tilted market display can be removed before it will crash down, computer models show.
- Math
Bees and wasps devised the same clever math trick to build nests
During nest building, these insects add five- and seven-sided cells in pairs. This helps their colony fit together hexagonal cells of different sizes.
- Humans
Race car drivers usually blink at the same places in each lap
Blinking is usually thought to be somewhat random. But a new study tracking blinks in Formula One drivers shows it can be predictable — and strategic.
- Climate
Due to global warming, major league hitters are slugging more home runs
Major League Baseball has seen an average of 58 more home runs each season since 2010. The apparent reason: reduced friction on the balls in warmer air.
- Animals
People and animals sometimes team up to hunt for food
Dolphins working with people to catch fish recently made a big splash. But humans have a long history of cooperating with other animals.
- Animals
Prairie voles can couple up even without the ‘love hormone’
Scientists thought the chemical oxytocin was required to make prairie voles mate. They were wrong.
- Animals
Insect swarms might electrify the air as much as storm clouds do
Honeybees that flew over a voltage sensor sparked a new look at the effect of insects on electricity in the atmosphere.
