All Stories by Stephen Ornes
- Animals
Electronics may confuse a bird’s ‘compass’
Birds use Earth’s magnetic field to help guide them as they migrate. A new study suggests that electromagnetic radiation given off by some electronic devices may act like “noise” and confuse the long-traveling birds.
- Brain
The scent of a woman — or a man
Animals unwittingly signal things about themselves by giving off subtle scents. A new study claims the same is true for people.
- Planets
A ‘Goldilocks’ world?
Scientists have spotted a faraway planet that is nearly the size of Earth and could host liquid water. It's too far to visit, but astronomers say the galaxy could be littered with such potentially habitable worlds. Don't hang up yet, E.T.
- Animals
Don’t mess with a frustrated fish
When a trout doesn't get the snack it expected, look out. These fish get aggressive. Sometimes they can defeat even bigger fish.
- Physics
Quark quartet forms exotic particle
Quarks are important building blocks of matter, usually bound together as pairs or triples. Now some have formed a quartet. Scientists confirmed the existence of a particle made of four quarks stuck together. Such strange stuff may have been more common in the earliest universe, the scientists say.
- Environment
‘Greener’ energy needed now, group warns
To avoid a looming environmental crisis brought on by global warming, people need to rely more on renewable energy sources. And fast. Without quick action, the world may face a harsh future, warns the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
- Animals
One plus to wearing stripes
A zebra’s black-and-white coat doesn’t offer cooling or camouflage, researchers find. Instead, its stripes appear to keep away biting flies — and deadly diseases.
- Microbes
A success for designer life
Synthetic biologists are scientists who create custom organisms in the lab. Their efforts have just taken a big step forward. They have created the first lab-made yeast chromosome. The advance could lead to entirely synthetic organisms customized to produce food, fuel or medicine.
- Physics
Filter lets in only the right light
Scientists have built a light filter that only permits light coming from one desired angle to pass through. Built from alternating layers of transparent materials, it could help minimize the glare in telescopes and cameras or boost the efficiency of solar cells.
- Health & Medicine
The nose knows a trillion scents
There's a long-standing claim that people can identify 10,000 different odors. But a new study suggests that people can actually identify at least 10,000 times that many scents.
- Animals
Kangaroos have ‘green’ farts
The farts and belches of these animals contain less methane than do those from other big grass grazers. Microbes in their digestive tract appear to explain the ‘roos lower production of this greenhouse gas, a new study finds.
- Earth
Explainer: Telling a tsunami from a seiche
Waves that hit coastlines with ferocious power, tsunamis are one of the planet’s most devastating forces of nature. And seiches: They’re tsunamis little, but still potentially deadly, cousins.
