By Science News | Amanda Heidt | 11/7/2024 1:00 PM
Scientists in Utah put sticky traps on car bumpers to tally how many bees get hit on a typical trip. The broader toll is immense, they estimate. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Susan Milius | 11/5/2024 7:01 PM
A bat gym shows that vampires are more like some insects, burning amino acids from blood proteins rather than the carbs or fats other mammals rely on. ... Read full Story
Swine can act as so-called “mixing vessels” for human and bird flus, giving avian viruses an opportunity to adapt for spreading in people. ... Read full Story
In addition to studying the world’s only nonmigratory blue whales, marine biologist Asha de Vos seeks to change her compatriots’ attitudes toward the ocean. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Susan Milius | 10/30/2024 8:00 AM
Vespa orientalis fed an 80-percent-ethanol brew still did hornet tasks and had normal life spans. This trick may be an adaptation to gut-dwelling yeast. ... Read full Story
African giant pouched rats can detect landmines and diseases. Now some have been trained to sense elephant ivory, pangolin scales and more. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Sujata Gupta | 10/25/2024 9:00 AM
A mid-1850s act let the United States seize islands rich in bird guano. Those strategic outposts fueled the U.S. rise to power, a researcher says. ... Read full Story
Rediscovery of giant salmon carp in Cambodia sparks hope for the rare fish’s survival and efforts to conserve one of the greatest diversity hot spots. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Jake Buehler | 10/23/2024 2:00 PM
Polar bears have been exposed to more viruses, bacteria and parasites in recent decades, a new study shows, possibly acquiring the germs in their diet. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Jake Buehler | 10/11/2024 11:00 AM
Genetic analysis of cavity crud from two famed man-eating lions suggests the method could re-create diets of predators that lived thousands of years ago. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Susan Milius | 10/8/2024 7:01 PM
Elephant trunks, more sci-fi face-tentacle than ho-hum mammal nose, are getting new scrutiny as researchers explore how the wrinkles grow. ... Read full Story
By Science News | Andrea Tamayo | 10/4/2024 10:30 AM
Eiffinger’s tree frog babies store their solid waste in an intestinal pouch, releasing less ammonia into their watery cribs than other frog species. ... Read full Story
“After Eric’s betrayal, Harper has landed at a fund dedicated to so-called impact investing in eco-friendly companies, a real-life financial trend that dovetails with a core ‘Industry’ theme: reflexive cynicism toward for-profit institutions that feign social consciousness.” — Alison Herman, Variety, 2 Aug. 2024
Did you know?
Of the many ways Ferris Bueller feigns illness—that is, pretends to be sick—to avoid going to school in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, arguably the most ingenious involves tucking a mannequin version of himself under the blankets of his bed to fool his family. This method of deception provides not only entertaining hijinks but also clues to the origins of the word feign itself. Today, feign is all about faking it, but it hasn’t always been so. One of the word’s oldest meanings is “to fashion, form, or shape,” which echoes that of its Latin source, the verb fingere, meaning “to mold, fashion, make a likeness of, or pretend to be.” It’s one thing to fashion a likeness of oneself as an art project, and another to try and convince your family it’s really you in order to play hooky; it’s this element of deceit that infused other early meanings of feign including “to lie,” “to counterfeit,” and “to forge a document.” Today, people mostly use feign to suggest the act of forming, or giving shape to, false appearances—not of personas (such as, say, that of the Sausage King of Chicago), but rather conditions or feelings, such as happiness, sleep, or outrage.