In parts of Eurasia, the key to a tangy yogurt treat scurries along the forest floor. The secret ingredient is ants! Scientists Say: Fermentation A once-popular yogurt-making technique uses ants…

Blue whirl (noun, “BLOO WURL”) A blue whirl is a kind of flame that most often occurs when fuel burns while floating on the surface of water. There are many…

For the first time, scientists have 3-D printed objects within living cells. They included a mini elephant and tiny barcodes that could help track individual cells. Remarkably, many of the…

Beyond the bright swirling arms of our Milky Way galaxy, something enormous, mysterious and shadowy barrels toward us. It’s called Smith’s Cloud. And it isn’t like any cloud you’ve seen…

Sound travels in waves of vibrating air molecules that bump into each other. Microphones work by picking up these vibrations. Scientists had wondered if they could make microphones that see…

Chenyang (Leo) Lin grew up in a city along China’s south coast. It was far from any woods. So the large trees and darting squirrels he saw while hiking in…

“Where’s your squeaky ball? Bring me your panda bear!” It’s not unusual for some dogs to learn the names of their favorite toys. But some dogs can categorize toys by…

Kleptotrichy (noun, “KLEP-tow-TRY-key”) Kleptotrichy is the act of stealing hair from live mammals. Some birds use the behavior to gather fur to line their nests. The word is a based…