Do birds have language? It depends on how you define it.
By Betsy Mason In the cheeps, trills and tweets of birdsong, scientists find some parallels with human speech Read more
The search for exoplanets
By Adam Levy PODCAST: Not that long ago, scientists found evidence that our Sun wasn’t unique — other stars have their own orbiting bodies. It was a discovery centuries in the making. What does this mean for Earth today and our place in the universe? Listen now
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Wednesday, March 23, 2022: 9AM Honolulu / 12PM San Francisco PST / 3PM New York EST
In the US today, prisons are considered an entrenched part of the criminal justice system, yet they are a relatively modern way of dealing with crime. How have society’s attitudes toward punishment shifted over time and why does it matter?
ICYMI: Our February 16 event
The cultural lives of birds
Culture was once thought to be uniquely human, but scientists are finding evidence that many birds are also cultural creatures. What does avian culture look like? And why does it matter? Watch now
From the archives
Driving under the influence of cannabis is prohibited in every state, yet there are no scientifically sound “sobriety tests” for weed, leaving consumers, cops, courts and toxicologists looking for solutions. For WIRED, Amanda Chicago Lewis explores efforts to develop impairment tests that don’t rely on a police officer’s opinion or a THC blood level measurement. To learn more about the variable effects of cannabis, and how the uptick in edible products complicates the picture, read our story.
Building a better edible
By James Gaines Foods and beverages containing cannabis are popular, but probing their effects is difficult. Scientists are scouring existing studies and knowledge from nutrition research to learn how these products interact with the body. Read more
What we’re reading
Headphone safari
After a lifetime spent holding microphones to the world’s most remote wildlife, audio naturalist Martyn Stewart is sharing what he’s gathered. Though snippets have appeared in hundreds of movies, documentaries and podcasts, Stewart has now made about 200 recordings publicly available after receiving a diagnosis of terminal bone cancer. Anyone can click through “Martyn Stewart’s Listening Planet” and find themselves by a Brazilian stream at dawn or the Daintree Rainforest at dusk. Listen to a selection of these audio gems, which include the chirps of a strawberry poison arrow frog and the snuffles of the now-extinct Northern white rhino, in Corryn Wetzel’s story in Smithsonian Magazine.
Crowded skies
Decades’ worth of dead satellites, rocket parts and chunks of debris litter Earth’s orbit, causing traffic jams and dangerous close calls for active satellites and space stations. No single regulatory entity is in charge of space junk, and tensions are rising as private companies and nations grapple with the lack of rules — all while sending more and more stuff up to space. In a graphic-rich explainer at Grid, Alexandra Witze and Matt Stiles explain how space got so crowded, the existing ways that congestion is managed and whether space “garbage trucks,” claws, harpoons and nets might be employed to clear trash from our skies.
In the dark
It was a technological marvel when Second Sight Medical Product’s electronic retinal implants first allowed blind patients to perceive patches of light and dark — to “see,” at least in part, once again. But now, following the company’s disastrous financial collapse and massive layoffs, clinicians and patients are set adrift without tech support for the implants. Some devices no longer work, leaving people with a defunct surgical implant that may cause medical complications, including interfering with procedures like MRI scans. For IEEE Spectrum, Eliza Strickland and Mark Harris cover the company’s cutting-edge successes and ignoble end, and what this means for the future of the technology and the people who depend on it.
Art & science
CREDIT: © ADRIANO MORETTIN / CUPOTY.COM
Dinner for two These striking harlequin shrimp (Hymenocera picta) resemble court jesters, but they’re no joke for the blue sea star (Linckia laevigata) beneath them — it’s dinner. The shrimp dine almost exclusively on starfish and breeding pairs “prepare” their meal together: one shrimp may pinch and pry the tube feet of the starfish, while the other uses its spatula-like claws to flip over its prey to access the softer underbelly.
This duo was caught in the act in the Lembeh Strait of Indonesia by Adriano Morettin; the photo was a finalist in the 2021 Close-up Photographer of the Year Challenge. The theme, “two of a kind,” inspired photos of pairs of all sorts: slime molds, stagbeetles, frogs and flowers. See the rest of the winners and get the scoop on entering this year’s contest at the CUPOTY website.
