All Stories by Darren Incorvaia
- Animals
Plastic ‘fossils’ help scientists reconstruct the history of bird nests
Plastic waste has let common coots reuse nests year after year. Scientists have now used the trash layers to date how old nests are.
- Life
These are our favorite animal stories of 2024
Pigeons that do somersaults, snakes that fake death with extra flair and surprised canines are among the organisms that enthralled the Science News staff.
- Life
The fruit fly revolutionized biology. Now it’s boosting science in Africa
African researchers are using Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies to advance studies of genetics, biomedicine, developmental biology, toxicology and more.
- Climate
In ‘Warming Up,’ the sports world’s newest opponent is climate change
In her debut book, Madeleine Orr presents an authoritative account of climate change’s impact on sports, and how the industry can fight back.
- Animals
Beneficial bacteria help these marine worms survive extreme cold
Three species of marine worms living in Antarctic waters have beneficial relationships with bacteria that produce antifreeze proteins.
- Health & Medicine
A malaria drug could be used to treat PCOS, a common hormone disorder
Artemisinin is known to be effective against malaria, lupus, cancer and now possibly polycystic ovarian syndrome.
- Health & Medicine
A new gel stops mice from getting too drunk
The iron-milk substance can break down alcohol fast and protect against liver damage in mice. Scientists hope to test the gel in people next.
- Animals
Getting wild mosquitoes back to the lab alive takes a custom backpack
The new low-tech transportation method could help scientists in Africa assess if malaria-carrying mosquitoes are resistant to a common insecticide.
- Animals
This orangutan used a medicinal plant on his face wound
Rakus the orangutan appeared to be treating a cut to his face with a plant that’s also used in traditional human medicine.
- Animals
Hibernating bumblebee queens have a superpower: Surviving for days underwater
After some bumblebee queens were accidentally submerged in water and survived, researchers found them to be surprisingly tolerant of flooding.
- Animals
By fluttering its wings, this bird uses body language to tell its mate ‘after you’
New observations suggest that Japanese tits gesture to communicate complex messages — a rare ability in the animal kingdom and a first seen in birds.
- Animals
A decades-old mystery has been solved with the help of newfound bee species
Masked bees in Australia and French Polynesia have long-lost relatives in Fiji, suggesting that the bees’ ancestors island hopped.
Biologist Auke-Florian Hiemstra excavates a common coot nest he and colleagues collected in Amsterdam. City birds have been making their nests out of plastic waste for decades, the team’s research shows.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031825_di_plastic-bird-nests_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/031825_di_plastic-bird-nests_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Beluga whales like this one at Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium sport a blob of forehead fat called a “melon.” The cetaceans contort the melon into different shapes, possibly to communicate with each other.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/042424_eb_beluga-noggins_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/042424_eb_beluga-noggins_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
The fruit fly (a mutant one is shown here in a colorized scanning electron micrograph) is a longtime lab darling of biology.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/100524_fruitflies_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/100524_fruitflies_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
On an unusually warm day in January 2023, skiers in Austria glide down an artificial snow slope. Climate change threatens skiing and other sports.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/062924_reviews_warming-up_feat.jpg?fit=663%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/062924_reviews_warming-up_feat.jpg?fit=779%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Bacteria living inside marine worms like this one make antifreeze proteins that help the species survive cold Antarctic temperatures.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/062124_di_antarctic-worms_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/062124_di_antarctic-worms_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
In polycystic ovarian syndrome, cysts form from follicles holding unreleased eggs (right ovary in this illustration compared with a healthy ovary, left). PCOS affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, but effective treatments remain elusive.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/061324_di_malaria-PCOS_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/061324_di_malaria-PCOS_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
A new gel made of iron and milk protein kept mice from getting too drunk and protected them from liver damage.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/051324_di_drunk-mice_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/051324_di_drunk-mice_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Across Africa, Anopheles arabiensis (shown) and other malaria-carrying mosquitoes are developing resistance to a common class of insecticide. Researchers are trying to figure out how widespread that resistance is. To do that, they need to study wild mosquitoes in the lab.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/042924_di_mosquito-backpack_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/042924_di_mosquito-backpack_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Rakus, a Sumatran orangutan, chewed up a liana plant known for its medicinal properties and applied it to a nasty open wound on his face. This image was taken two days before he applied the paste.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/050224_di_orangutan-wound_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/050224_di_orangutan-wound_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Common eastern bumblebee queens (Bombus impatiens), like the one seen here visiting an apple flower, are remarkably resilient to flooding when hibernating in their underground chamber, new experiments show.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/041624_di_queenbee-underwater_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/041624_di_queenbee-underwater_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Researchers have observed Japanese tits (Parus minor) fluttering their wings to noiselessly tell mates to enter the nest first. It is the first known case of symbolic gesture in a nonprimate animal.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/032224_di_bird-gestures_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/032224_di_bird-gestures_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1"> 
Researchers found eight species of Hylaeus bees new to science on Pacific islands by sweeping nets into the tree canopy. This female Hylaeus navai was named after Navai village in Fiji, whose residents hosted the researchers and helped collect bees.
" data-medium-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/030624_di_bee-mystery_feat.jpg?fit=680%2C383&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/030624_di_bee-mystery_feat.jpg?fit=800%2C450&ssl=1">