The original Z151 lived in a pond in Lancashire, England. She spent her days the way most microscopic animals of her species do, munching on the pond’s algae and using her eight translucent legs to shamble from one clump of pond scum to another, until November 13, 1987, when a fellow named Bob McNuff scooped her up as part of a water sample. Full Article »

Here’s a challenge: Close your eyes and then try touching your nose with your finger.  Did you do it? Even without using any of the five famous senses—sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell—you most likely found your nose without any trouble.  How does this happen?  Find out in Eben Bein’s story in the Atlantic.

While honey has been used as a natural remedy for millennia, its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties are increasingly embraced by conventional medicine, especially in light of recent studies suggesting honey can fight antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. Kendra Pierre-Louis reports at Motherboard.

Neuroscientists have known since the 1960s what nerves tell a person’s legs to step off the curb to cross the street. But until now, they had no idea which hold the person back to avoid getting hit by a car.  Margaux Phares reports on NOVA Next.

Contrary to previous reports, China’s efforts at protecting its forests appear to have been successful.  Kendra Pierre-Louis reports at NOVA Next.

Can this new technology stop pet cats from killing local birds?  Conor Gearin reports in the Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/12/accessories-for-your-murderous-pet/419601/

Conor Gearin reports on how doctors can tell when a mole begins to turn cancerous.  Read more at NOVA Next: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/body/doctors-finally-decide-when-a-mole-is-benign-and-when-its-cancer/

We know hypothermia as something that people die from, but can it help save them as well?  Margaux Phares reports on NOVA Next.

When early hominins—the chimp-like forerunners of modern humans—moved from the forest to the savannah, they also started hearing a bit more like modern humans, according to a study in the September 25th issue of Science Advances. Full Article »

On April 16, 1964, Frank Press had just returned from the site of a tsunami. Three weeks prior, an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2—the highest ever recorded in North America—had struck the southern coast of Alaska. The four-minute-long quake shook hundreds of miles of seaside sediment loose. Alaska’s shores tumbled into underwater mudslides, taking whole villages with them. Suburban homes sank into the sludge. Pavement cracked. Backyard bomb shelters crumbled. 131 people died. And with just two earthquake monitoring stations’ worth of data to go on, the young expert in digital seismology was summoned to the scene to attempt to sort out what had happened. Full Article »