One of the more expensive parts of the cameras built-in to smartphones is the lens system. That’s because lenses have to be made in an entirely different way to the electronic components that make up the rest of the phone.In recent years, physicists have hoped to change this with a new type of “metalens” that can be carved onto a flat sheet of silicon dioxide or similar material. Metalenses consists of pillars of silicon that are each about the same size as the wavelength of light. These p ...read more

Talking pets have been the darlings of social media recently. The trend started after Christina Hunger, a speech pathologist, made headlines when she adapted techniques she used with children to teach her dog, Stella, to communicate. Stella, and now hundreds of dogs and cats, use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to “talk” with the humans in their lives. AAC takes the form of buttons affixed to a soundboard. When the pet presses a button, it plays a recording of a word, such ...read more

Just like people, dogs are susceptible to stress during the holidays. When things are hectic, dogs can be negatively impacted by the changes. Here are some situations that are potentially troubling for dogs during the holidays. But with some basic planning and care, your dog can remain happy and enjoy the holidays, along with the rest of your family.1. What are the Signs of Stress in a Dog?(Credit:Julia Zavalishina/Shutterstock) Dogs will exhibit certain behaviors when they are upset, stressed, ...read more

Whether you’ve watched the beloved animated film or walked past his statue in Central Park, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Balto the sled dog.Long believed to be a Siberian husky, Balto — perhaps the most famous sled dog of all time — gained superstar status for his role in delivering diphtheria medication to sick children in Nome, Alaska, in 1925. Now, scientists have analyzed his DNA, comparing his genome to the genomes of nearly 700 dogs and wolves to reveal how Balto st ...read more

Often, when archaeologists dig up an artifact that's thousands of years old, it requires some imagination to picture what it might have looked like back then. That certainly wasn't the case for a team of scientists who peered into a gravesite in southern Bavaria.In 2023, archaeologists in Germany unearthed a Bronze Age grave containing a 3,000-year-old sword that’s so extraordinarily well-preserved that it "almost still shines," says Bavaria's State Office for Monument Protection in a stateme ...read more

In 1868, in a small limestone cave outside the French village of Les Eyzies, a geologist named Édouard Lartet found the first set of specimens showing that modern humans had prehistoric roots. He happened upon the discovery due to road construction and later uncovered four adult skeletons and one infant dating back to the upper Pleistocene, about 30,000 years ago.The site showed that these ancient humans were not only occupying Europe at the time but that they were somewhat sophisticated, havi ...read more

In 2023, volunteers like you made over two million contributions to SciStarter Affiliate projects. That’s two million data points scientists wouldn’t have had otherwise.The top five projects this year included both perennial favorites and newcomers, and touched on subjects near and far: the night sky, backyards and even inside our bodies. Check them out below, and if you haven’t yet, give them a try!As the year comes to a close, we’re also celebrating citizen scientists who have gone abo ...read more

Europe is home to prime areas for growing aromatic hops, a flower used in brewing beer. But, as conditions get hotter and drier, hop yields have declined in the continent’s hop-growing heartland, according to a study recently published in Nature Communications. Not only that, but soaring temperatures are also reducing hops’ alpha acid content, the source of beer’s bitter flavor.Though the findings seem to spell an uncertain future for hoppy beer, some experts have cautioned that changing ...read more

Although whales are mammals that breathe air, they spend most of their time roaming the depths of the oceans. There, sound travels faster underwater and farther than it does on the world’s surface, at about 1500 meters per second compared to just 340 meters per second in air. So, a whale’s world is replete with sound — it’s a key element to its survival, touching everything from socializing and breeding to navigation and feeding. But if whales don’t have any sign of external ears, how ...read more

In 2011, my husband and I moved into our first home, a small beach shack atop wooden stilts a few blocks off the beach in South Carolina. The house was a dream aside from the overstuffed marsh rats that scurried across the basement floor morning, noon, and night. When their whiskers twitched, they revealed razor-sharp front teeth, and their furless tails dangled behind them like a wedding train. Memories of those rats still send shivers up my spine.It doesn’t matter how laid back you are when ...read more