60-second Science

Tomato plants detected snail slime in soil near them and mounted preemptive defenses, even though they were not directly touched.

Ancient tools on Mediterranean islands could predate the appearance of modern humans—suggesting Neandertals took to the seas. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thierry Zomahoun, president of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, talks about the potential and needs of science on the continent.

Advice from an N.Y.U. food policy symposium: eating healthfully means you can't ever let down your guard when shopping.

In a study of children interacting with toy animals Native American kids and non-Native kids imagined the animals very differently. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listeners gave more credence to a scientist’s radio interview when the audio was good quality than they did to the same material when the audio was poor. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Today in Boston, Gates announced a $12-million initiative to foster the development of a vaccine effective against all flu strains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bora people in the northwestern Amazon use drums to send languagelike messages across long distances. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lawns mowed every two weeks hosted more bees than lawns mowed every three weeks. Jason G. Goldman reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new study claims it's easier to accurately whistle a melody than to sing it. Christopher Intagliata reports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A look at a database of fatal traffic accidents found a 12 percent increase on the informal marijuana holiday 4/20 after 4:20 P.M. compared with nearby dates.  

Mice trapped in New York City apartment buildings harbored disease-causing bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes. Christopher Intagliata reports.

Researchers used Twitter searches for nonflu words associated with behavior to predict flu outbreaks two weeks in advance.

Non-native milkweed species planted in the southern U.S. could harm monarch butterflies as temperatures rise. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Princeton University's Jennifer Rexford talks about optimizing the internet for the uses it got drafted into performing.  

Researchers try to figure out why every 20 years a Pakistan glacier moves roughly 1,500 times faster.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Red dwarfs are a popular place to hunt for small exoplanets in the habitable zone—but the stars' radiation bursts might fry chances for life as we know it. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rather than always making the same call in response to the same stimuli, North Atlantic right whales are capable of changing their vocalizations.

The U.S. Northeast may be more geologically active than was previously thought, according to a seismic sensor network.

Volunteers willing to place riskier bets tended to sport larger amygdalas—a region associated with processing fear. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices