Discover the chambered nautilus with Dr. Gregory J. Barord
Join SciFri Educate on October 8 for a Cephalopod Week live Q&A about the ancient relative of the octopus and squid.
Can a living fossil learn new tricks? Meet the nautilus!
With poor eyesight, the chambered nautilus hunts by smell. Explore how a blue-light experiment revealed mysteries of the cephalopod’s memory.
Myth or math? Is the nautilus shell’s golden ratio real?
Grab a ruler, crunch the length-to-height ratios, and use the Fibonacci sequence to test whether this famous spiral is truly golden.
From scraps to soil: the dirt on the (not so lowly) worm
Turn your leftovers into new soil by building a worm farm to learn about composting, vermicomposting, and how decomposition works.
What would a Jurassic forest sound like?
Using fossil records and AI tools, scientists reconstructed a soundscape of a Jurassic forest, complete with ancient katydid calls.
Is a shorter course of antibiotics OK? + Genetic risk of fibromyalgia
Shorter courses of antibiotics may reduce antimicrobial resistance. Plus, a new study finds a group of genes associated with fibromyalgia.
Why cannabis’s health effects are so hard to study
Cannabis seems to be everywhere, in many forms. We’re learning more about its effect on teenage brains and its usefulness as a therapeutic.
Why it’s so hard to tell the age of a fungus
One of the world’s largest organisms is an Oregon fungus thought to be over 8,000 years old. But what does age mean to a fungus, anyway?
Can microplastic-loving algae clean up water pollution?
An unexpected discovery laid the path for using genetically engineered algae to remove microplastics from water.
How do you find a ‘lost’ species?
A new journal documents species “lost to science.” Plus, a project to locate lost firefly species in the U.S. and Canada.