There haven’t been any coral snakes in the North Carolinian Sandhills for 50 years. And yet, the scarlet kingsnakes there are looking more and more like them. It’s a mysterious strategy, but somehow it works. NOVA’s AAAS Mass Media Fellow Eleanor Nelsen reports the story.
In other news from NOVA and around the web:
- Why the largest ever Ebola outbreak is not a global threat.
- 20 million-year-old grasshopper trapped in amber has been named after Sir David Attenborough.
- Several cities are undergoing aggressive efforts to submit all new rape kits for DNA testing.
- Forget buildings and monuments. In hundreds of millions of years, we’ll be known by our tunnels.
- Measure the speed of light at home using only chocolate and a microwave.
- The seas of Saturn’s moon Enceladus are blasting into space. And below the austere and veiny surface is an ocean up to six miles deep.
- SETI’s telescope array could be in danger from wildfires.
- The human lifespan is increasing by five hours a day, every day. But how much life is enough?
- Lake Erie’s toxic algae bloom, seen from space.
- Listen in on other people’s conversations just by filming the subtle movements of nearby objects.
- What if you could generate useable biofuels that didn’t use arable land, didn’t rely on foodstuffs, and that also cost very little?
- The dinosaur stampede debate (which we reported on last year) continues. Listen to the story, then zoom in and examine a hi-res image of the fossil bed.
- Rosetta is now the first satellite to ever begin orbiting a comet.
- “I didn’t even think about whether I’d be the first African-American woman in space… I just wanted to go into space.”
- Discover how entire ant colonies have collective personalities that vary depending on geography. Hint: Northern colonies are the Vikings of the ant world.
- Eleven billion dollars later, high-speed rail is still inching along. But does Elon Musk’s hyperloop hold any promise?
- With the help of Hubble, researchers have spotted a “zombie star” lurking in deep space.
- Are tears of joy different from tears of grief? Photographer Rose-Lynn Fisher zoomed in to find out.