Don't Bogart My Blog: Science Times: The Hummingbird as Warrior

Plus: The Wandering North Pole —

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Tuesday, February 5, 2019

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In the South American tropics, where hummingbirds must compete for food, evolution has drastically reshaped their bills. Cristian Irian

The Hummingbird as Warrior

By JAMES GORMAN

Winsomely captured in poems and song, the birds are yielding new secrets about their astounding beaks and penchant for violence.

Aurora borealis over Canada, as seen from the International Space Station in 2017. The spectacular display is caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's magnetic field.

JSC/NASA

The North Magnetic Pole's Mysterious Journey Across the Arctic

By SHANNON HALL

Scientists accelerated the update of a model of Earth's fluctuating magnetic field, which is needed to keep navigational systems functioning. Many wondered what's happening inside the planet's core.

Researchers in the Denisova Cave in Siberia, including archaeologist Katerina Douka, second left. They have found that the cave was continuously occupied for over 300,000 years.

Sergey Zelinski/Russian Academy of Sciences

High Ceilings and a Lovely View: Denisova Cave Was Home to a Lost Branch of Humanity

By CARL ZIMMER

The mysterious Denisovans may have occupied a cave in what is now Siberia for more than 250,000 years.

Getty Images

Awake on the Table

By KATE JOHNSON

Could a medical procedure you don't even remember give you a stress disorder?

Though not common, 136 injuries similar to this toothpick case study have been reported in medical journals, and nearly 10 percent were fatal.

Wavebreakmedia/iStock, via Getty Images

He Swallowed a Toothpick. It Could Have Killed Him.

By DENISE GRADY

For several weeks, a young athlete's symptoms stumped doctors, despite tests and scans. Unnoticed in a sandwich or wrap, toothpicks can do a surprising amount of damage in the digestive tract, and beyond.

A self-portrait taken by NASA's Curiosity rover in June 2018 in the Gale Crater, at the center of which stands Mount Sharp, a 3.4-mile-high mound.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

How NASA's Curiosity Rover Weighed a Mountain on Mars

By KENNETH CHANG

With a bit of technical improvisation, scientists worked out that the bedrock of Mount Sharp appeared to be less dense than had been expected.

Near Chicago, where the temperature reached a high of minus 10 degrees on Wednesday, reporter Katie Thomas pursued a few scientific inquiries. The bubbles did indeed freeze, but most were whipped away before they could be properly scrutinized.

Danielle Scruggs for The New York Times

We Tried 5 Cold-Weather Experiments. Instant Slushies, Frozen Bubbles and More.

By KATIE THOMAS

With schools closed and temperatures well below zero, one family learned some hard lessons about the scientific process.

Abbas Mohajerani holds a brick made with biosolid waste, or treated wastewater sludge.

RMIT University

You Flushed the Toilet. They Made Some Bricks.

By JOANNA KLEIN

Converting biosolids into building materials could keep a lot of leftovers of the waste process out of landfills, and provide other environmental benefits, too.

In most circumstances, the flying squirrel has a brownish color, left. But ultraviolet light reveals them to glow hot-pink.

Northland College

Flying Squirrels That Glow Pink in the Dark

By VERONIQUE GREENWOOD

While ultraviolet fluorescence is common in birds, butterflies and sea creatures, scientists haven't often observed it in mammals.

More than 40 mummies were recently discovered in a family burial tomb at Tuna el-Gebel in central Egypt.

Mohamed El-Shahed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Egypt Unveils Dozens of Newly Discovered Mummies

By LAURA M. HOLSON

Archaeologists uncovered the tomb of an elite middle-class family, 40 men, women and children who lived in the Ptolemaic era.

A depiction of Christopher Columbus landing in the Bahamas in 1492. The huge number of deaths of native populations in the Americas after colonization is believed by some researchers to have contributed to the

John Vanderlyn

Colonists Brought Death, Disease and Climate Change to the Americas, Study Finds

By NIRAJ CHOKSHI

Researchers argue that the decimation of indigenous populations set off a chain of events that contributed to a period of global cooling.

A guard at a museum in Gdansk, Poland, is, like all of us, a slave to his chronotype.

Searching for the Genetic Underpinnings of Morning Persons and Night Owls

By VERONIQUE GREENWOOD

FamilyTreeDNA, an at-home DNA testing company, apologized for failing to disclose it was sharing genetic information with the F.B.I. to help solve rapes and murders. Some of the site's users felt the company had betrayed them.

FamilyTreeDNA Admits to Sharing Genetic Data With F.B.I.

By MATTHEW HAAG

From Black Holes to Breakfast, Three Books Show How Einstein's Legacy Lives On

By ADAM BECKER

Q&A

Five years ago, we were given potassium iodide pills because we live near a nuclear power plant. Are the pills still good?

By C. CLAIBORNE RAY

GIVE US A PIECE OF YOUR UNIVERSE

We welcome your comments and suggestions at sciencenewsletter@nytimes.com.

Climate Change

The Thwaites Glacier in western Antarctica is already responsible for about 4 percent of the world's rising sea levels, according to NASA.

Jim Yungel/NASA

Gigantic Cavity in Antarctica Glacier Is a Product of Rapid Melting, Study Finds

By JULIA JACOBS

Scientists discovered an underwater cavity with an area about two-thirds of Manhattan in the Thwaites Glacier. They say it's a direct impact of climate change.

• Rising Temperatures Could Melt Most Himalayan Glaciers by 2100

A sunflower star off Alaska. Their limbs can number between 16 and 24 and can span four feet across.

Jennifer Idol/Stocktrek Images, via Science Source

Scientists Single Out a Suspect in Starfish Carnage: Warming Oceans

By KENDRA PIERRE-LOUIS

A new study sheds light on a huge die-off of starfish along the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Alaska.

The Lake Michigan shore in Chicago on Tuesday. Overnight temperatures in the city dipped to minus 21 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 29 Celsius, near the record low.

Joshua Lott for The New York Times

U.S. Midwest Freezes, Australia Burns: This Is the Age of Weather Extremes

By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Numbing cold hit parts of the United States as wildfires raged in Australia's record-breaking heat. Here's the climate change connection.

• A Closer Look at the Polar Vortex's Dangerously Cold Winds

Sweden's Barseback nuclear power plant, shut down in 2005.

Stig-Ake Joensson/European Pressphoto Agency

A Sensible Climate Change Solution, Borrowed From Sweden

By RICHARD RHODES

In "A Bright Future," Joshua S. Goldstein and Staffan A. Qvist look to Europe for examples of how nuclear energy can help solve the global warming crisis.

Health

Dr. Herbert Dardik at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in New Jersey.

Stephen Speranza for The New York Times

When Is the Surgeon Too Old to Operate?

By PAULA SPAN

A handful of hospitals have instituted mandatory screening procedures for medical professionals over 70. Many have been unenthusiastic about the idea.

A study of English smokers found that e-cigarettes are nearly twice as effective as conventional nicotine replacement products like patches or gum, for quitting.

Jeenah Moon for The New York Times

E-Cigarettes Are Effective at Helping Smokers Quit, a Study Says

By JAN HOFFMAN

A yearlong, randomized trial in England showed that e-cigarettes were almost twice as successful as products like patches or gum for smoking cessation.

Subjects in a Stanford study had to be paid $100 on average to quit Facebook for a month. At the end, they were less politically polarized than people in a comparison group.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

This Is Your Brain Off Facebook

By BENEDICT CAREY

Planning on quitting the social platform? A major new study offers a glimpse of what unplugging might do for your life. (Spoiler: It's not so bad.)

Jed Jacobsohn for The New York Times

Can Low-Impact Sports Like Cycling Be Putting Your Bones at Risk?

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Research has raised concerns that activities like cycling and swimming may put too little pressure on bones.

Katherine Leon, founder of the SCAD Alliance.

How One Woman Changed What Doctors Know About Heart Attacks

By HAIDER WARRAICH, M.D.

The story of SCAD underscores how much doctors still don't understand, including about heart disease in women.

Gracia Lam

Personal Health

Time to Put Fluffy and Fido on a Diet?

By JANE E. BRODY

Veterinarians report that nearly half the dogs they see are overweight or obese, although only 17 percent of owners acknowledge that their pets are too fat.