Buzz off, mosquitoes

Plus, Do gophers farm?

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8/8/22 Thank you for subscribing to The Cheat Sheet, from Science News Explores. If you like this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague. Did someone forward this to you? Sign up for our weekly updates. Got questions, suggestions or comments? Email us at sns@sciencenews.org and put “The Cheat Sheet” in the subject line. We’d love to hear from you. Coming Soon Mosquitoes suck — literally and figuratively. In fact, they suck so much that there’s a whole day dedicated to fending off these pests: World Mosquito Day. Its August 20, the anniversary of Sir Ronald Ross’ discovery that mosquitoes spread malaria. And it’s an opportunity to raise awareness about efforts to stop mosquito-borne illness.  If you’re itching for anti-mosquito content this World Mosquito Day, Science News Explores has you covered. Learn about the latest efforts to wipe out disease-carrying mosquitoes, such as genetic tweaks that would render them unable to reproduce. Read up on which bug sprays and new fabrics could best ward off bug bites. And discover new insights into the mosquito mind that could inspire novel mosquito-fighting techniques — such as how the blood suckers sniff out our sweat and spot our skin.  Catch up with the latest from Science News for Explores Scientists Say: Pigment: From fruits to fur to fine art, many materials get their colors from compounds called pigments. Readability: 7.8 Resources: power words, audio recording Gophers might be farmers, a controversial study suggests: Pocket gophers air out and fertilize the soil in a way that amounts to simple farming, two researchers claim. But not everyone agrees. Readability: 6.8 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News This pitcher plant lures insects into underground deathtraps: Scientists didn’t expect the carnivorous, eggplant-shaped pitchers to be sturdy enough to grow embedded in the soil. Readability: 6.5 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News This big dino had tiny arms before T. rex made them cool: A predecessor to Tyrannosaurus rex, Meraxes gigas had a giant head. But the muscularity of its puny arms suggests those limbs served some purpose. Readability: 6.0 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News The top side of an elephant’s trunk is surprisingly stretchy: Research on elephant trunks could inspire new artificial skins for soft robots. Readability: 7.0 Resources: power words, video, alternate version at Science News Six months in space causes 10 years’ worth of bone loss: Even a year after recovery back on Earth, astronauts who’d been in space six months or more still had bone loss equal to a decade of aging. Readability: 7.3 Resources: power words, alternate version at Science News A New Magazine for Kids Learn more and subscribe to Science News Explores, a new magazine designed to satisfy young readers’ curiosity about how the world works.      SUBSCRIBE NOW   Opportunity This one’s for all the admirers of astronomy, connoisseurs of cosmology and general space-science aficionados: Science News has a new biweekly newsletter about space! Sign up to stay posted on the latest discoveries across our wide, wild universe.  Find out more about the resources available for using Science News Explores stories for learning. And if you like this newsletter, please share it with a friend or colleague. Did someone share this with you? Subscribe to this newsletter here. If you’ve got questions, suggestions or comments, email us at sns@sciencenews.org. Thank you for reading! Privacy policy  |  Update Profile  | Manage Subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe This email was sent by: Society for Science 1719 N Street NW Washington, DC, 20036, US