Week in Science: Strange mutation explains color of orange cats

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May 16—This week, the genetics of orange cats, how to build a "black hole bomb," and cuts to the National Weather Service are endangering lives. Plus, lots more science from this week below. Enjoy! —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor

Top Stories

Linguists Find Proof of Sweeping Language Pattern Once Deemed a 'Hoax' Inuit languages really do have many words for snow, linguists found—and other languages have conceptual specialties, too, potentially revealing what a culture values Cody Cottier

This Strange Mutation Explains the Mystifying Color of Orange Cats Your orange cat may host a never-before-seen genetic pathway for color pigmentation, according to new studies Gayoung Lee

Friend or Food: Why Are Iceland's Orcas Taking in Pilot Whales? Newborn pilot whales have been spotted mysteriously swimming among pods of orcas. Scientists are trying to puzzle out how the pilot whale calves got there and what happened to them Marina Wang

Sponsor Content Provided by History Explorer An Evening with President Lech Walesa Meet the man who defended freedom and became one of the world's greatest leaders. Lech Walesa, the living legend who pushed the world toward democracy, is coming to the U.S. and Canada on his first-ever Grand Lecture Tour. Register now.

Science Tells Us the U.S. Is Heading toward a Dictatorship The red flags abound—political research tells us the U.S. is becoming an autocracy Dan Vergano

Physicists Build a 'Black Hole Bomb' in the Laboratory Astronomical amounts of energy could be extracted from black holes—to build a gigantic bomb, for example. Experts have now implemented this principle in the laboratory Manon Bischoff

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Zero Is Foundational to Modern Mathematics. But It Was Rejected for Centuries Conceptual problems, ideology clashes and xenophobia prevented the concept of zero from catching on for a long time. Today all mathematics is based on it Manon Bischoff

How Trump's National Weather Service Cuts Could Cost Lives Weather experts warn that staff cuts at the National Weather Service that have been made by the Trump administration are a danger to public safety as tornadoes, hurricanes and heat loom this spring and summer Andrea Thompson

What Is a Galaxy? Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes, and trying to define them is difficult Phil Plait

Physicists Turn Lead into Gold—For a Fraction of a Second Scientists at Europe's famous particle collider briefly created gold ions from lead in a modern twist on the alchemical goal Elizabeth Gibney, Nature magazine

Deep Math from String Theory Appears in Clashing Black Holes Researchers have shown that abstract mathematical functions from the frontiers of theoretical physics have a real-world use in modeling gravitational waves Ramin Skibba

Knitting's Complex Shapes Explained in New Physics Model A new mathematical model helps to advance the centuries-old art of knitting K.R. Callaway

California Told Companies to Label Toxic Chemicals. Instead They're Quietly Dropping Them Businesses are making moves to avoid consumer warning labels, and the effects reach far beyond California Ripley Cleghorn

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