Stories by Daniel Leonard

Southern Ocean phytoplankton help to brighten Earth’s clouds

A linguistic puzzle, ancient DNA, the origins of bipedalism, and much more in this month’s Quick Hits

Sharks wielding research cameras in the Bahamas, Mexico’s spider monkey diplomacy, a carbon “time bomb” in the Republic of Congo, and much more in this month’s Quick Hits

A new model could explain the scarcity of certain planet sizes

Synchronizing chimpanzees in Zambia, a plankton-trapping ecosystem in the Maldives, Neandertal teeth from Spain, and much more in this month’s Quick Hits

Clusters of bacteria and fungi seem to be capable of complex movement, setting tooth decay in motion

Weird new evidence on tooth evolution tips the scales even more toward scales

Lightning-resistant trees in Panama, an Australian avian arms race, hydrogen-powered trains in Germany, and much more in this month’s Quick Hits

In an ever warming world, the health benefits of stadium air-conditioning may not outweigh the climate risks

Crowd management experts explain the factors that enabled Seoul’s deadly crowd crush

Prizewinning great pumpkins are approaching 3,000 pounds as growers perfect the process

Nearly two years after the collapse of its 305-meter radio telescope, the Arecibo Observatory’s fate has been decided. The iconic giant dish will not be rebuilt, but research and public outreach at the site may continue

Certain compounds in our skin determine how much we attract mosquitoes, new research suggests—and those compounds don’t change much over time

Fresh data from the Juno probe’s flyby of Europa could help scientists learn whether this icy moon of Jupiter is habitable—or even inhabited

A new formation method for rare “lonsdaleite” diamonds may illuminate a better way to produce them on Earth

Dolphins and whales experience a lot of pressure while swimming, and a “wonderful net” of blood vessels may protect their brain, new research shows

The James Webb Space Telescope’s snapshots of a giant world orbiting another star show that the observatory is performing even better than expected and that its best exoplanet images are yet to come

The observatory’s unprecedented infrared measurements might at last bridge a growing rift between astronomers over how fast the universe is expanding