Taylor Swift fans really know how to “Shake It Off” — and shake the ground. Scientists studied how the stadium and ground trembled during one of Swift’s Eras Tour concerts last August. They found that dancing fans generated vibrations in the ground — seismic waves that matched the beat of each song. The team shared its findings March 13 in Seismological Research Letters. “It’s really fun to be able to use seismic tools to understand things like music and concerts and events that bring people together,” says Eva Golos. A seismologist, she studies earthquakes but was not involved in the new rese ..read more

Measles outbreaks have been ringing alarm bells in the United States and elsewhere. What is this disease and how concerned do you need to be? Science News Explores talked with experts to find out. “Measles is one of the most contagious diseases around,” says Jasmine Reed. She’s a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s in Atlanta, Ga. Much like the flu, measles is caused by a virus that infects the nose and throat. Almost 130 cases of measles emerged in the first three and a half months of 2024 across 20 U.S. states, CDC reports. That may not sound like muc ..read more

An off-beat experiment has poked holes in a common assumption about Ötzi the Iceman’s tattoos. Ötzi is a roughly 5,200-year-old mummy. His body was found in a mountain glacier along the border of Austria and Italy in 1991. That body is decorated with the world’s oldest known tattoos. There are 61 in total, including black lines and crosses on Ötzi’s left wrist, lower legs, lower back and chest. Scientists had thought that Ötzi got his tattoos by rubbing charcoal ash into slices in his skin. Those cuts would have been made with a sharp stone tool. But until now, that idea had never be ..read more

If you ask ChatGPT whether it thinks like a human, this chatbot will tell you that it doesn’t. “I can process and understand language to a certain extent,” ChatGPT writes. But “my understanding is based on patterns in data, [not] humanlike comprehension.” Still, talking to this artificial intelligence, or AI, system can sometimes feel like talking to a human. A pretty smart, talented person at that. ChatGPT can answer questions about math or history on demand — and in a lot of different languages. It can crank out stories and computer code. And other similarly “generative” AI models can produc ..read more

Semiconductor (noun, “SEH-mee-con-duck-tur”) A semiconductor is a material that partially conducts electricity. Materials that conduct electricity well are called conductors. Materials that do not are called insulators. Semiconductors are in between. They conduct electricity better than insulators. But not as well as conductors. Semiconductors help make electronics smaller, faster and smarter. You’ll find these materials at work in phones and laptops. Plus medical devices, ATMs and more. Semiconductors control the flow of electrons through circuits. They’re used to make diodes, for instance ..read more

Air pollution may rob some night-blooming flowers of their signature scent, researchers show. This could make it hard for pollinators to find the blooms. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle conducted field and lab tests with the pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida). When the fragrance of its blooms interacts with certain air pollutants that build up at night, key scent molecules are destroyed. The result: Moths and other nighttime pollinators may find it hard to recognize the blooms they were seeking. This affects plants that depend on pollinators for reproduction. Inde ..read more

Nearly everyone in the world carries a unique ID right at their fingertips. These are their fingerprints — the swooping, swirling patterns in the fine ridges of skin on the pads of their fingers. No two people have the same fingerprints. Not even identical twins. That’s why some phones can be unlocked with a user’s fingertip. And why fingerprints left at a crime scene can help identify whodunnit. Fingerprints form before birth. The patterns originate from three spots on each fingertip: under the nail, at the center of the finger pad and at the crease of the first finger joint. The design of a ..read more

Digital footprint (noun, “DIH-jih-tuhl FOOT-print”) Your digital footprint is all of the information about you that is available online. Posting on social media, visiting websites and signing up for apps adds to your footprint. But this digital “trail” doesn’t just include the information you post online. It also includes the data that websites collect when you visit those pages. Comments, messages and tags from other people are also part of your online presence. Digital footprints aren’t good or bad. Everyone who uses the internet has one. Still, it’s important to be aware of what’s in your ..read more

In a humid coastal rainforest, a litter of pink, hairless babies snuggle with their mom. They stir and squeak for milk and drink from their mother until they are full. But these are no puppies or cubs. They are snake-shaped amphibians, far closer to frogs than to foxes. Mammals are named for their ability to produce milk. But scientists have found that a few species that are not mammals feed their young this way, too. These include certain spiders, fishes, cockroaches and birds — and now, snake-shaped amphibians. Ringed caecilians (Siphonops annulatus) are the first amphibians known to feed ha ..read more

This is another in a year-long series of stories identifying how the burgeoning use of artificial intelligence is impacting our lives — and ways we can work to make those impacts as beneficial as possible. It’s an ordinary day in Minecraft … until a bot walks into a village and starts destroying a house. The bot was trained to collect resources and craft items. So why is it attacking? To the bot, the beam in a house looks just like a tree, explains Karolis Ramanauskas. He’s a PhD student in computer science at the University of Bath in England. He was experimenting with the bot ..read more