Sound science, smart stories. Knowable Magazine is a nonprofit, mission-driven publication that seeks to make scientific knowledge accessible to all. Free to read, republish and share. An editorially independent journalistic endeavor published by @AnnualReviews
Archaeopteryx forever changed our understanding of dinosaurs and the origin of birds, but it took a century after its discovery to shift scientific consensus.
🎧 Learn more in this 2023 episode of our podcast:
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2023/fossil-archaeopteryx-origin-of-birds
Over 164 years, researchers have pored over every detail of available Archaeopteryx specimens, so you might expect that such a well-studied fossil species wouldn’t be capable of surprises. But in a new paper, a team of researchers revealed previously unrecorded soft tissues and skeletal details from a new specimen, known as the Chicago Archaeopteryx.
—via the #NYTimes:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/science/archaeopteryx-dinosaur-feathers-flight.html
Smartwatches and other wearable devices can feel almost magical. But there's a lot going on 'behind the screen' — and understanding how they work will help you get the maximum value from these devices.
✅ 5 key points, via @TheConversationUS: https://theconversation.com/smartwatches-promise-all-kinds-of-quality-of-life-improvements-here-are-5-things-users-should-keep-in-mind-251754
For more about the science of wearables, you can...
⌚ Listen to our 2021 conversation with Jessilyn Dunn and Mitesh S. Patel...
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/technology/2021/monitoring-our-health-smartwatches
🫀Check out our 2023 reporting on devices that could change the way we measure blood pressure
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/technology/2023/devices-could-change-how-we-measure-blood-pressure
👀 Astronomers sound alarm over deleted data
💬 “The abstracts have a common theme: diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).”
✍️ @alexwitze, @Nature
👀 On our radar: $1,000-a-day cancer drug costs 25 cents to make
💬 “That steep tab has put the drug’s lifesaving potential out of reach for some cancer patients, who have been forced into debt or simply stopped taking the drug. The price also helps fuel our ballooning insurance premiums.”
✍️ David Armstrong, @ProPublica
🔗 https://www.propublica.org/article/revlimid-price-cancer-celgene-drugs-fda-multiple-myeloma
The South American country, where the biodiversity of the Andes meets that of the Amazon, is losing the great natural wealth of some 1,500 square kilometers of forest each year, mainly in areas formerly under guerrilla control
Did you know that mushrooms can get sick?
It was in 1948, in a Pennsylvania mushroom farm operated by the La France brothers, that scientists first observed a mushroom malady featuring puny caps and crooked stems.
But only in 1962 did researchers finally realize viruses were behind La France disease, as it came to be called, and that viruses caused other fungal afflictions as well — thus launching a whole new field of study.
🍄 Learn more: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/the-strange-viruses-that-infect-fungi
Conservation scientist E.J. Milner-Gulland's initial interest was in understanding how much hunting would be sustainable — without causing worrying declines in wild animal populations — but she soon realized that understanding hunters and the people who eat wild meat was equally important.
From pesticide detox to increased longevity, the benefits of the sweet stuff go well beyond simply nourishing the hardworking insects in the hive. 🐝 #WorldBeeDay
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2021/bee-gold-honey-superfood
What’s that smell — and how’d you know?
It’s clear that genes, receptors and neurons all play a role in detecting odors. But much of how we make sense of what we sniff remains mysterious.
A neuroscientist explains 👇
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/mind/2024/peter-mombaerts-how-sense-of-smell-works-identify-odors
A balanced menu makes for healthy, productive bees — but the loss of wildflowers means that many fail to find the kind of nutrition they need. 🐝 #WorldBeeDay
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/food-environment/2017/whole-food-diet-bees
Elaborate courtship, devoted parenthood, gregarious nature (and occasional cannibalism) — earwigs have a lot going for them. https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2024/social-life-of-earwigs
Native pollinators are key to both ecology and agriculture, but have yet to get their due. 🐝 #WorldBeeDay
Viruses that roam the fungal kingdom: Certain viruses can be shared by fungi and plants, fungi and animals, or plants and animals, allowing cross-kingdom transmission that influences crops, their fungal pathogens and the insects that transmit viruses.
🍄 Learn more: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/the-strange-viruses-that-infect-fungi
Mushrooms and other fungi can harbor hidden companions — and some of these may fight pesky or dangerous molds.
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/the-strange-viruses-that-infect-fungi
Some people of West African descent face a higher risk of renal failure. New drugs based on gene research may help right the ship — if they can reach everyone who needs them. https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/health-disease/2024/the-genetics-of-kidney-failure
To safeguard threatened plants, science must unravel the hidden biology of often-persnickety seeds as they age, sleep and awaken. ✍️ Katarina Zimmer.
https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/living-world/2025/seed-banking-to-preserve-rare-plants
👀 On our radar: The seismic story of ChatGPT
💬 “From experts to students, tenured academics to startup founders, they describe a series of moments — dawning realizations, elated encounters and at least one ‘existential crisis’ — that changed their world. And ours.”
✍️ John Pavlus, @QuantaMagazine
🔗 https://www.quantamagazine.org/when-chatgpt-broke-an-entire-field-an-oral-history-20250430/