I knew it! Fiber is for cleaning the pipes. For cats, it's all about clearing upstairs pipes. Humans need it for downstairs pipes. 🧪🐈

What does grass and a drain snake have in common? Both contain jagged edges that help dislodge clumps of hair. Great for pipes--and, it turns out, also for cats. 🐱

@science.org exclusive! Scientists--and owners--have puzzled for years about why cats eat grass, only seemingly to throw it up for no reason. Could a new study finally solve the mystery? Cool--and very fun--story by Christa Lesté-Lasserre

“It’s the most challenging time I’ve ever seen for animal care." Facing enormous challenges, the USDA agency that oversees the animal welfare act--covering everything from lab to zoo animals--is struggling to do its job. The impact on animal welfare could be devastating. My latest for @science.org

Writers, bring your 1-minute pitches for live feedback from editors on November 9 @1:30pm in Chicago at Pitch Slam. @sciencewriters.org #NASW #SciWri25 🔗View the program 👇 sciencewriters2025.org 🖥️ Registration opens September 4. 🧵1/3

#InternationalCatDay - Via News from Science - Why do cats love tuna so much? Scientists may finally know - @david-grimm.bsky.social @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

Honored to appear on a *third* podcast this week, this one also on cats and dogs. For Pets add Life, I discuss the evolving legal status of our pets, and my greatest hopes--and fears--for the future. (My segment starts around 8:00). Enjoy!

This week on the @science.org podcast: Why anteaters keep evolving w/ @david-grimm.bsky.social, and how giant whales get enough food to live w/ Ashley Blawas LISTEN HERE: www.science.org/content/podc...

Honored to be featured on @sheltercatspodcast.bsky.social this week, where I do a deep dive into how cats and dogs evolved from wild animals to family members. I highly recommend the last 4 minutes, where I give my thesis statement about why cats are so special.

My favorite headline of the week, courtesy of @erikstokstad.bsky.social, who also wrote this cool story for @science.org. Tomatoes gave rise to potatoes!

Extending up to 2.3 micrometers, this is the longest virus tail described to date--19 times larger than the tail of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Cool stuff from @nazeefa-ahmed.bsky.social for @science.org

First example of a laser cavity in the animal kingdom! Cool stuff from Rachel Berkowitz at @science.org

Crab-like creatures are famed for having evolved five times in evolutionary history. But anteaters have evolved at least 12 times--in half the evolutionary span. Cool story by @jakebuehler.bsky.social for @science.org

Not sure I needed this spelled out for me: "'Chonkus Maximus' literally translates to something like 'Greatest Chonk' or 'Largest Chonk,'", but otherwise a delightful story 🐱

EXCLUSIVE @science.org: In an unorthodox approach to needle-free vaccines, researchers have developed a special kind of floss that can protect against infectious disease. “The results are quite impressive.” Cool story by @annikainampudi.bsky.social

Cover a person’s hand and place a rubber hand next to it, then stroke their hand and its facsimile, and suddenly the person will begin to “feel” the touch in the fake appendage. Octopuses also fall for this rubber arm trick. Cool story by @jasmin-galvan.bsky.social for @science.org

In an unorthodox approach to needle-free vaccines, researchers have developed a special kind of floss that can protect against infectious disease. “The results are quite impressive.” Cool story by @annikainampudi.bsky.social for @science.org

“The kids went crazy... Kids were chanting, ‘Barbie!’ and they all got one, and they literally had tears.” www.science.org/content/arti... Nice story by @cohenjon.bsky.social for @science.org

Scientists have created the first lasers made entirely from edible materials, which could someday help monitor and track the properties of foods and medications with sensors that can be harmlessly swallowed. @science.org

Between June 2024 and January 2025, a full 62% of commercial honey bee colonies in the U.S. died, the largest on record. USDA efforts were slowed by funding cuts and layoffs. Now, USDA scientists have finally identified a culprit. But it may be too late. www.science.org/content/arti...

When exposed to UV-C, the most radiation-resistant life form on Earth died in less than a minute. Not so for a hardy black lichen known as Clavascidium lacinulatum. It just kept going and going, even when scientists continued to blast it for moths. Really cool story by @hannah-richter.bsky.social

“This is the most breathtaking paper I’ve read in a long time." Cool beans from @sarareardon.bsky.social

When oils in our skin are exposed to ozone, our bodies create a "human oxidation field". New research reveals that perfumes and skin lotions can weaken this field, though whether this helps--or harms us--remains unclear. www.science.org/content/arti...

Kitty litter was invented in 1947, the same year the first bird feeder was patented. Cats finally got to spend their days indoors... doing this

"Dolphins call each other’s signature whistles if they get separated. Once, we played one of those whistles while the pair was still together. They responded with a totally different whistle. We call it the 'WTF whistle,' because it really did seem like that’s what they were asking." @science.org

Earlier this week, a machine learning algorithm that analyzed the ideological positions of the 133 high-ranking Catholic Church officials made a prediction about the next pope. It didn't guess correctly. The authors think they know why. www.science.org/content/arti...

EXCLUSIVE: University of Washington's IACUC has lost a three-year legal battle to keep its membership confidential. The university must now hand over its records to PETA, sparking fears that other universities could soon be forced to do the same. My latest for @science.org!

"The Spanish expeditions in Florida were really the first opportunities for domestic cats to reach what is today the U.S."

TIL: So many cats were sacrificed in Ancient Egypt, the British brough tons of mummies back to the UK to use as fertilizer. 🤯 More fun stuff here, in my latest cat story for @science.org!

Where, when, and even how cats arose has long been a mystery. A pair of new studies offers an intriguing--and gruesome--hypothesis: Mass sacrifices of wildcats to the goddess Bastet in Ancient Egypt may have set today's cats on the road to domestication. My latest for @science.org!

"Quantum hokey" game breaks out at physics meeting. Really fun story by Adrian Cho for @science.org

The alemdro tree doesn't just survive lightning strikes--it appears to use the electricity to fry parasites and kill competitors. Fascinating story by @erikstokstad.bsky.social for @science.org!

It's not quite the John William's theme, but sharks do make sounds--and scientists have recorded them for the first time. Cool story by @erikstokstad.bsky.social for @science.org

The tiny island of Mauritius has become the dominant supplier of research monkeys to U.S. labs. But as conservationists, politicians, and neighbors clash over the trade, just how stable is this pipeline? And what happens to biomedical research if it fails? Refael Kubersky writes for @science.org

Cool--or ew?--story by @evoscribe.bsky.social for @science.org!

“Each moment, each day, people don’t access their antiretroviral treatment is clearly a recipe for a disaster.” My colleague @cohenjon.bsky.social spoke to John Nkengasong, the outgoing head of PEPFAR 🧪 #IDsky

"Some institutions might have to euthanize thousands of animals." Excellent reporting by @meredithwadman.bsky.social on how NIH cuts could jeopardize the lives of an untold numbers of rodents, primates, and other research animals

When did cats first come to China? Why were so many of them white? And what happened to another species of cat that was already in the country and on the "doorstep to domestication"? Check out the answers in my latest for @science.org!

How and when cats first made it to China has long been a mystery. A new study finds they didn't get there until about 1400 years ago, and that they may have traveled with merchants along the famed Silk Road. My latest for @science.org!

@scottweese.bsky.social has some good analysis of the Cat-human and human-cat #H5N1 transmission reported (then deleted by CDC):

@science.org EXCLUSIVE: In a radical break with tradition, the NSF has begun to search through billions of dollars of grants on topics that President Donald Trump has criticized... wreaking havoc across the academic research community.

“I’m sure there are colleagues out there thinking, ‘She’s lost her mind.'" Seismologist Susan Hough goes looking for the famed Summerville Ghost, and finds something far more interesting... Cool story by @richardastone.bsky.social for @science.org!

Coolest video of the week!

Khaaaaaaaangradulations!

For those of you who want to learn about some of our favorite stories of the year, but don't want to tax your eyes--here they are, in audio form. Enjoy! @science.org

One of my favorite stories of the year is a story about... some of my favorite stories of the year. From mysterious circles in deep space to what our pets might do to us after we die, we've got you covered! @science.org

"The guardrails are gone. Scientists are shaking in their boots." The biomedical community is bracing for the worst, as groups opposed to animal research see fertile ground in the upcoming administration. My latest for @science.org

Exclusive: What makes cats orange? Scientists find long-awaited gene.

Episode 5 of The Penguin has taken a strange turn…

Whenever I read about some interesting science I know little about, I go and check out what my great colleagues at Science have written about it. Thought you might want to be able to do that too, so I'm collecting the bsky accounts of Science’s news department here 🧪 go.bsky.app/DMRTWEF