Cosmos
Cosmos is a quarterly science magazine. We aim to inspire curiosity in ‘The Science of Everything’ and make the world of science accessible to everyone.
By Cosmos
Scores of fascinating science videos were released alongside research in 2024, these are some of our favourites. Feel free to pull them out when the conversation lulls around the table these holidays.
Scientists created their own version of Spider-Man’s web fluid
Liquid stream of silk solidifies to a fibre, adheres to and lifts glass laboratory beaker. Credit: Marco Lo Presti, Tufts University
The researchers created it using fibroin proteins from silkworm (Bombyx mori) cocoons and other additives, such as dopamine.
The mixture is shot out of a device while surrounded by a layer of acetone, which then evaporates. This allows the proteins to solidify into strong, stretchy silk fibres that can stick to and lift objects.
Read more about how they did it.
Simone Biles of the bug world
The globular springtail (Dicyrtomina minuta) is a small but mighty bug that can backflip faster than any other animal on the planet.
It only grows to a couple of millimetres in size and can’t sting, bite, or fly its way out of danger. Instead, it avoids predators by flipping so forcefully it seems to disappear entirely!
Read more about the greatest gymnasts on Earth.
Even snakes play tug-of-war
Two coral snakes competing over amphibian prey. Credit: Henrik Bringsøe and Niels Poul Dreyer.
Scientists caught 2 red-tailed coral snakes (Micrurus mipartitus) battling it out in a tug-of-war contest over a limbless amphibian known as a caecilian.
This is an example of kleptoparasitism (food theft), which is well-documented in many animal species but rarely in wild snakes.
Read more about how it all went down.
Mystery of cicadas’ jet pee solved by scientists
Unlike most other small insects and mammals, which tend to excrete sprinkling droplets of pee, cicadas let loose high-speed jets like larger animals.
Scientists struck gold during fieldwork in Peru, coming across a tree full of urinating cicadas. They think cicadas urinate in jets because they consume so much sap it’s simply the more energy efficient method of going about it.
Their observations might even help with creating better tiny robots.
First video evidence that leeches can jump
This video taken in 2023 in Madagascar shows two Chtonobdella leeches questing on the same leaf and briefly interacting with each other. Then one leech assumes a recoiled body posture before jumping from the leaf to the ground. Credit: © Mai Fahmy
Two species of terrestrial leech have been caught on camera jumping, settling a scientific debate which has persisted through anecdotal evidence since the late 19th century.
Read more about how they manage it.
