Research roundup: 7 cool science stories we almost missed - Ars Technica

It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across. So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories that nearly slipped through the cracks. March’s list includes puzzle-solving raccoons; the physics of folding a crepe; the rediscovery of a lost page from an Archimedes manuscript; and the 2026 winner of the annual Dance Your PhD contest, among other highlights.

Credit: Hannah Griebling/CC BY

Raccoons (aka “trash pandas”) are notorious pests in urban and suburban settings because of their penchant for rooting around trash and compost bins; even latches and other safeguards can’t entirely keep them at bay. It might be more than food searching behavior, scientists at the University of British Columbia concluded. According to their paper published in the journal Animal Behavior, raccoons are not only nimble and dextrous with their paws, they also excel at solving puzzles, which might be why they thrive so well in human-centric environments.

The team tested captive raccoons by placing a tasty marshmallow in a transparent puzzle box, outfitted with latches, sliding doors, and knobs. There were nine separate ways to retrieve the marshmallow, some easy, some medium difficulty, and some hard. Each raccoon engaged in several 20-minute trials so the team could observe their behavior.

Even after retrieving the marshmallow and eating it, the raccoons still kept trying to open the other mechanisms. They were more likely to explore multiple openings when the solution was easy and tended to stick with known easier solutions when the puzzle was hard. But even at the most difficult level, they still kept exploring. The authors interpreted this as a form of flexible problem-solving, with the raccoons balancing their curiosity and effort against potential risks. The team concluded that this behavior is better described as “information foraging.”

Animal Behavior, 2026. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123491 ( About DOIs ).

Human sperm gets lost in space

Credit: Sperm and Embryo Biology Laboratory, Adelaide Universit

Sperm and Embryo Biology Laboratory, Adelaide Universit

When thoughts turn to the future of space exploration, particularly the potential for extended trips in microgravity, one can’t help but wonder how humans might breed in space. Scientists have tested mice having sex (and making babies ) in space, as well as geckos, but what about the potential for human reproduction? Researchers at Adelaide University in Australia discovered that one major challenge might be getting sperm to successfully navigate to an egg in space, according to a paper published in the journal Communications Biology.

The authors took sperm samples from humans, mice, and pigs and put them through a special machine that simulates zero gravity conditions, essentially flipping the sperm cells to disorient them, and then pushing them through a maze that simulates the female reproductive tract. The result: there was a significant decrease in the number of sperm that were able to find their way to the eggs under those conditions, and that decrease wasn’t due to any change in motility. Exposure to microgravity also resulted in a 30 percent reduction in the number of fertilized mouse eggs, suggesting that microgravity might impact embryo development as well.

The good news is that adding a bit of progesterone can help the befuddled sperm overcome the negative effects of microgravity. The next phase will explore how gravity on the Moon, Mars, and artificial gravity systems affect sperms’ sense of direction and early embryo development.

Communications Biology, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s42003-026-09734-4.

Lost Archimedes page is found

Credit: Blois, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. 73.7.52. Photography IRHT-CNR

Blois, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Inv. 73.7.52. Photography IRHT-CNR

Thanks to scientific and technological advances, archaeologists and conservationists have many new cutting-edge tools for the study of ancient manuscripts, such as revealing older text underneath surface writing. Multispectral imaging, for instance, showed the first known Greek remnants of Hipparchus’ star catalog in 2022, hidden beneath Christian texts on medieval parchment, and also revealed hidden text on four Dead Sea Scroll fragments previously believed to be blank. High-energy X-rays have been used to analyze ancient Egyptian papyri and the badly charred Herculaneum scrolls that survived the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius.