
This one-gram robot can hop over a stair.
DirectHop uses a tiny motor and three folding legs to make controlled, repeated jumps. The prototype can clear a standard stair and twitch itself upright after a fall.
Every serving. No expiration date. Page 2 of 3.

DirectHop uses a tiny motor and three folding legs to make controlled, repeated jumps. The prototype can clear a standard stair and twitch itself upright after a fall.
SHE PICKED CALIFORNIA.
Lifeguards were called to an injured turtle near Seal Beach on 16 September. She was not injured. She was digging a nest — and three days later it happened again near the Huntington Beach Pier. NOAA Fisheries says it is the first recorded natural nesting of any sea turtle species on the U.S. West Coast. Both nests are now fenced, signed and monitored.
NINETY-NINE, IN SQUASH.
Sunnyfields Farm unveiled a giant mosaic portrait of Sir David Attenborough assembled from pumpkins, breaking its own world record for the largest pumpkin mosaic.
THE CLEANING CREW HAS SHELLS.
About 1,500 rare native freshwater mussels — including two endangered species — were released into the Paint Rock River on August 25 after years of streambank repair.
FIVE LEFT. STILL HERE.
Karure black robins fell to five birds in 1980. Decades of conservation brought them back to around 350 adults — and on September 21 the species won New Zealand’s 2026 Bird of the Year.
THE PATIENT KNOCKED.
A brown pelican tangled in fishing line, with a treble hook in its wing and cactus spines in its foot, repeatedly tapped on NOAA’s Panama City Laboratory door. Biologists freed it in about 10 minutes, and it flew away.
THE LETTUCE LIVES UPSTAIRS.
The brewery put a lettuce farm upstairs. In Skagway, that actually works.
184 CHICKS. NEW RECORD.
99 pairs. 184 chicks. Best season since the 1986 endangered listing.
THE DINOSAUR LEFT RECEIPTS.
Four footprints. Twenty-three feet. One 66.5-million-year-old walk.
THE HERD GOT BIGGER.
Twenty-three became about 500. Now the herd is helping start other herds.
NAMED BY LOCALS FIRST.
Locals already had a name for it. Genomics gave science one.
LOUD AND INCREASING.
285 counted in a single day, almost 100 more than last year.
EIGHT LESSONS. NEARLY 2,000 SCHOOLS.
An eight-lesson learn-to-ride curriculum is now in nearly 2,000 US elementary schools. Balance bikes first, pedals when you are ready, gym class credit either way.
TWO WIRES, SWITCHED OFF.
The fix was two unpowered wires.
EIGHT POUNDS OF RARE CAT.
Eight pounds of extremely rare cat.
SHE WENT BACK. SHE STAYED.
Rescued at 18 months. Rewilded eight years later. Now Lulingu is raising a baby of her own in the forest.
653 FROGS, RELOCATED HOME.
653 endangered frogs. Two mountain-stream releases. One species getting a real shot at coming back.
A SHED FULL OF GLOW.
After a century away, tiny green lights are blinking again in North Yorkshire.
HE BOUGHT THE MARQUEE.
A century-old neighborhood movie house just got a very determined new owner.
SNAKES, APPARENTLY, HAVE FRIENDS.
Livestream cameras in California, Colorado and Pennsylvania captured live rattlesnake births, dozens of newborns and baby snakes cuddling adults for protection. Apparently even rattlesnakes have a snuggle phase.
TINY TRACKERS, BIG MIGRATION.
Researchers are fitting tiny songbirds with Tic Tac-sized geolocator backpacks that record light and atmospheric pressure across entire migrations. Serious science has once again required an extremely small backpack.
A BRIDGE JUST FOR DEER.
Washington’s I-90 Snoqualmie Pass wildlife overcrossing recorded its 10,000th successful animal crossing in July. Add 11 undercrossings and the project is nearing 40,000 recorded crossings since 2014. Apparently the elk were just waiting for civil engineering.
THE PARROT SAID NO.
New Zealand’s critically endangered kākāpō population has reached 325, after a record 90 chicks joined the official count this season. The recovery program began in 1995 with just 51 birds. Extremely round bird: still here.
AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT LOG.
Point Defiance Zoo welcomed its first prehensile-tailed porcupine baby in 121 years. Then the internet spotted the tiny porcupette clutching a log and named it an “emotional support log.” For once, the comments improved the story.