The pandemic wasn’t the reason the University of Hawaii at Manoa hit a historic high point last year in its on-time, four-year graduation rate, now at 39.7%. In fact, UH reports, officials were concerned that its decade-long campaign to boost the rate not be derailed.

UHM used to trail mainland colleges in this rate, but in 2017 the campus earned national recognition from the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities for its reversal. UH credits better student tracking, advising and support.

A twist of the gecko’s tail

How did that gecko on your lanai lose its tail? Turns out simply pulling on a lizard’s tail won’t remove it. The tail has to be twisted, preferably by the gecko itself, which means it can save this extreme measure for times of greatest threat. Scientists at New York University Abu Dhabi put a plethora of recently released tails under an electron microscope to figure this out.

Their findings, published in the journal Science, might someday aid in research on attaching human prosthetics or skin grafts. Until then, it’s just fun to know.