Science News Magazine: Current Issue

More Stories from the December 14, 2024 issue

1. 

   Life

   Here are 8 remarkable scientific firsts of 2024

   Making panda stem cells, mapping a fruit fly’s brain and witnessing a black hole wake up were among the biggest achievements of the year.

   By Sophie Hartley

2. 

   Health & Medicine

   These are the viruses that defined 2024

   Here’s the latest on mpox, bird flu, dengue and other viral outbreaks that flared up this year.

   By Erin Garcia de Jesús

3. 

   Space

   Space missions spanned the solar system in 2024

   Humankind accomplished new feats in space this year, including scooping up some of the moon’s farside and launching a probe to Jupiter’s moon Europa.

   By Lisa Grossman

4. 

   Space

   These discoveries in 2024 could be groundbreaking — if they’re true

   Did microbes ever live on Mars? Did an "elevator" help build Egypt’s first pyramid? Some signs pointed to yes this year, but confirmation is still needed.

   By Maria Temming

5. 

   Cosmology

   Einstein’s gravity endures despite a dark energy puzzle

   The DESI project previously reported that dark energy — long thought to be constant — changes over time. A new analysis reaffirms that claim.

   By Emily Conover

6. 

   Anthropology

   Fossil teeth hint at a surprisingly early start to humans’ long childhoods

   Signs of temporarily delayed tooth development in the skull of an ancient Homo species youth spark debate about the origins of humanlike growth.

   By Bruce Bower

7. 

   Climate

   Satellite space junk might wreak havoc on the stratosphere

   Hundreds of defunct satellites plunge toward Earth every year. Scientists are studying how the chemical stew left in their wake impacts the atmosphere.

   By Carolyn Gramling

8. 

   Life

   Nature’s first fiber optics could light the way to internet innovation

   Mineral crystals in heart cockles’ shells protect symbiotic algae from ultraviolet rays and could lead to innovations in internet infrastructure.

   By Elie Dolgin

9. 

   Climate

   Meet Chonkus, the mutant cyanobacteria that could help sink climate change

   The mutant of the lab-studied Synechococcus elongatus has traits good for ocean carbon storage.

   By Carolyn Gramling

10. 

    Animals

    Bees flying near cars are dying by the millions, a roadkill study suggests

    Scientists in Utah put sticky traps on car bumpers to tally how many bees get hit on a typical trip. The broader toll is immense, they estimate.

    By Amanda Heidt

11. 

    Planetary Science

    Uranus may have looked weird when NASA’s Voyager 2 flew by

    A solar wind event days before the NASA probe flyby in 1986 may have compressed the planet’s magnetosphere, making it look odder than it usually is.

    By Lisa Grossman

12. 

    Humans

    A phone app could help people have lucid dreams

    New experiments show that an app developed by researchers can boost snoozing users’ likelihood of knowing when they are having a dream.

    By Maria Temming

13. 

    Oceans

    The world’s largest coral was discovered in the South Pacific

    The behemoth coral, discovered in October in the Solomon Islands, is longer than a blue whale and older than the United States.

    By Nikk Ogasa

14. 

    Neuroscience

    Some people don’t have a mind’s eye. Scientists want to know why

    The senses of sight and sound are usually mingled in the brain, but not for people with aphantasia.

    By Laura Sanders

15. 

    Particle Physics

    Accelerated muons bring next-gen particle colliders closer to reality

    Muon colliders could slam the subatomic particles together in hopes of unlocking physics secrets. Giving muons a speed boost is a crucial step.

    By Emily Conover