All Stories
- Animals
Snail slime does many jobs thanks to calcium
Snails have five distinct types of mucus, each with its own job. The mollusks tweak calcium secretions to get the chemical mixture just right.
- Health & Medicine
The COVID-19 vaccine may offer brain cancer patients a surprise benefit
A recent shot of the COVID-19 vaccine doubled survival time in glioblastoma patients who had undergone tumor biopsy or surgery.
- Health & Medicine
How a brutal drought may have helped unleash yellow fever in Brazil
Animals searching for water brought the forest to the city, perhaps sparking Brazil’s first yellow fever outbreak in decades.
- Health & Medicine
A light-based scan could detect deadly bowel disease in preterm babies
Necrotizing enterocolitis strikes premature babies with almost no warning. A new approach aims to detect it early with a quick, low-risk scan.
- Neuroscience
A photographic memory is wishful thinking
In fiction, photographic memories crack the case or save the day. But our brains can’t hold on to everything — and that’s a good thing.
- Physics
The glue that binds a proton may be key to its identity
Gluons do more than hold protons together. They may also help define the proton’s identity through a quantum property called baryon number.
- Space
Stars’ plasma spurts may be blocked by magnetic fields
The sun frequently flings plasma into space, but sightings of such eruptions on other stars are rare. Magnetic fields could explain why.
- Paleontology
These mammal ancestors birthed live young far earlier than thought
Growth rings on a fossil bone suggest at least one mammal ancestor gave birth to live young rather than laying eggs 236 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Estrogen therapy is linked to fewer signs of Alzheimer’s in the brain
Estrogen-only menopause therapy in older women was linked to less Alzheimer’s brain pathology at autopsy but may not prevent the disease.
- Space
A vest tested on the Artemis I mission blocked some radiation exposure
A 26-kilogram plastic garment, flown on a model human torso on the uncrewed Artemis I mission, may one day protect astronauts from solar storms.
- Animals
Too many choices complicate female frogs’ sex lives
In the lab, female frogs were less likely to choose preferred males as mating calls increased, potentially giving other males a better shot.
- Health & Medicine
Newborn screening for cancer risk could save lives. Should it be done?
Genetic screening that identifies cancer-linked mutations in newborns could give doctors a head start on treatment, but it comes with risks.
