All Stories
- Animals
Scientists have now recorded brain waves from freely moving octopuses
The data reveal some unexpected patterns, though it’s too early to know how octopus brains control the animals’ behavior, a new study finds.
- Math
Here’s a peek into the mathematics of black holes
The universe tells us slowly rotating black holes are stable. A nearly 1,000-page proof confirms it.
- Genetics
DNA from Beethoven’s hair hints at what killed the composer
Many historians suspect Beethoven died from liver failure. A new analysis shows he had a heightened genetic risk for liver disease, researchers say.
- Space
‘Off-Earth’ asks how to build a better future in space
As humans prepare to live in space someday, ethics should be as much of guide as science and technology, an astrophysicist argues in a new book.
- Health & Medicine
A hormone shot helped drunk mice sober up quickly
Drunk mice injected with the hormone FGF21 woke up and regained their balance faster than inebriated mice that did not receive the shot.
- Space
A crucial building block of life exists on the asteroid Ryugu
A sample from Ryugu collected by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft contains uracil, a component of RNA, which is found in all living cells.
- Health & Medicine
Sleeping sickness is nearing elimination. An experimental drug could help
Clinical trials of acoziborole are under way in sub-Saharan Africa, where sleeping sickness is endemic.
- Health & Medicine
U.S. cases of a deadly fungus nearly doubled in recent years
Though numbers are still small, clinical cases of Candida auris in the jumped 95 percent from 2020 to 2021, a CDC survey finds.
- Astronomy
The mystery of Christiaan Huygens’ flawed telescopes may have been solved
The discovery of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, may have come despite its discoverer, Christiaan Huygens, needing eyeglasses.
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- Paleontology
310-million-year-old fossil blobs might not be jellyfish after all
An ancient animal called Essexella may have been a type of burrowing sea anemone, a new study proposes.
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Where does plastic go when we’re done with it?
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses the ubiquity of microplastics in food, water, air and the body.
