All Stories
- Science & Society
Pandemic languishing is a thing. But is it a privilege?
Positive psychologists contend that people can flourish if they try hard enough. But this pinnacle of well-being might not be so fully in our control.
- Genetics
50 years ago, scientists sequenced a gene for the first time
Within five decades, scientists went from sequencing a single gene to sequencing the entire human genome.
- Archaeology
Complex supply chains may have appeared more than 3,000 years ago
Finds from one of the world’s oldest shipwrecks hint that miners in Central Asia and Turkey provided a crucial metal to Mediterranean rulers.
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- Physics
Here’s how to make a fiber-optic cable out of air using a laser
A hollowed-out laser beam heats a tube of air that surrounds cooler air, providing a way to guide light much the way fiber optics do.
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Seeking the elements that make modern life possible
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses the importance of rare earth elements to society.
- Archaeology
Lasers reveal sites used as the Americas’ oldest known star calendars
By around 3,100 years ago, Mesoamerican ritual complexes tracked celestial cycles using a 260-day count, a huge lidar mapping project shows.
- Physics
Tiny bubbles that make icicles hazy are filled with water, not air
Like tree rings, layers of itty-bitty water pockets also preserve a record of an icicle’s growth.
- Microbes
Meet some of the microbes that give cheeses flavor
Knowing which genus of bacteria is responsible for which flavor could open the door to new types of cheese.
- Earth
Indigenous people may have created the Amazon’s ‘dark earth’ on purpose
Modern Amazonians make nutrient-rich soil from ash, food scraps and burns. The soil strongly resembles ancient dark soils found in the region.
- Animals
Jumping beans’ random strategy always leads to shade — eventually
Jumping beans use randomness to maximize their chances of getting out of the sun’s heat, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Fungi that cause serious lung infections are now found throughout the U.S.
Doctors should be on the lookout for three types of fungi that, when inhaled, can lead to serious infections, researchers say.
