All Stories
- Chemistry
Mixing gold ions into whiskey can reveal its flavor
By changing the spirit’s color, the formation of gold nanoparticles can reveal how much flavor a whiskey has absorbed from its wood cask.
- Earth
Particles from space provide a new look inside cyclones
Cosmic rays that smash into the atmosphere make muons that are sensitive to changing air pressure inside storms.
- Science & Society
Why fuzzy definitions are a problem in the social sciences
Social sciences research is plagued by murky definitions and measurements. Here’s why that matters.
- Climate
Here’s what happened to the Delaware-sized iceberg that broke off Antarctica
The powerful pull of currents in the Southern Ocean probably pulled apart the largest remnant of a massive iceberg that split off Antarctica in 2017.
- Earth
Landslides shaped a hidden landscape within Yellowstone
Scientists have used lasers to get a detailed view of the national park’s topography, and they’ve spotted more than a thousand landslides.
- Health & Medicine
Need a fall read? ‘The Song of the Cell’ offers tales from biology and history
Siddhartha Mukherjee’s new book, The Song of the Cell, explores the world of cell biology through the lens of scientists, doctors and patients.
- Health & Medicine
What is long COVID and who’s at risk? This NIH project may find out
Scientists with the National Institutes of Health’s RECOVER project are working to define long COVID and figure out who’s at risk of developing it.
- Physics
Protons may be stretchier than physics predicts
Studying how quarks inside protons move in response to electric fields shows that protons seem to stretch more than theory says they should.
- Astronomy
Most stars may have much more time to form planets than previously thought
Planet-making disks may survive around most young stars for 5 million to 10 million years — more than double a previous estimate.
- Health & Medicine
A study questioning colonoscopy screening’s benefits has big caveats
The study included a lot of people who were invited to get the procedure but didn’t. That’s one limitation of several.
- Microbes
How fungi make potent toxins that can contaminate food
Genetically engineering Aspergillus fungi to delete certain proteins stops the production of mycotoxins that can be dangerous to human health.
- Environment
Heat waves in U.S. rivers are on the rise. Here’s why that’s a problem
In recent years, heat waves in U.S. rivers have gotten more frequent, causing trouble for fish, plants and water quality.
