All Stories
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Earth
Here’s how olivine may trigger deep earthquakes
Olivine’s transformation into another mineral can destabilize rocks and set off quakes more than 300 kilometers down, experiments suggest.
By Nikk Ogasa -
Planetary Science
Here is the first direct look at Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years
In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft took the first pics of Neptune’s rings. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is providing a more detailed look.
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Life
Has AlphaFold actually solved biology’s protein-folding problem?
An AI called AlphaFold predicted structures for nearly every protein known to science. Those predictions aren’t without limits, some researchers say.
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Particle Physics
How ghostly neutrinos could explain the universe’s matter mystery
If neutrinos behave differently from their antimatter counterparts, it could help explain why our cosmos is full of stuff.
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Health & Medicine
This face mask can sense the presence of an airborne virus
Within minutes of exposure, a sensor in a mask prototype can detect proteins from viruses that cause COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
By Freda Kreier -
Animals
After eons of isolation, these desert fish flub social cues
Pahrump poolfish flunked a fear test, but maybe they’re scared of other things.
By Susan Milius -
Astronomy
A protogalaxy in the Milky Way may be our galaxy’s original nucleus
Millions of ancient stars spanning about 18,000 light-years at the Milky Way’s heart are the kernel around which the galaxy grew, researchers say.
By Ken Croswell -
Animals
Drumming woodpeckers use similar brain regions as songbirds
Woodpeckers drum on trees and other objects using brain regions similar to those that songbirds use to sing, suggesting a common evolutionary origin for the complex behaviors.
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Anthropology
Fossil finds put gibbons in Asia as early as 8 million years ago
Specimens from China raise questions about the evolutionary ID of an even older ape tooth from India.
By Bruce Bower -
Animals
Video shows the first red fox known to fish for food
Big fish in shallow water are easy pickings for one fox — the first of its kind known to fish, a study finds.
By Freda Kreier -
Quantum Physics
This environmentally friendly quantum sensor runs on sunlight
Quantum sensors often rely on power-hungry lasers to make measurements. A new quantum magnetometer uses sunlight to measure magnetic fields instead.