All Stories

  1. Life

    ‘The Last Days of the Dinosaurs’ tells a tale of destruction and recovery

    A new book takes readers back in time to see how an asteroid strike and the dinosaur extinction shaped life on Earth.

    By
  2. Physics

    Gravitational waves gave a new black hole a high-speed ‘kick’

    Ripples in spacetime revealed that two black holes united into one, which then sped off at around 5 million kilometers per hour.

    By
  3. Paleontology

    Glowing spider fossils may exist thanks to tiny algae’s goo 

    Analyzing 22-million-year-old spider fossils from France revealed that they were covered in a tarry black substance that fluoresces.

    By
  4. Particle Physics

    The Large Hadron Collider has restarted with upgraded proton-smashing potential

    Physicists will start taking data this summer once the revamped Large Hadron Collider gets up to full speed.

    By
  5. Particle Physics

    Muons spill secrets about Earth’s hidden structures

    Tracking travel patterns of subatomic particles called muons helps reveal the inner worlds of pyramids, volcanoes and more.

    By
  6. Health & Medicine

    What experts told me to do after my positive COVID-19 at-home test

    Rapid at-home tests mean many COVID-19 cases go unreported, but they’re a great tool for deciding when to leave isolation. I found that out firsthand.

    By
  7. Health & Medicine

    Why taking medications during pregnancy is so confusing

    It's hard to know what new drugs are safe when medical research excludes pregnant people.

    By
  8. Astronomy

    ‘Goldilocks’ stars may pose challenges for any nearby habitable planets

    Orange dwarfs emit far-ultraviolet light long after birth, stressing the atmospheres of potentially life-bearing worlds.

    By
  9. Planetary Science

    U.S. planetary scientists want to explore Uranus and Enceladus next

    A report on recommendations for the next 10 years of U.S. planetary science prioritizes sending an orbiter to Uranus and an “orbilander” to Enceladus.

    By
  10. Planetary Science

    Europa may have much more shallow liquid water than scientists thought

    Mysterious pairs of ridges scar Jupiter’s moon Europa. Analyzing a similar set in Greenland suggests shallow water is behind the features’ formation.

    By
  11. Plants

    These flowers lure pollinators to their deaths. There’s a new twist on how

    Some jack-in-the-pulpit plants may use sex to lure pollinators. That's confusing for male fungus gnats — and deadly.

    By
  12. Planetary Science

    Here’s how NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has spent 1 year on Mars

    The first flying robot on the Red Planet arrived as a technology demonstration. It’s now a trusty scout for its rover partner, Perseverance.

    By