All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Unexplained hepatitis cases in kids offer more questions than answers
There is a lot that is unclear about the hepatitis that’s impacting several hundred children worldwide, but parents shouldn’t panic.
- Physics
Here’s why pipe organs seem to violate a rule of sound
Why reedless wind instruments’ fundamental tones are lower than expected is an 160-year-old mystery. Physicists have now solved it.
- Physics
A galactic smashup might explain galaxies without dark matter
Scientists are debating whether a trail of galaxies reveals the origins of two weird dark matter–free galaxies.
- Science & Society
COVID-19 has killed a million Americans. Our minds can’t comprehend that number
We intuitively compare large, approximate quantities but cannot grasp such a big, abstract number as a million U.S. COVID-19 deaths.
- Anthropology
A Denisovan girl’s fossil tooth may have been unearthed in Laos
A molar adds to suspicions that mysterious hominids called Denisovans inhabited Southeast Asia's tropical forests.
- Science & Society
Pressure to conform to social norms may explain risky COVID-19 decisions
As a science reporter covering COVID-19, I knew I should mask up at Disney World. Instead, I conformed, bared my face and got COVID-19.
- Particle Physics
High-energy neutrinos may come from black holes ripping apart stars
Where extremely energetic neutrinos originate from is a mystery. A new study supports the idea that “tidal disruption events” are one source.
- Animals
A ‘mystery monkey’ in Borneo may be a rare hybrid. That has scientists worried
Severe habitat fragmentation caused by expanding palm oil plantations may have driven two primate species to mate that wouldn’t have otherwise.
- Climate
Farmers in India cut their carbon footprint with trees and solar power
Planting trees near crops and pumping water with solar power in India is reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.
- Archaeology
A special brew may have calmed Inca children headed for sacrifice
The mummified remains contained a substance that may reduce anxiety and is found in ayahuasca, a psychedelic ceremonial liquid still drunk today.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s InSight lander has recorded the largest Marsquake yet
The magnitude 5 temblor, detected May 4, will help scientists learn more about the Red Planet’s interior.
- Physics
Experiments hint at why bird nests are so sturdy
A bird’s nest is a special version of a granular material. Lab experiments and computer simulations explain its quirky behavior.
