All Stories

Environment

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill ruined long-term shore stability

For at least eight years, the oil disaster continued to kill soil-retaining marsh plants along the Louisiana coast, accelerating shoreline loss.

Archaeology

The Yamnaya may have been the world’s earliest known horseback riders

5,000-year-old Yamnaya skeletons show physical signs of horseback riding, hinting that they may be the earliest known humans to do so.

Animals

What the first look at the genetics of Chernobyl’s dogs revealed

Dogs living in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant industrial area are genetically distinct from other dogs, but scientists don’t yet know if radiation is the reason.

Astronomy

Half of all active satellites are now from SpaceX. Here’s why that may be a problem

Of the roughly 7,300 active satellites in Earth orbit, about 3,600 are part of SpaceX’s growing fleet of Starlink internet satellites.

Particle Physics

Muons unveiled new details about a void in Egypt’s Great Pyramid

The subatomic particles revealed the dimensions of the void, discovered in 2016, and helped researchers know where to stick a camera inside.

Life

Plant/animal hybrid proteins could help crops fend off diseases

Pikobodies, bioengineered proteins that are part plant and part animal (thanks, llamas), loan plant immune systems a uniquely animal trait: flexibility.

Climate

Wildfires in boreal forests released a record amount of CO₂ in 2021

Boreal forests store about one-third of the world’s land-based carbon. With wildfires increasing there, fighting climate change could get even harder.

Climate

Many Antarctic glaciers are hemorrhaging ice. This one is healing its cracks

Scientists have explored the recesses of an Antarctic glacier that is currently stable, helping improve predictions of the continent’s fate.

Life

‘We Are Electric’ delivers the shocking story of bioelectricity

Sally Adee’s new book spotlights the underexplored science of the body’s electricity and investigates how bioelectricity could advance medicine.

Neuroscience

How meningitis-causing bacteria invade the brain

Microbes behind bacterial meningitis hijack pain-sensing nerve cells in the brain’s outer layers, disabling a key immune response, a mouse study shows.

Archaeology

Ancient DNA unveils disparate fates of Ice Age hunter-gatherers in Europe

Ancient DNA unveils two regional populations that lived in what is now Europe and made similar tools but met different fates.

Health & Medicine

Here’s how lemon juice may fend off kidney stones

Lemon nanoparticles slowed formation of kidney stones in rats. If the sacs work the same way in people, they could help prevent the painful crystals.