All Stories
- Animals
Small, quiet crickets turn leaves into megaphones to blare their mating call
A carefully crafted leaf can double the volume of a male tree cricket’s song, helping it compete with larger, louder males for females.
- Earth
Towering fire-fueled thunderclouds can spew as many aerosols as volcanic eruptions
A massive plume of smoke lofted into the stratosphere during Australia’s fires may represent a new class of “volcanic-scale” pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
- Animals
Plastic waste forms huge, deadly masses in camel guts
Eating plastic isn’t just a sea animal problem. Researchers found suitcase-sized masses of plastic in dromedaries’ guts in the United Arab Emirates.
- Life
A newfound feathered dinosaur sported fuzz and weird rods on its shoulders
A Brazilian dinosaur with stiffened pairs of ribbonlike feathers emerging from the shoulders is unlike any found before.
- Astronomy
The Milky Way’s central black hole may have turned nearby red giant stars blue
A powerful blast from the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center may explain the lack of large, red stars there.
- Science & Society
Our favorite books of 2020 covered climate change, Mars, the end of the universe and more
In a year when the coronavirus pandemic dominated the news, these books were a welcomed distraction.
- Health & Medicine
The FDA has authorized Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Now what?
It’s the first to win emergency use approval in the United States.
- Science & Society
This COVID-19 pandemic timeline shows how fast the coronavirus took over our lives
Look back on how the coronavirus pandemic took over 2020 and how efforts to fight back evolved.
- Space
This new image reveals a sunspot in unrivaled detail
An image taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — the largest solar observatory on Earth — provides the best look yet at a sunspot.
- Animals
Using comb-shaped teeth, Baikal seals feed on tiny crustaceans like whales do
Seals in Lake Baikal use comb-shaped teeth to catch scores of amphipods, a study finds. The diet may be behind the seals’ relative success.
- Health & Medicine
Experts recommend the FDA approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use
Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine is one step closer to emergency use authorization in the United States.
- Animals
A highly contagious face cancer may not wipe out Tasmanian devils after all
Devil facial tumor disease has killed so many Tasmanian devils that it was feared they would die out. But a new analysis finds its spread is slowing.
