All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Chewing sugar-free gum reduced preterm births in a large study
Among 10,000 women in Malawi, those who chewed xylitol gum daily had fewer preterm births compared with women who didn’t chew the gum.
- Astronomy
How ‘hot Jupiters’ may get their weirdly tight orbits
Gravitational kicks from other planets and stars can send giant worlds into orbits that bring them close to their suns.
- Physics
Freshwater ice can melt into scallops and spikes
Ice submerged in liquid water can melt into three different shapes, depending on the water’s temperature.
- Planetary Science
These are the first visible-light images of Venus’ surface captured from space
Cameras aboard NASA’s Parker Solar Probe managed to peer through Venus’ thick clouds to photograph the planet’s surface.
- Planetary Science
50 years ago, Arecibo got an unprecedented view of Venus’ surface
Over its 57-year lifetime, Arecibo’s radar system measured the mountains around Venus’ middle, studied the textures of many rocky bodies in outer space and more.
- Genetics
Gene therapies for sickle cell disease come with hope and challenges
Pediatrician Erica Esrick discusses existing sickle cell treatments and an ongoing clinical trial.
- Animals
A diamondlike structure gives some starfish skeletons their strength
Electron microscope images of knobby starfish’s calcite skeletons reveal an unexpected architecture that compensates for the mineral’s brittleness.
- Health & Medicine
Omicron crushed delta in the U.S. These numbers show just how fast it happened
It took the delta coronavirus variant eight weeks to make up more than 50 percent of new U.S. COVID-19 infections, estimates show. It took omicron two.
- Paleontology
Fossils reveal what may be the oldest known case of the dino sniffles
A respiratory infection that spread to air sacs in the vertebrae of a 150-million-year-old sauropod likely led to now-fossilized bone lesions.
- Archaeology
Homo sapiens may have reached Europe 10,000 years earlier than previously thought
Archaeological finds in an ancient French rock-shelter suggest migrations to the continent started long before Neandertals died out.
- Earth
Weird ‘superionic’ matter could make up Earth’s inner core
Computer simulations suggest that matter that behaves like a mash-up of solid and liquid could explain oddities of Earth’s center.
- Genetics
How the Human Genome Project revolutionized understanding of our DNA
Completion of the Human Genome Project was a huge milestone, but there’s more work to do to ensure equitable access to the information in our DNA.
