All Stories
- Animals
The Brazilian flea toad may be the world’s smallest vertebrate
Brazilian flea toads are neither a flea nor a toad, but they are almost flea-sized. The frogs are small enough to fit on a pinkie fingernail.
- Health & Medicine
Snake venom toxins can be neutralized by a new synthetic antibody
A lab-made protein protected mice from lethal doses of paralyzing toxins found in a variety of snakes, a new study reports.
- Plants
On hot summer days, this thistle is somehow cool to the touch
In hot Spanish summers, the thistle Carlina corymbosa is somehow able to cool itself substantially below air temperature.
- Math
How two outsiders tackled the mystery of arithmetic progressions
Computer scientists made progress on a decades-old puzzle in a subfield of mathematics known as combinatorics.
- Plants
Ancient trees’ gnarled, twisted shapes provide irreplaceable habitats
Traits that help trees live for hundreds of years also foster forest life, one reason why old growth forest conservation is crucial.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, computers helped speed up drug discovery
In 1974, a computer program helped researchers search for promising cancer drugs. Today, AI is helping speed up drug discovery.
- Astronomy
JWST spies hints of a neutron star left behind by supernova 1987A
Signs of highly ionized atoms in dusty clouds at SN 1987A’s explosion site suggest a powerful source of X-rays — likely a neutron star — lurks within.
- Space
The first U.S. lunar lander since 1972 touches down on the moon
Odysseus, the first spacecraft to land on the moon since NASA’s Apollo 17, ended up tipped on its side but it appears to be operating OK.
- Health & Medicine
The United States was on course to eliminate syphilis. Now it’s surging
Science News spoke with expert Allison Agwu about what’s driving the surge and how we can better prevent the disease.
- Physics
Physicist Sekazi Mtingwa considers himself an apostle of science
After big contributions in accelerator physics, Sekazi Mtingwa has been focused on opening science for everyone.
- Health & Medicine
Messed-up metabolism during development may lead guts to coil the wrong way
Tadpoles exposed to a metabolism-disrupting herbicide had malformed intestines, providing clues to a human condition called intestinal malrotation.
- Animals
A new book explores the transformative power of bird-watching
In Birding to Change the World, environmental scientist Trish O’Kane shows how birds and humans can help one another heal.
