All Stories
- Space
Saturn’s auroras may explain the planet’s weirdly hot upper atmosphere
Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft could help solve Saturn’s mysterious “energy crisis.”
- Life
Algae use flagella to trot, gallop and move with gaits all their own
Single-celled microalgae, with no brains, can coordinate their “limbs” into a trot or fancier gait.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum mechanics means some black hole orbits are impossible to predict
Computer simulations reveal that foreseeing the paths of three orbiting objects sometimes requires precision better than the quantum limit.
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Sticking to our mission: covering science writ large
The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has suddenly overturned every corner of life, editor in chief Nancy Shute writes.
- Health & Medicine
Can plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients treat the sick?
Researchers are racing to set up clinical trials of antibody-rich convalescent plasma from recovered patients to treat or prevent COVID-19.
- Chemistry
Beets bleed red but a chemistry tweak can create a blue hue
A new blue dye derived from beet juice might prove an alternative to synthetic blue dyes in foods, cosmetics or fabrics.
- Science & Society
The U.S. has resisted the metric system for more than 50 years
Australia adopted the metric system 50 years ago. The United States tried by passing legislation for a voluntary conversion that was largely ignored.
- Health & Medicine
Just breathing or talking may be enough to spread COVID-19 after all
Until now, experts have said that the virus spreads only through large droplets released when people cough or sneeze, but it may spread more easily.
- Humans
Southern Africa may have hosted a hominid transition 2 million years ago
Braincases excavated from the Drimolen caves suggest Homo erectus and Paranthropus robustus may have coexisted in southern Africa.
- Neuroscience
Mice’s facial expressions can reveal a wide range of emotions
Pleasure, pain, fear and other feelings can be reflected in mice’s faces, sophisticated computational analyses show.
- Math
How large a gathering is too large during the coronavirus pandemic?
Mathematical models explain why large gatherings are especially dangerous in an epidemic, and identify how large is too large.
