All Stories
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, scientists debated the necessity of a smallpox vaccine
In 1970, scientists debated the necessity of routine smallpox vaccinations as the disease declined. Fifty years later, the debate continues.
- Health & Medicine
WHO declares coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency
The World Health Organization says the coronavirus outbreak that began in China has been reported in 18 other countries.
- Physics
Scientists cooled a nanoparticle to the quantum limit
Physicists decreased a nanoparticle’s motion to the lowest level allowed by quantum mechanics.
- Space
The wobbling orbit of a pulsar proves Einstein right, yet again
Astronomers have found a pulsar’s orbit being rocked to and fro as a neighboring white dwarf whips up spacetime, in accordance with general relativity.
- Life
Engineered honeybee gut bacteria trick attackers into self-destructing
Tailored microbes defend bees with a gene-silencing process called RNA interference that takes on viruses or mites.
- Genetics
A new genetic analysis reveals that modern Africans have some Neandertal DNA too
Humans migrating back to Africa brought genetic material from humans’ extinct Neandertal relatives along for the ride.
- Health & Medicine
Stem cell clinics’ much-hyped treatments lack scientific support
Stem cell treatments for knee pain are strong on marketing, weak on science.
- Space
These are the most detailed images of the sun ever taken
First images from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope reveal details on the surface of the sun three times as small as ever seen.
- Health & Medicine
Your most pressing questions about the new coronavirus, answered
As the new coronavirus outbreak unfolds, we are updating this FAQ with the latest on the race to understand the virus and stop the growing global health crisis. Our most recent update was posted February 18.
- Earth
Tiny meteorites suggest ancient Earth had a carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere
Simulations of reactions between 2.7-billion-year-old micrometeorites and atmospheric gases hint Archean Earth’s atmosphere had high levels of CO2.
- Space
An astrophysicist honors citizen scientists in the age of big data
In ‘The Crowd and the Cosmos,’ an astrophysicist gives due to citizen scientists and says they will continue to have a future in discovery.
- Health & Medicine
Can the coronavirus outbreak be contained?
More than 50 million people are quarantined in China, but whether the strategy will stem the epidemic’s spread is unclear.
