All Stories
- Paleontology
The last woolly mammoths offer new clues to why the species went extinct
The last population of woolly mammoths did not go extinct 4,000 years ago from inbreeding, a new analysis shows.
- Climate
In ‘Warming Up,’ the sports world’s newest opponent is climate change
In her debut book, Madeleine Orr presents an authoritative account of climate change’s impact on sports, and how the industry can fight back.
- Astronomy
We may finally know the source of mysterious high-energy neutrinos
Regions around supermassive black holes in active galaxies could produce a lot of these mysterious particles.
- Health & Medicine
Honeybees can “smell” lung cancer
Bees can detect the scent of lung cancer in lab-grown cells and synthetic breath. One day, bees may be used to screen people’s breath for cancer.
- Earth
Something weird is happening to Earth’s inner core
A new study claims to confirm that the inner core is now rotating more slowly than it was over a decade ago, but some researchers remain skeptical.
- Archaeology
A lost civilization’s partial alphabet was discovered in a social media post
In online images of an ancient tablet, an expert spotted previously unnoticed letters — a partial alphabet from the Tartessian civilization.
- Physics
A black hole made from pure light is impossible, thanks to quantum physics
A “kugelblitz” is a black hole made of concentrated electromagnetic energy. But it’s not possible to make one, according to new calculations.
- Archaeology
A new study challenges the idea that Rapa Nui islanders caused an ‘ecocide’
Rapa Niu islanders farmed and fished enough to feed only a few thousand people, too few to decimate society before Europeans arrived, researchers contend.
- Animals
Beneficial bacteria help these marine worms survive extreme cold
Three species of marine worms living in Antarctic waters have beneficial relationships with bacteria that produce antifreeze proteins.
- Climate
A heat dome is baking the United States. Here’s why that’s so dangerous
As climate change makes heat waves more frequent and intense, older adults, pregnant people and others are at higher risk for heat-related symptoms.
- Neuroscience
Pain may take different pathways in men and women
Sex differences in the function of nerve cells in mice, monkeys and humans suggest a new way to treat pain conditions.
- Animals
Can leeches leap? New video may help answer that debate
For some, it’s the stuff of nightmares. But a grad student’s serendipitous cell phone video might resolve a long-running debate over leech acrobatics.
