All Stories
- Physics
Paper cut physics pinpoints the most hazardous types of paper
Dot matrix printer paper is the most treacherous, physicists report. Magazine paper comes in second.
- Animals
Static electricity may help butterflies and moths gather pollen on the fly
Electrostatically charged lepidopterans could draw pollen out of flowers without touching the blooms, computer simulations suggest.
- Climate
Earth’s jet stream helps create the seeds of clouds
The newly discovered process for making aerosols might also be the most productive.
- Health & Medicine
Stopping cachexia at its source could reverse wasting from cancer
The immune protein interleukin-6 helps regulate body weight. Blocking it in the brain could restore appetite and muscle mass, a study in mice hints.
- Climate
Earth keeps breaking global heat records
How hot could it get? In the first edition of Science News’ Extreme Climate Update, we look at how high temperatures could soar.
- Health & Medicine
Getting drugs into the brain is hard. Maybe a parasite can do the job
Researchers want to harness the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis to ferry drugs, but some question if the risks can be eliminated.
- Math
This intricate maze connects the dots on quasicrystal surfaces
The winding loop touches every point without crossing itself and could help make a unique class of atomic structures more efficient catalysts, scientists say.
- Animals
Komodo dragon teeth get their strength from an iron coat
Studying the reptile’s ironclad teeth in more detail could help solve a dinosaur dental mystery.
- Health & Medicine
A new algae-based menstrual pad could stop leaks
By turning period blood into a gel, the pad’s alginate powder filler reduces leakage.
- Space
Moonquakes are much more common than thought, Apollo data suggest
The discovery of 22,000 previously unseen moonquakes, plus a new idea of what causes them, could help us better prepare for trips there.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s Perseverance rover finds its first possible hint of ancient life on Mars
The NASA Mars rover examined a rock containing organic compounds and “leopard spots” that, on Earth, are associated with microbial life.
- Astronomy
The North Star is much heavier than previously thought
Polaris is about five times as massive as the sun, new observations reveal. That’s around 50 percent heavier than what an earlier study found.
