All Stories
- Climate
Antarctica’s iceberg graveyard could reveal the ice sheet’s future
Drilling deep into the seafloor beneath Antarctica’s “Iceberg Alley” could reveal new clues about how quickly the continent has melted in the past.
- Neuroscience
Our brains sculpt each other. So why do we study them in isolation?
Studying individual brains may not be the way to figure out the human mind, a social neuroscientist argues.
- Health & Medicine
A common food additive may make the flu vaccine less effective
A food preservative may impair the ability to fight the flu, a study in mice suggests.
- Health & Medicine
When an older person’s brain waves are in sync, memory is boosted
A brain stimulation treatment that nudges older people’s brain waves into sync could lead to noninvasive therapies for dementia and other disorders.
- Earth
How deadly, fast-moving flows of volcanic rock and gas cheat friction
Mixtures of hot volcanic rock and gas called pyroclastic flows travel so far by gliding on air, a new study suggests.
- Math
Mathematicians may have found the fastest way to multiply huge numbers
A new theoretical method for multiplying enormous figures appears to achieve a speed first predicted decades ago.
- Science & Society
The delight of discovering an asteroid that spits
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses recent news about the asteroid Bennu and Kuiper Belt–object Ultima Thule.
- Health & Medicine
Readers seek answers to stories about shingles, Neandertal spears and more
Readers had questions about Neandertal spears, Earth’s inner core and more.
- Genetics
Here are 5 RNAs that are stepping out of DNA’s shadow
RNAs do a lot more than act as middlemen for protein building. Here are a few of the ways they affect your health and disease.
- Paleontology
Peruvian fossils yield a four-legged otterlike whale with hooves
A newly discovered species of ancient whale unearthed in Peru split time between land and sea.
- Planetary Science
Hayabusa2 has blasted the surface of asteroid Ryugu to make a crater
Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft shot a projectile at Ryugu. Next: collecting asteroid dust from the probable impact crater left behind.
- Health & Medicine
Testing mosquito pee could help track the spread of diseases
A new way to monitor the viruses that wild mosquitoes are spreading passes its first outdoor test.
