All Stories
- Astronomy
New images of the sun reveal superfine threads of glowing plasma
Snapshots from NASA’s High-Resolution Coronal Imager show thin filaments of plasma not seen before in the sun’s outer atmosphere.
- Physics
A star orbiting the Milky Way’s giant black hole confirms Einstein was right
An oddity previously seen in Mercury’s orbit has been spotted in a star circling the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center.
- Health & Medicine
COVID-19 may be most contagious one to two days before symptoms appear
The coronavirus probably spreads the most before symptoms appear, making containing viral transmission harder.
- Quantum Physics
New quantum computers can operate at higher temperatures
Silicon chips operate at higher temperatures than many others, raising hopes for building quantum integrated circuits.
- Animals
Dancing peacock spiders turned an arachnophobe into an arachnologist
Just 22, Joseph Schubert has described 12 of 86 peacock spider species. One with a blue and yellow abdomen is named after Van Gogh’s Starry Night.
- Space
‘Spacefarers’ predicts how space colonization will happen
In Spacefarers, Christopher Wanjek provides an optimistic yet realistic view on how humans might colonize the rest of our solar system.
- Physics
Stephen Wolfram’s hypergraph project aims for a fundamental theory of physics
Simple rules generating complicated networks may be how to build the universe.
- Physics
Here’s how the periodic table gets new elements
Today’s scientists keep adding to the periodic table. But an element has to earn its spot.
- Animals
Cold War nuclear test residue offers a clue to whale sharks’ ages
One unexpected legacy of the Cold War: Chemical traces of atomic bomb tests are helping scientists figure out whale shark ages.
- Astronomy
‘Oumuamua might be a shard of a broken planet
A new origin story for the solar system’s first known interstellar visitor suggests it may have been part of a world that got shredded by its star.
- Math
To cook a perfect steak, use math
As a steak cooks in an oven, movement of liquid within the meat causes it to become extra juicy in the center in a way that can be predicted by mathematics.
- Animals
Seabirds may find food at sea by flying in a massive, kilometers-wide arc
Radar shows that seabird groups can fly together in giant “rake” formations. If they are cooperating to find food, it’s on a scale not yet seen in the birds.
