All Stories
- Ecosystems
How mammoths competed with other animals and lost
Mammoths, mastodons and other ancient elephants were wiped out at the end of the last ice age by climate change and spear-wielding humans.
- Animals
Climate change may have made the Arctic deadlier for baby shorebirds
What were once relatively safe havens in the Arctic are now feasting sites for predators of baby birds.
- Astronomy
One of Earth’s shimmering dust clouds has been spotted at last
Almost 60 years after a Polish astronomer spotted clouds of dust orbiting Earth near the moon, astronomers have detected those clouds again.
- Quantum Physics
Physicists wrangled electrons into a quantum fractal
The tiny, repeating structure could reveal weird behavior of electrons in fractional dimensions.
- Environment
Car tires and brake pads produce harmful microplastics
Scientists surveyed tiny airborne plastics near German highways and found that bits of tires, brake pads and asphalt make up most of the particles.
- Planetary Science
China is about to visit uncharted territory on the moon
The next two Chinese missions to the moon will visit places no spacecraft has been before. The rest of the world wants a piece of the lunar action.
- Health & Medicine
Vitamin D supplements don’t prevent heart disease or cancer
Vitamin D supplements won’t cut your risk of heart attack or stroke, according to highly anticipated study results.
- Health & Medicine
A potent fish oil drug may protect high-risk patients against heart attacks
People with, or at high risk of, cardiovascular disease lowered their chances of having a heart attack or stroke with a drug containing an omega-3 fatty acid.
- Earth
These tiny, crackly bubbles are a new type of volcanic ash
Scientists have identified a new type of volcanic ash made up of millimeter-long spheres with a crackled surface.
- Genetics
Ancient DNA suggests people settled South America in at least 3 waves
Genetic studies of ancient remains are filling in the picture of who the earliest Americans were and how they spread through the Americas long ago.
- Planetary Science
Hints of Oort clouds around other stars may lurk in the universe’s first light
Sifting through the universe’s early light could reveal planetary graveyards orbiting other stars.
- Chemistry
These fragile, futuristic batteries run longer with a little oil
A redesign for batteries that use aluminum and oxygen could help these inexpensive, lightweight power cells last longer.
