All Stories
- Earth
False alarms may be a necessary part of earthquake early warnings
To give enough time to take protective action, earthquake warning systems may have to issue alerts long before it’s clear how strong the quake will be.
- Health & Medicine
Male birth control pill passes a safety test
A prototype contraceptive for men safely reduced testosterone and other reproductive hormones during a month-long treatment.
- Life
Meet the giants among viruses
For decades, all viruses were thought to be small and simple. But the discovery of more and more giant viruses shows that’s not the case.
- Planetary Science
5 things we’ve learned about Saturn since Cassini died
The Cassini spacecraft plunged to its death into Saturn six months ago, but the discoveries keep coming.
- Health & Medicine
How obesity makes it harder to taste
Mice that gained excessive weight on a high-fat diet also lost a quarter of their taste buds.
- Science & Society
Kids are starting to picture scientists as women
An analysis of studies asking kids to draw a scientist finds that the number of females drawn has increased over the last 50 years.
- Tech
First pedestrian death from a self-driving car fuels safety debate
A self-driving Uber kills woman in Arizona in the first fatal pedestrian strike by an autonomous car.
By Dan Garisto - Planetary Science
Some TRAPPIST-1 planets may be water worlds
Two of TRAPPIST-1’s planets are half water and ice, which could hamper the search for life.
- Climate
Tree rings tell tale of drought in Mongolia over the last 2,000 years
Semifossilized trees preserved in Mongolia contain a 2,000-year climate record that could help predict future droughts.
By Dan Garisto - Earth
Will Smith narrates ‘One Strange Rock,’ but astronauts are the real stars
Hosted by Will Smith, ‘One Strange Rock’ embraces Earth’s weirdness and explores the planet’s natural history.
- Life
Inked mice hint at how tattoos persist in people
Tattoos in mice may persist due to an immune response, challenging currently held beliefs about how the skin retains tattoos.
By Dan Garisto - Science & Society
What we can and can’t say about Arctic warming and U.S. winters
Evidence of a connection is growing stronger, but scientists still struggle to explain why.