All Stories
- Earth
Volume of fracking fluid pumped underground tied to Canada quakes
Study links volume of fracking fluid injected underground with hundreds of quakes in central Canada, and not the rate at which the fluids were injected.
- Life
A robotic arm made of DNA moves at dizzying speed
A DNA machine with a high-speed arm could pave the way for nanoscale factories.
- Anthropology
Hunter-gatherer lifestyle could help explain superior ability to ID smells
Hunter-gatherers in the forests of the Malay Peninsula prove more adept at naming smells than their rice-farming neighbors, possibly because of their foraging culture.
- Materials Science
Ultrathin 2-D metals get their own periodic table
A new atlas of atom-thick metals could help researchers figure out how these 2-D materials might be used.
- Animals
The mystery of vanishing honeybees is still not definitively solved
The case has never been fully closed for colony collapse disorder, and now bees face bigger problems.
- Health & Medicine
Evidence grows that normal childbirth takes longer than we thought
Another study finds that labor lasts longer than is traditionally taught — an insight that could mean fewer unnecessary cesarean deliveries.
- Astronomy
Speed of universe’s expansion remains elusive
A discrepancy between two measures of the universe’s expansion rate suggests the presence of some unknown astronomical feature.
- Anthropology
DNA solves the mystery of how these mummies were related
Two ancient Egyptian mummies known as the Two Brothers had the same mother, but different dads.
- Paleontology
Tiny scales in ancient lagoon may be the first fossil evidence of the moth-butterfly line
Fancy liquid-sipper mouthparts might have evolved before the great burst of flower evolution
- Astronomy
Spaceships could use blinking dead stars to chart their way
Timing signals from five pulsars allowed scientists to pinpoint an experiment’s place in space.
- Astronomy
Trio of dead stars upholds a key part of Einstein’s theory of gravity
A cosmic test fails to topple the strong equivalence principle.
- Astronomy
Pollution is endangering the future of astronomy
Astronomers discuss multiple threats from pollution that will make it harder to observe the night sky.
