All Stories

Genetics

Researchers say CRISPR edits to a human embryo worked. But critics still doubt it

Researchers say that they have confirmed CRISPR/Cas9 edits of a heart disease–causing version of a gene, but critics still have doubts.

Archaeology

The debate over people’s pathway into the Americas heats up

Defenders of an ice-free inland passage for early Americans make their case.

Earth

Global dimming may mitigate warming, but could hurt crop yields

Injecting a veil of tiny particles into the atmosphere might reduce global warming, but it could also lower crop yields.

Life

Nasty stomach viruses can travel in packs

Contained clusters of rotavirus and norovirus caused more severe infections in mice than the same viruses working solo.

Health & Medicine

Zika may harm nearly 1 in 7 babies exposed to the virus in the womb

A new CDC report tallies neurological and developmental problems, in addition to birth defects, possibly due to Zika in U.S. territory–born babies.

Neuroscience

Football and hockey players aren’t doomed to suffer brain damage

A comprehensive look at the brains and behavior of retired professional football players and retired hockey players finds no signs of early dementia.

Astronomy

Astronomers saw the first mass eruption from a star that’s not the sun

The first coronal mass ejection observed fleeing another star was as massive as scientists expected, but carried less energy.

Science & Society

For popularity on Twitter, partisanship pays

Pundits claim that we’re all living in political echo chambers. A new study shows that, on Twitter at least, they’re right.

Animals

This killifish can go from egg to sex in two weeks

The fastest known maturing vertebrate in the lab is even faster in the wild.

Genetics

The first detailed map of red foxes’ DNA may reveal domestication secrets

Thanks to a newly deciphered genome of red foxes, researchers have pinpointed regions in the animals’ DNA linked to taming them.

Astronomy

Hopes dim that gamma rays can reveal dark matter

A mysterious glow of gamma rays coming from the center of the Milky Way probably isn’t a sign of dark matter.

Physics

Strange metals are even weirder than scientists thought

Some strange metals are odd in more ways than one, and that could help scientists understand high-temperature superconductors.