All Stories
- Earth
Gassy farm soils are a shockingly large source of these air pollutants
California’s farm soils produce a surprisingly large amount of smog-causing air pollutants.
- Archaeology
Sharp stones found in India signal surprisingly early toolmaking advances
Toolmaking revolution reached what’s now India before Homo sapiens did, a new study suggests.
- Animals
A killer whale gives a raspberry and says ‘hello’
Tests of imitating sounds finds that orcas can sort of mimic humans.
- Health & Medicine
Babies’ kicks in the womb are good for their bones
A new study adds to the evidence that fetal workouts are important for strong bodies.
- Astronomy
Universes with no weak force might still have stars and life
An alternate universe that lacks one of the four fundamental forces might still have galaxies, stars, planets and perhaps life, a new study suggests.
- Life
Here’s how cells rapidly stuff two meters of DNA into microscopic capsules
Scientists have figured out how cells quickly pack up their chromosomes before a cell divides.
- Animals
Slower speed, tricky turns give prey a chance against cheetahs and lions
A bonanza of data on wild predators running shows that hunting is more than sprinting.
- Animals
Here’s why so many saiga antelope mysteriously died in 2015
Higher than normal temperatures turned normally benign bacteria lethal, killing hundreds of thousands of the saiga antelopes.
- Particle Physics
Clumps of dark matter could be lurking undetected in our galaxy
Dark matter, assumed to form featureless blobs, might clump together into smaller objects.
- Earth
Life may have been possible in Earth’s earliest, most hellish eon
Heat from asteroid bombardment during Earth’s earliest eon wasn’t too intense for life to exist on the planet, a new study suggests.
- Environment
Plastic pollution increases risk of devastating disease in corals
Researchers estimate about 11 billion pieces of plastic are polluting Asia-Pacific corals, raising the risk of disease at scores of reefs.
- Genetics
Scientists find 10 new defense systems used by bacteria
Scientists identify 10 groups of genes that appear to govern defense systems used by bacteria against virus attacks.
