All Stories
- 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.
- Astronomy
See a 360-degree visualization of the center of the Milky Way
A 360-degree simulation, made with data from several telescopes, shows the center of the Milky Way as seen from the galaxy’s supermassive black hole.
