All Stories
- Astronomy
Why it’s good news that Pluto doesn’t have rings
The New Horizons team searched for rings around Pluto, and found nothing. That suggests the spacecraft’s next destination might be ring-free too.
- Chemistry
Cool way to peer into molecules’ inner workings wins chemistry Nobel Prize
Three scientists will split the prize for their work developing cryo-electron microscopy.
- Anthropology
The rise of agricultural states came at a big cost, a new book argues
In ‘Against the Grain,’ a political scientist claims early states took a toll on formerly mobile groups’ health and happiness.
By Bruce Bower - Health & Medicine
Six in seven contact lens wearers take unnecessary risks with their eyes
A lot of contact wearers are not practicing healthy habits with their lenses, a national survey finds.
- Physics
Trio wins physics Nobel Prize for gravitational wave detection
Pioneers of LIGO collaboration win for finding spacetime ripples from two spiraling black holes.
By Emily Conover and Lisa Grossman - Paleontology
A baby ichthyosaur’s last meal revealed
A new look at an old fossil shows that some species of baby ichthyosaurs may have dined on squid.
- Paleontology
A baby ichthyosaur’s last meal revealed
A new look at an old fossil shows that some species of baby ichthyosaurs may have dined on squid.
- Life
Cracking the body clock code wins trio a Nobel Prize
Circadian clock researchers take home the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
By Tina Hesman Saey and Aimee Cunningham - Environment
Radioactive material from Fukushima disaster turns up in a surprising place
Radioactive cesium is reaching the ocean through salty groundwater.
- Astronomy
How a meteor shower helped solve the case of the vanishing comet
A missing comet has been linked to a long-lost meteor shower, helping astronomers recover both.
- Life
Body clock mechanics wins U.S. trio the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine
The cellular mechanisms governing circadian rhythms was a Nobel Prize‒winning discover for three Americans.
- Quantum Physics
Quantum mysteries dissolve if possibilities are realities
Quantum mysteries can be avoided if reality encompasses possibilities as well as actualities, a new paper proposes.