All Stories
- Chemistry
Names for four new elements get seal of approval
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry has approved the proposed names for the four elements added to the periodic table in December 2015.
- Life
Mitochondria variants battle for cell supremacy
Some mitochondria are more competitive than others, which could complicate treatments for mitochondrial diseases.
- Planetary Science
Ice gave Pluto a heavy heart
Sputnik Planitia, the left half of Pluto’s heart-shaped region, might have been carved out by the weight of thick layers of ice built up billions of years ago.
- Animals
Plant-eating mammals sport bigger bellies than meat eaters
Mammalian plant eaters have bigger torsos than meat eaters, a new analysis confirms, but the same might not have held true for dinosaurs.
- Animals
Animals give clues to the origins of human number crunching
Guppies, dogs, chickens, crows, spiders — lots of animals have number sense without knowing numbers.
- Astronomy
Star-starved galaxies fill the cosmos
Astronomers are detecting hundreds of galaxies that are almost devoid of stars. There are at least four theories on how they got that way.
- Oceans
Coral die-off in Great Barrier Reef reaches record levels
Bleaching has killed more than two-thirds of corals in some parts of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists have confirmed.
- Life
Blue leaves help begonias harvest energy in low light
The iridescent color of some begonias comes from tiny structures that also help the plant convert dim light into energy.
- Microbes
Cut leaves in bagged salads help Salmonella grow
Juice from torn-up leafy greens helps Salmonella spread in bagged salads.
- Life
Tiny toxic proteins help gut bacteria defeat rivals
A strain of E. coli makes competition-killing tiny proteins and soothes inflamed intestines.
- Science & Society
‘The Glass Universe’ celebrates astronomy’s unsung heroines
In “The Glass Universe,” science writer Dava Sobel shines a light on the women at the Harvard Observatory who mapped the stars.
- Earth
50 years ago, nuclear blasting for gas boomed. Today it’s a bust.
50 years ago, scientists made plans to use nuclear explosions to extract natural gas from underground. In one such experiment, the gas was released but turned out to be radioactive.
