All Stories
- Health & Medicine
This week in Zika: First mouse study proof that Zika causes microcephaly
Three new studies in mice shore up the link between microcephaly and Zika virus infection.
By Meghan Rosen - Animals
Vultures are vulnerable to extinction
Life history makes vultures more vulnerable to extinction than other birds, a new study finds, but humankind’s poisons are helping them to their end.
- Neuroscience
Social area of the brain sets threat level of animals
How people perceive an animal’s danger level is encoded in a particular wrinkle of cortex, a brain scan study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Heartburn drugs can damage cells that line blood vessels
A type of heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors may damage cells that line the blood vessels. The results, though controversial, hint at an explanation for PPI’s link to serious side effects, including risk of dementia and heart attack.
By Meghan Rosen - Astronomy
Kepler telescope doubles its count of known exoplanets
NASA’s Kepler space telescope adds 1,284 planets to the roster of worlds known to orbit other stars in our galaxy.
- Planetary Science
Mercury’s stunning landscape mapped
First complete topographic map of Mercury reveals plains, craters and both the highest and lowest points on the planet.
- Particle Physics
Large Hadron Collider starts its 2016 physics run
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider are taking data for the first time in 2016.
- Animals
History of road-tripping shaped camel DNA
Centuries of caravan domestication and travel left some metaphorical tire marks on Arabian camel genes, researchers find.
- Planetary Science
Long-running lunar mission reveals moon’s surprises
Seven years into its mission, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is still going strong and finding surprises on the moon.
- Quantum Physics
Communicating covertly goes quantum
Researchers are working to make quantum messages that are undetectable.
- Environment
When measuring lead in water, check the temperature
Lead contamination in drinking water can be much higher during summer than winter, new research suggests.
- Animals
Crocodile eyes are optimized for lurking
Crocodiles hang out at the water’s surface, waiting for a meal. A new study shows their eyes are optimized for spotting their prey from this position.