All Stories
- Cosmology
After Big Bang, shock waves rocked newborn universe
Shock waves in the early universe could explain the generation of magnetic fields and the predominance of matter over antimatter.
- Health & Medicine
Don’t cocoon a kid who has a concussion
Parents should fight the urge to limit kids’ activities after a concussion.
- Animals
Primitive signs of emotions spotted in sugar-buzzed bumblebees
When bumblebees eat a sugary snack, they make more optimistic decisions, a new study finds. This could be early evidence for emotion in insects.
- Health & Medicine
Zika virus infects cells that make bone, muscle in lab tests
Zika virus infects embryonic cranial cells in lab-grown minibrains, potentially altering face and skull shape and brain development, and maybe even contributing to microcephaly.
By Meghan Rosen - Genetics
Gene linked to autism in people may influence dog sociability
DNA variants were linked to beagles’ tendency to seek human help.
- Planetary Science
So long, Rosetta: End is near for comet orbiter
During its time in orbit around comet 67P, the Rosetta spacecraft discovered diverse terrains, organic molecules and a source of water quite different from Earth’s oceans.
- Earth
Glass bits, charcoal hint at 56-million-year-old space rock impact
Glassy debris and the burnt remains of wildfires suggest that a large space rock hit Earth near the start of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming event around 56 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Concern expands over Zika birth defects
Infection with Zika virus in utero can trigger a spectrum of birth defects beyond microcephaly, and could potentially cause long-term health problems as well.
By Meghan Rosen - Paleontology
Ancient microbe fossils show earliest evidence of shell making
Armor-plated, 809-million-year-old fossilized microbes discovered in Canada are the oldest known evidence of shell making.
- Astronomy
Solar system sits within a major spiral arm of the Milky Way
The solar system appears to live in one of the major spiral arms of the Milky Way, not in an offshoot as previously thought.
- Astronomy
Solar system sits within major spiral arm of Milky Way
The solar system appears to live in one of the major spiral arms of the Milky Way, not in an offshoot as previously thought.
- Animals
New case emerging for Culex mosquito as unexpected Zika spreader
The much-debated proposal that a Culex mosquito could help spread Zika gets some international support.
By Susan Milius