All Stories
- Math
Here’s why the geometric patterns in salt flats worldwide look so similar
New research suggests the shared geometry of salt flats from Death Valley to Iran comes from fluid flows underground.
- Life
How some beetles ‘drink’ water using their butts
Red flour beetles, a major agricultural pest, suck water out of the air using special cells in their rear ends, a new study suggests.
- Science & Society
Here are the Top 10 threats to the survival of civilization
These aren’t just movie scenarios. From aliens and asteroids to pandemics, war and climate change, civilization as we know it is at risk.
- Physics
The W boson might not be heavier than expected after all
A new and improved look at the mass of the W boson is in close alignment with theory, but it doesn’t negate an earlier, controversial measurement.
- Archaeology
What did Homo sapiens eat 170,000 years ago? Roasted, supersized land snails
Charred shell bits at an African site reveal the earliest known evidence of snail-meal prep, suggesting ancient humans cooked and shared the mollusks.
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- Planetary Science
Planets without stars might have moons suitable for life
Thanks to gravitational squeezing by their host planets, some moons of rogue planets could stay warm for over a billion years, simulations suggest.
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Did artificial intelligence write this editor’s note?
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses the implications of artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT for education, journalism and more.
- Health & Medicine
A new battery starves cancer cells of oxygen in mice
When a self-charging battery is placed on a mouse’s tumor and combined with anticancer drugs, it reduced tumor size by 90 percent.
- Life
Capybaras thrive, even near humans, because they’re not picky eaters
Scientists didn’t expect capybaras to eat both grasses and forest plants. The rodents’ flexible diet helps them live everywhere from cities to swamps.
- Health & Medicine
The antiviral drug Paxlovid reduces the risk of getting long COVID
In a study of U.S. veterans’ health records, the drug lowered the odds of developing 10 of 13 long-term health problems following a COVID-19 infection.
- Life
T. rex may have had lips like a modern lizard’s
Dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus have long been portrayed as lipless, but new research suggests this wasn’t so.
