Feature
- Health & Medicine
Efforts to control mosquitoes take on new urgency
The major mosquito that is spreading Zika virus has quirks that make it one of the toughest to fight.
By Susan Milius - Health & Medicine
Cells from fat mend bone, cartilage, muscle and even the heart
Stem cells and other components of fat can be coerced to grow into bone, cartilage, muscle or to repair the heart.
By Susan Gaidos - Quantum Physics
Ultrasmall engines bend second law of thermodynamics
Car engines and batteries run because of the second law of thermodynamics, which appears to work, with just a little bending, for ultrasmall engines in the quantum realm as well.
By Andrew Grant - Physics
Gravitational waves explained
Colliding black holes send ripples through spacetime that can be detected here on Earth. What are these gravitational waves, and how did Advanced LIGO detect them?
- Planetary Science
Support grows for a return to ice giants Uranus and Neptune
Thirty years ago, Voyager 2 cruised past Uranus and then on to Neptune. Now planetary scientists think it’s time to go back.
- Earth
Ocean’s plastics offer a floating fortress to a mess of microbes
Microbes take up residence on ocean plastics, potentially causing changes in ocean environments.
- Genetics
GMOs haven’t delivered on their promises — or risks
Genetically modified foods have been studied extensively and are abundant on supermarket shelves, but they haven’t managed to end world hunger yet.
- Physics
Nuclear fusion gets boost from private-sector startups
Private-sector firms are creating nuclear fusion machines that may beat governments to the punch.
By Alan Boyle - Health & Medicine
Mom’s weight during pregnancy shapes baby’s health
Obesity at conception or during pregnancy is a big problem that's getting bigger: New evidence says a child's mental health could be at stake.
By Laura Beil - Neuroscience
His stress is not like her stress
When the pressure doesn’t let up, men and women react differently. The root of the difference may be messaging within the brain.
By Susan Gaidos - Physics
The science of avalanches
High-tech instruments are helping researchers study how temperature can change the character — and danger — of an avalanche
- Paleontology
12 amazing fossil finds of 2015
From an ancient sponge ancestor to the Carolina Butcher, scientists learned a lot about life on Earth this year.
By Meghan Rosen