News

Plants

Invasive grasses are taking over the American West’s sea of sagebrush

Cheatgrass and other invasive plants are expanding rapidly in the western United States, putting more places at risk for wildfires.

Health & Medicine

Tiny living machines called xenobots can create copies of themselves

When clusters of frog cells known as xenobots form a Pac-Man shape, they are especially efficient at replicating in a new way, researchers say.

Health & Medicine

Merck’s COVID-19 pill may soon be here. How well will it work?

Once hailed as a potential game changer, more complete data now reveal drawbacks of Merck’s antiviral COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir.

Oceans

The Southern Ocean is still swallowing large amounts of humans’ carbon dioxide emissions

A 2018 study suggested the ocean surrounding Antarctica might be taking up less CO₂ than thought, but new data suggest it is still a carbon sink.

Planetary Science

This tiny, sizzling exoplanet could be made of molten iron

A newly discovered exoplanet that whips around its star in less than eight hours is smaller than Earth, as dense as iron and hot enough to melt.

Health & Medicine

What we know and don’t know about the omicron coronavirus variant

The new omicron variant has lots of mutations and sparked a surge of cases in South Africa, but researchers still don’t know a lot about it.

Anthropology

Ancient footprints suggest a mysterious hominid lived alongside Lucy’s kind

A previously unknown hominid species may have left its marks in muddy ash about 3.66 million years ago in what is now East Africa.

Paleontology

This dinosaur had a weapon shaped like an Aztec war club on its tail

The flat and spiky tail club of a newly discovered ankylosaur was unique, even for this often weirdly armored group of dinosaurs.

Anthropology

Ancient giant orangutans evolved smaller bodies surprisingly slowly

Fossil teeth from Chinese caves indicate that a single, ancient orangutan species gradually trimmed down over nearly 2 million years.

Chemistry

Here’s the chemistry behind marijuana’s skunky scent

Newly ID’d sulfur compounds in cannabis flowers give the plant its telltale odor. One, prenylthiol, is what also gives “skunked beer” its funky flavor.

Life

Fungi may be crucial to storing carbon in soil as the Earth warms

Fungi help soil-making bacteria churn out carbon compounds that are resilient to heat, keeping those compounds in the ground, a study suggests.

Environment

Corals may store a surprising amount of microplastics in their skeletons

In tropical waters, coral reefs may be a “sink” for tiny bits of plastic debris. It’s unclear how corals’ trash pickup might affect reef health.