News
- Health & Medicine
Scientists question White House measures to limit spread of coronavirus
The White House announced new steps to fight the coronavirus outbreak, in what’s becoming one of the biggest public health challenges in decades.
- Climate
A new roadmap shows how the U.S. could be carbon-neutral by 2050
A new report charts a roadmap for the U.S. to have zero carbon footprint by 2050, but only with heavy and immediate investment in carbon removal technologies.
- Ecosystems
Fewer worms live in mud littered with lots of microplastics
The environmental effects of microplastic pollution are still hazy, but new long-term, outdoor experiments could help clear matters up.
- Health & Medicine
The first case of coronavirus being spread by a person with no symptoms has been found
Coronavirus cases among coworkers in Germany suggest that the virus can spread from person to person before symptoms appear, similar to the flu.
- Health & Medicine
WHO declares coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency
The World Health Organization says the coronavirus outbreak that began in China has been reported in 18 other countries.
- Physics
Scientists cooled a nanoparticle to the quantum limit
Physicists decreased a nanoparticle’s motion to the lowest level allowed by quantum mechanics.
- Space
The wobbling orbit of a pulsar proves Einstein right, yet again
Astronomers have found a pulsar’s orbit being rocked to and fro as a neighboring white dwarf whips up spacetime, in accordance with general relativity.
- Life
Engineered honeybee gut bacteria trick attackers into self-destructing
Tailored microbes defend bees with a gene-silencing process called RNA interference that takes on viruses or mites.
By Susan Milius - Genetics
A new genetic analysis reveals that modern Africans have some Neandertal DNA too
Humans migrating back to Africa brought genetic material from humans’ extinct Neandertal relatives along for the ride.
By Bruce Bower - Space
These are the most detailed images of the sun ever taken
First images from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope reveal details on the surface of the sun three times as small as ever seen.
- Health & Medicine
Your most pressing questions about the new coronavirus, answered
As the new coronavirus outbreak unfolds, we are updating this FAQ with the latest on the race to understand the virus and stop the growing global health crisis. Our most recent update was posted February 18.
- Earth
Tiny meteorites suggest ancient Earth had a carbon dioxide–rich atmosphere
Simulations of reactions between 2.7-billion-year-old micrometeorites and atmospheric gases hint Archean Earth’s atmosphere had high levels of CO2.