News

Animals

Here’s why a hero shrew has the sturdiest spine of any mammal

The hero shrew’s rigid backbone is among the weirdest mammal spines, its incredible strength aided by fortified vertebrae bones.

Physics

Scientists ‘strummed’ a molecule’s chemical bonds like guitar strings

Scientists dragged an atomic force microscope tip, with a single carbon monoxide molecule dangling from it, across a chemical bond.

Health & Medicine

What coronavirus antibody tests tell us — and what they don’t

Antibody tests can give a clearer picture of who has been infected but don’t guarantee immunity for those who test positive.

Health & Medicine

Some patients who survive COVID-19 may suffer lasting lung damage

Results from a study in China suggest that some COVID-19 patients will be left with long-term lung problems.

Anthropology

Skeletal damage hints some hunter-gatherer women fought in battles

Contrary to traditional views, women in North American hunter-gatherer societies and Mongolian herding groups likely weren’t all stay-at-home types.

Animals

Earthy funk lures tiny creatures to eat and spread bacterial spores

Genes that cue spore growth also kick up a scent that draws in springtails.

Health & Medicine

Drugs for high blood pressure don’t appear to make COVID-19 worse

Drugs commonly used to treat hypertension did not lead to more severe cases of the coronavirus infection or higher mortality in hospitalized patients.

Animals

The ‘insect apocalypse’ is more complicated than it sounds

Freshwater arthropods trended upward, while terrestrial ones declined. But the study’s decades of data are spotty.

Earth

Did heavy rain trigger Kilauea’s eruption? It’s complicated

A study suggests the Hawaiian volcano’s outpouring of lava was triggered by heavy rainfall in the months preceding. But some scientists are skeptical.

Paleontology

The first frog fossil from Antarctica has been found

An ancient amphibian from Antarctica gives new insight into when the continent got so cold.

Health & Medicine

COVID-19 kills more men than women. The immune system may be why

Countries with sex-specific data report more men than women are dying of the coronavirus. Women’s stronger immune response may give them a leg up.

Climate

A U.S. oil-producing region is leaking twice as much methane as once thought

Satellite measurements identify the Permian Basin, a massive U.S. oil- and gas-producing area, as a large source of leaked methane to the atmosphere.