News
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
Can the coronavirus outbreak be contained?
More than 50 million people are quarantined in China, but whether the strategy will stem the epidemic’s spread is unclear.
- Life
How pandas use their heads as a kind of extra limb for climbing
Short legs on a stout bear body means pandas use a rare technique to climb up a tree.
- Neuroscience
Psilocybin may help cancer patients with depression and anxiety for years
A study hints that a hallucinogen found in magic mushrooms could reshape how people cope with hard diagnoses over the long term.
- Archaeology
A Siberian cave contains clues about two epic Neandertal treks
Stone tools and DNA illuminate an earlier and a later journey eastward across Asia.
- Chemistry
How to brew a better espresso, according to science
To make more consistent and affordable espresso shots, use fewer beans and grind them more coarsely, a new study says.
- Paleontology
A squid fossil offers a rare record of pterosaur feeding behavior
150 million years ago, a pterosaur attempted to snatch a squid from the ocean surface and lost a tooth in the process.
- Health & Medicine
How the new coronavirus stacks up against SARS and MERS
Coronaviruses are a diverse family that may be becoming more threatening to people.
- Health & Medicine
Levels of certain proteins in the blood may act as concussion biomarkers
College athletes who suffered concussions had elevated blood levels of three proteins, a potential chemical sign that one day may aid diagnosis.
- Health & Medicine
No, snakes probably aren’t the source of that new coronavirus in China
Scientists are skeptical about a new study that pinpoints snakes as the animal reservoir for the ongoing coronavirus outbreak in China.
- Physics
A quantum strategy could verify the solutions to unsolvable problems — in theory
A quantum technique for verifying solutions to difficult problems could apply to an “unbelievably huge” class of puzzles.
