News
- Astronomy
A rare glimpse at a relatively nearby supernova offers clues to how stars die
Thanks to its home in the Pinwheel galaxy, a favorite of amateur astronomers, researchers have monitored SN 2023ixf since shortly after it exploded.
- Animals
How sea anemones living on deep-sea hydrothermal vents avoid metal poisoning
The anemone Alvinactis idsseensis dominates its toxic environment thanks to an unusual number of genes geared toward protecting cells from heavy metals.
- Planetary Science
Giant planet ‘destabilization’ may have coincided with the birth of Earth’s moon
New meteorite data suggest the orbits of the giant planets abruptly changed about 60 million to 100 million years after the solar system started forming.
- Life
10 billion snow crabs have disappeared off the Alaskan coast. Here’s why
In the eastern Bering Sea, the snow crab population plummeted after a marine heat wave in 2018. The crabs may have starved, a new study finds.
- Health & Medicine
Blocking an aging-related enzyme may restore muscle strength
Treating old mice with a drug that inhibits a “gerozyme” restored muscle strength, which can diminish with aging.
- Space
Here’s how citizen scientists can help during the 2024 solar eclipse
The sun will be near the peak of its activity cycle during the eclipse on April 8, 2024, making it a great time to crowdsource solar research.
- Physics
Tiny accelerators get electrons up to speed using lasers
In a first, chip-scale accelerators revved up electrons while also confining them into a beam.
- Animals
Scientists debunked a long-standing cicada myth by analyzing their guts
The lack of obvious chewing mouthparts may have made casual observers think that adult cicadas don’t need to feed. But that’s not the case.
- Planetary Science
Here’s another strike against Venus having copious lightning
Past data and the Parker Solar Probe’s new discovery of weird whistler waves overturn the idea that Venus’ hellish atmosphere has a lot of lightning.
- Health & Medicine
Newly identified stem cells can lure breast cancer to the spine
A new type of stem cell discovered in mice and humans might explain why cancer that spreads to other body parts preferentially targets the spine.
- Astronomy
The black hole–powered jet in galaxy M87 is making stars explode
Hubble Space Telescope data show a surprising number of nova blasts along the jet of high-speed gas coming from the galaxy M87.
- Animals
In a first, genetically modified silkworms produced pure spider silk
An effort to engineer silkworms to produce spider silk brings us closer than ever to exploiting the extraordinary properties of this arachnid fiber.
