News
- Space
Super-Earths may come in two flavors
As more exoplanets are discovered, evidence emerges that worlds can be either fluffy or dense.
- Humans
Fossil finds offer close look at a contested ancestor
Nearly 2 million-year-old fossils offer glimpses of a species that may, or may not, have been crucial for human evolution.
- Earth
Earthly riches heaven sent
A period of heavy meteorite bombardment after Earth's formation may have peppered Earth's outer layers with useful metals.
- Health & Medicine
Brain stents pose risks
Devices to prop open narrowed vessels appear to raise the risk of death or stroke compared with medicines alone, a study finds.
- Life
In the dark, cave fish follows its own rhythm
Scientists unwind an odd biological clock to better understand how organisms set daily cycles.
- Chemistry
Explosive goes boom, but not too soon
Leavening a volatile new material with good old TNT yields a substance that’s safer to handle and easily reverted into a highly potent form.
- Chemistry
If that’s a TV, this must be the den
In some situations, the brain identifies a location based on a checklist of objects.
- Paleontology
Acidifying oceans helped fuel mass extinction
The great die-off 250 million years ago could trace in part to hostile water conditions, a modeling study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Obesity can turn body fat toxic
Excess blubber below the skin can trigger inflammation, possibly increasing risk of disease.
- Physics
A lighter Higgs, but chase continues
Target narrows after LHC experiments suggest a new lower estimated mass for the elusive particle.
- Life
Woolly rhinos came down from the cold
Ice Age icons were already adapted to harsh climate, new fossils suggest.
- Humans
Oldest hand axes found
Homo erectus may have made both advanced and simple tools 1.76 million years ago.
