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Animals

Pregnant bonobos get a little delivery help from their friends

As in humans, female bonobos become helpers for mothers giving birth, data from captive apes suggest.

Astronomy

Plasma rain in the sun’s atmosphere falls in surprising places

Scientists found rain in the sun’s corona where they didn’t expect it, which could help solve the mystery of why the corona is so hot.

Climate

As CO₂ increases, rice loses B vitamins and other nutrients

Field experiments add vitamins to list of nutrients at risk from a changing atmosphere.

Tech

Fleets of self-driving taxis could be choreographed to cut traffic

Hive-minded self-driving cars could curb traffic congestion and vehicle pollution.

Genetics

Genetic sleuthing again IDs a murder suspect in a cold case

The arrest of a second murder suspect with the help of genetic genealogy raises worries that suspicionless searches may be next.

Genetics

Consumer DNA testing promises more than it delivers

Chances are your DNA doesn’t contain dark secrets. But there may be lots of variety in results from testing company to company.

Genetics

Special report: Genetic testing goes mainstream

Consumer genetic tests may not tell customers that much about themselves. Science News delves into these tests in a multipart series.

Genetics

What genetic tests from 23andMe, Veritas and Genos really told me about my health

A Science News reporter tried out three consumer genetic testing companies to see what people really learn about their health.

Health & Medicine

Black children commit suicide at twice the rate of white kids

The suicide rates for young black kids are higher than those of their white counterparts, a pattern that flips in older kids, researchers find.

Animals

A caterpillar outwits corn defenses by gorging on fattening ‘junk’ food

The crop plants defend themselves with zombie-maker wasps, but one pest has a desperate work-around.

Psychology

Gun owner or not, Americans agree on many ways to limit gun violence

A new survey suggests that gun owners support many potential gun-control policies — now research on their efficacy needs to catch up.

Planetary Science

Satellite smashups could have given birth to Saturn’s odd moons

Nearly head-on collisions between icy moonlets might be responsible for the peculiar shapes of some of Saturn’s moons, computer simulations suggest.