Uncategorized

Genetics

DNA testing can bring families together, but gives mixed answers on ethnicity

DNA testing has become a new way for millions of Americans to expand their family trees and learn something about themselves, but results vary widely.

Animals

Here’s what narwhals sound like underwater

Scientists eavesdropped while narwhals clicked and buzzed. The work could help pinpoint how the whales may react to more human noise in the Arctic.

Climate

Antarctica has lost about 3 trillion metric tons of ice since 1992

Antarctica’s rate of ice loss has sped up since 1992 — mostly in the last five years, raising global sea level by almost 8 millimeters on average.

Physics

This heavy element has a football-shaped atomic nucleus

Three nobelium isotopes have oblong nuclei, and some sport a ‘bubble’ center.

Physics

In her short life, mathematician Emmy Noether changed the face of physics

A century after she published a groundbreaking mathematical theory, Emmy Noether gets her due.

Science & Society

So what do you know about Emmy Noether?

Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses physicist Emmy Noether and women being underrepresented in science fields.

Environment

Sunshine is making Deepwater Horizon oil stick around

Sunlight created oxygen-rich oil by-products that are still hanging around eight years after the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Astronomy

Readers were curious about pendulum saws, laser tweezers and more

Readers had questions about Bronze Age pendulum saws, dark matter, lazer tweezers and more.

Artificial Intelligence

A new AI can focus on one voice in a crowd

The artificial intelligence can ignore background noise in videos and focus on what a particular person is saying.

Astronomy

The sun shrinks a teensy bit when it’s feeling active

The radius of the sun gets slightly smaller during periods of high solar activity, researchers say.

Health & Medicine

Kids with food allergies are twice as likely to have autism

Children with food allergies are more likely to have autism than kids without, a study finds. But that doesn’t mean a child will develop the disorder.

Health & Medicine

If you thought the most recent flu season was bad, you were right

The recent U.S. flu season was classified as highly severe overall, the third time since 2003 that the seasonal outbreak has earned that designation.