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Earth

How long will Kilauea’s eruption last?

A volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey answers burning questions about the ongoing Kilauea eruption.

Math

Real numbers don’t cut it in the real world, this physicist argues

Physicist Nicolas Gisin argues that real numbers don’t properly represent the natural world, which is a good thing for free will.

Astronomy

New ideas about how stars die help solve a decades-old mystery

New ideas about stellar evolution help explain why astronomers see so many bright planetary nebulae where they ought not be.

Climate

Globetrotting tourists are leaving a giant carbon footprint on the Earth

Globetrotters are responsible for about 8 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Animals

Here’s how to use DNA to find elusive sharks

Hard-to-find sharks that divers and cameras miss appear in genetic traces in the ocean.

Tech

This self-driving car could one day take you on a real road trip

Most autonomous cars are city drivers. This one’s made for cross-country road trips.

Planetary Science

Getting NASA’s Pluto mission off the ground took blood, sweat and years

Alan Stern talks about the new book ‘Chasing New Horizons’ and what’s next for the spacecraft that got close to Pluto.

Health & Medicine

50 years ago, starving tumors of oxygen proposed as weapon in cancer fight

Starving cancerous tumors of oxygen was proposed to help kill them. But the approach can make some cancer cells more aggressive.

Health & Medicine

An enzyme involved in cancer and aging gets a close-up

The structure of telomerase, described with the greatest detail yet, may give researchers clues to cancer treatments and other telomerase-related illnesses.

Physics

‘Time crystals’ created in two new types of materials

A state of matter that repeats itself in time, not space, was found in certain liquids and a solid.

Animals

Fighting like an animal doesn’t always mean a duel to the death

Conflict resolution within species isn’t always deadly and often involves cost-benefit analyses.

Genetics

Adapting to life in the north may have been a real headache

A cold-sensing protein has adapted to different local climates, also affecting risk of migraine.