Science News Staff

All Stories by Science News Staff

  1. Life

    Semen seems to counteract microbicides that kill HIV

    Semen seems to inhibit most microbicides from killing HIV, but one that targets a receptor on cells remains effective, suggesting a promising approach against HIV.

  2. Animals

    Giant otters hum, scream, say ‘hah’ and more

    Often overlooked as vocalists, giant otters make 22 different calls as adults and 11 kinds of baby babble.

  3. Animals

    Snake moms-to-be crave toxic toads

    The snake Rhabdophis tigrinus seeks out toxic toads to eat when breeding. The snakes can then pass the poisons on to her offspring as chemical defenses.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Whooping cough shot shown safe for pregnant women

    Women who get a booster shot against whooping cough, or pertussis, during pregnancy don’t increase their risk of having a problem birth, and they boost their babies’ immunity to the disease.

  5. Neuroscience

    Chronic marijuana use may alter the brain

    Long-term marijuana use may lead to reduced gray matter and increased white matter connectivity in the brain.

  6. Planetary Science

    Comet delivered a showy meteor shower — on Mars

    Comet Siding Spring dumped several tons of material into the Martian atmosphere that could have damaged NASA spacecraft.

  7. Animals

    Hermit thrushes, humans share some musical basics

    The melodious birds share a humanlike bias for notes mathematically related by simple integers.

  8. Earth

    More multi-tornado days in the forecast for U.S.

    The number of days per year with tornadoes has gone down over the last few decades in the U.S., but the number of days that see 30 or more twisters is going up.

  9. Astronomy

    Amateur astronomer spots supernova in nearby galaxy

    Koichi Itagaki noticed the exploding star as a brilliant point of light in the spiral galaxy M61.

  10. Astronomy

    Rendezvous with a comet

    On November 12, Rosetta mission scientists successfully completed the first-ever attempt to put a lander on a comet. See all Science News coverage of Rosetta and Philae's voyage to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

  11. Microbes

    Feedback

    Readers shares stories about bacteria, discuss ancient volcanic eruptions and express a fondness for science-inspired art.

  12. Science & Society

    Asteroids closer to home may get us to Mars

    NASA should abandon its attempt to bring a space rock into lunar orbit and instead scrutinize ones already whizzing by Earth, one scientist argues.