6,745 results
- Earth
Spotting danger from on high
Airborne sensors can identify mineral outcrops and soil that may contain natural asbestos.
- Earth
Earliest birds didn’t make a flap
The feathers of Archaeopteryx and Confuciusornis probably were not strong enough to support sustained flight.
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Confronting a third crisis in U.S. science education
Is science education broken in the United States? And if so, how should the country fix it? A working group of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has been investigating these long-standing questions and is expected to issue a report on its policy recommendations this month. Science News Contributing Editor Alexandra […]
- Planetary Science
Warmth in the dark age
Lower reflectivity kept Earth from freezing under a fainter young sun.
- Chemistry
A new source of dioxins: Clean hands
Manufacturers have been adding the germ fighter triclosan to soaps, hand washes, and a range of other products for years. But here’s a dirty little secret: Once it washes down the drain, that triclosan can spawn dioxins.
- Chemistry
Pit vipers’ night vision explained
A new study finds the protein responsible for snakes’ sense of heat.
- Materials Science
Breakup doesn’t keep hydrogel down
Scientists create a new material that is strong, soft and self-healing.
- Anthropology
Inca cemetery holds brutal glimpses of Spanish violence
Bones from a 500-year-old cemetery have yielded the first direct evidence of Inca death at Spaniards’ hands.
- Health & Medicine
2009 Science News of the Year: Nutrition
Natural vanilla extract comes from pods (shown), but most vanillin is synthesized in the lab. Credit: De-Kay/istockphoto That yeast smells good Yeast has long been pressed into service for making beer and bread. Now the fungus has been tapped for a loftier flavor: vanillin, vanilla’s dominant compound (SN: 5/23/09, p. 9). Natural vanilla comes from […]
- Climate
Obama: Climate’s rock star
A little over a half-hour ago, President Barack Obama wrapped up a stirring pep talk to his fellow world leaders attending the United Nations climate change meeting. He didn’t promise the world. Only that the United States could be depended upon to do its part in helping stem global greenhouse gas emissions and to fund measures that would help fund the world’s poorest and climate-beleaguered nations adapt. But what was especially interesting was to watch how the whole climate conference has waited with baited breath to learn what Obama would say: Could our President make promises that would at last galvanize action in the United States and accord among countries whose views, even yesterday, seemed poles apart?
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A New View of Gravity
Entropy and information may be crucial concepts for explaining roots of familiar force.
- Space
Sun may not be a ‘Goldilocks’ star
The stars that are just right to support life-bearing planets might be dimmer and longer-lived than the sun.
