LOOKING BACK The Opportunity rover, seen here taking a shadow selfie early in its mission, trekked more than 45 kilometers across the Martian surface in the last 15 years before finally giving up the ghost.
JPL-Caltech/NASA
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Magazine
In the Feb. 16 SN: Robots roll into the classroom, brain zaps for severe depression, particle colliders of the future, how to walk like a tetrapod, sleepless nights boost Alzheimer's proteins and more.
PURE WATER More than 2 billion people around the world lack safe drinking water. Now a new material offers an efficient and environmentally friendly way to purify water using only sunlight.
PhotoSky/Shutterstock
SWIM MEET Sperm face many obstacles along the way to an egg, including narrow points in the female reproductive tract that help sort out the top swimmers.
Panther Media GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo
STRANGE BIRDS Two pigeons can sit comfortably in two holes, but add a third bird and they’ll have to share. But three quantum particles can occupy two states without any having the same state, scientists have shown.
CherylRamalho/shutterstock
Science News
News in Brief
Brain cells combine place and taste to make food maps
A select group of brain cells responds to both flavor and location, a specialty that may help an animal find the next good meal.
News in Brief
Tooth plaque shows drinking milk goes back 3,000 years in Mongolia
The hardened plaque on teeth is helping scientists trace the history of dairying in Mongolia.
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News
Why some Georgia O’Keeffe paintings have ‘art acne’
Tiny protrusions are from chemical reactions in the paint, say scientists who developed an imaging method that could help curators track the knobs.
Feature
Brain-zapping implants that fight depression are inching closer to reality
Researchers are using electric jolts to correct the faulty brain activity that sparks depression.
News
LIGO will be getting a quantum upgrade
Quantum squeezing of light will help scientists make better gravitational wave detectors.
Feature
Robots are becoming classroom tutors. But will they make the grade?
Educational robots show promise for helping kids in the classroom or at home, but researchers are still figuring out how these bots should behave.
News
STEM professors’ beliefs on intelligence may widen the racial achievement gap
Seeing intelligence as fixed can result in lower grades, especially for certain minorities
News
Muons reveal the whopping voltages inside a thunderstorm
Particle physics sheds new light on the electric potential of thunderstorms.
News
A new insulation material is practically weightless yet still durable
Extreme heat and temperature swings are no match for this lightweight insulator.
News
Climate change could increase foodborne illness by energizing flies
Warmer, more lively house flies could spread more Campylobacter bacteria by landing on more food.
50 Years Ago
50 years ago, DDT pushed peregrine falcons to the edge of extinction
In 1969, peregrine falcons were at risk of extinction. But a ban on the pesticide DDT and new captive breeding programs allowed the raptors to recover.
News
After 15 years on Mars, it’s the end of the road for Opportunity
After 15 years of exploring Mars, a dust storm led to the demise of NASA’s longest-lived rover.
News
Slow sperm may fail at crashing ‘gates’ on their way to an egg
A new study describes how sperm navigate narrow straits in the reproductive tract’s obstacle course to reach an egg.
News
Photons reveal a weird effect called the quantum pigeonhole paradox
Quantum particles seem to disobey a fundamental principle of mathematics.
News in Brief
A new 2-D material uses light to quickly and safely purify water
A newly designed material uses only light to speedily remove 99.9999 percent of microbes from water.
News in Brief
Greenland may have another massive crater hiding under its ice
There may be yet another large crater buried beneath Greenland’s ice sheet. But it’s probably not related to the first one found last year.
News
Congo’s Ebola outbreak is a testing ground for new treatments
The first multidrug clinical trial of Ebola treatments is underway amid an outbreak in Congo.
News
The spread of Europe’s giant stone monuments may trace back to one region
Megaliths spread across the continent due to seafarers’ influence, researcher says.
The –est
A rare, ancient case of bone cancer has been found in a turtle ancestor
A 240-million-year-old fossil reveals the oldest known case of bone cancer in an amniote, a group that includes mammals, birds and reptiles.
News in Brief
Ultima Thule is shaped like two lumpy pancakes
Scientists are rethinking the shape of the space rock, once thought to be a snowman.
News
An Antarctic expedition will search for what lived under the Larsen C ice shelf
The fourth attempt to investigate the seafloor once hidden by the Larsen C iceberg may have the best chance yet of success.
News
Brain scans decode an elusive signature of consciousness
Newly described patterns of brain activity may help reveal the level of awareness in people with brain injuries.
Teaser
A new fabric becomes more breathable as you work up a sweat
A yarn-based textile can switch from breathable to insulating and back again, depending on how much you sweat.
News
DNA reveals early mating between Asian herders and European farmers
A new genetic analysis could upend assumptions about the origins of Indo-European languages.