AN OPEN BOOK Science News reporter Tina Hesman Saey had a lot of info to make sense of after getting her DNA tested by eight different companies.
Matthew Rakola
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Magazine
In the May 26 SN: A special report on consumer genetic testing, plant moves unveiled, GAIA's new star map, the truth about Web privacy, looking inside Mars, quantum links in macro and more.
Science News
For Daily Use
Even in the shade, a car’s interior can get lethally hot
A car’s interior can get lethally hot on summer days, even when it’s parked in the shade.
News
Here’s what we know about the deadly Nipah virus
The deadly and rare Nipah virus has killed at least 11 people in southern India, causing concern among epidemiologists.
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News
How birds may have escaped the dino-killing asteroid impact
A tree-loving lifestyle became a risk for ancient birds in a world-changing catastrophe.
Feature
Special report: Genetic testing goes mainstream
Consumer genetic tests may not tell customers that much about themselves. Science News delves into these tests in a multipart series.
News
The Chicxulub asteroid impact might have set off 100,000 years of global warming
About 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid impact set off 100,000 years of global warming, an analysis of oxygen in fish fossils suggests.
Feature
Consumer DNA testing promises more than it delivers
Chances are your DNA doesn’t contain dark secrets. But there may be lots of variety in results from testing company to company.
News in Brief
Pregnant bonobos get a little delivery help from their friends
As in humans, female bonobos become helpers for mothers giving birth, data from captive apes suggest.
Experiences
What genetic tests from 23andMe, Veritas and Genos really told me about my health
A Science News reporter tried out three consumer genetic testing companies to see what people really learn about their health.
News
Plasma rain in the sun’s atmosphere falls in surprising places
Scientists found rain in the sun’s corona where they didn’t expect it, which could help solve the mystery of why the corona is so hot.
News in Brief
As CO2 increases, rice loses B vitamins and other nutrients
Field experiments add vitamins to list of nutrients at risk from a changing atmosphere.
News in Brief
Fleets of self-driving taxis could be choreographed to cut traffic
Hive-minded self-driving cars could curb traffic congestion and vehicle pollution.
News
Genetic sleuthing again IDs a murder suspect in a cold case
The arrest of a second murder suspect with the help of genetic genealogy raises worries that suspicionless searches may be next.
News in Brief
Black children commit suicide at twice the rate of white kids
The suicide rates for young black kids are higher than those of their white counterparts, a pattern that flips in older kids, researchers find.
News
A caterpillar outwits corn defenses by gorging on fattening ‘junk’ food
The crop plants defend themselves with zombie-maker wasps, but one pest has a desperate work-around.
News
Gun owner or not, Americans agree on many ways to limit gun violence
A new survey suggests that gun owners support many potential gun-control policies — now research on their efficacy needs to catch up.
Science Visualized
Satellite smashups could have given birth to Saturn’s odd moons
Nearly head-on collisions between icy moonlets might be responsible for the peculiar shapes of some of Saturn’s moons, computer simulations suggest.
News in Brief
Maverick asteroid might be an immigrant from outside the solar system
A space rock’s backward orbit could be a hint of unusual origins.
News
What we know about the Ebola outbreak, and the vaccine that might help
Even as an experimental vaccine arrives in Congo to contain the virus, there are worrisome signs Ebola has spread to a city.
For Daily Use
The CDC advises: Don’t swallow the water in a hotel swimming pool
In a 15-year period, hotel swimming pools and water parks had the highest number of swimming-related disease outbreaks in the United States.
News
Keeping global warming to 1.5 degrees C helps most species hold their ground
Holding global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100 could help protect tens of thousands of insect, plant and vertebrate species.
News
Ancient Chinese farmers sowed literal seeds of change in Southeast Asia
Two waves of ancient migration from China to Southeast Asia spread farming and languages.
News
Your blood type might make you more likely to get traveler’s diarrhea
People with type A blood are more likely to develop severe diarrhea from E. coli infections.
News
Nanoparticles could help rescue malnourished crops
Nanoparticles normally used to fight cancer could also be used to treat malnourished crops.
Feature
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.