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illustration of fast radio burst from magnetic star

Space

Fast radio bursts could help solve the mystery of the universe’s expansion

Astronomers use fast radio bursts for the first time to measure the Hubble constant in hopes of ending the debate on the universe’s expansion rate.

By Mara Johnson-Groh16 hours ago

before and after images of dish of compost breaking down plastic

A new technique could make some plastic trash compostable at home

By Carmen Drahl17 hours ago

scientists working on the KATRIN experiment

Particle Physics

The already tiny neutrino’s maximum possible mass has shrunk even further

By Emily Conover22 hours ago

Science & Society

Videocalling needed more than a pandemic to finally take off. Will it last?

By Anushree DaveApril 20, 2021

Neutron stars may not be as squishy as some scientists thought

By Emily ConoverApril 20, 2021

Health & Medicine

50 years ago, scientists claimed marijuana threatened teens’ mental health

By Mike DenisonApril 20, 2021

Health & Medicine

Here’s what we know about B.1.1.7, the U.S.’s dominant coronavirus strain

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 19, 2021

Chemistry
A new technique could make some plastic trash compostable at home

By Carmen Drahl17 hours ago
Humans
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture

By Bruce BowerSeptember 10, 2020
Space
Fast radio bursts could help solve the mystery of the universe’s expansion

By Mara Johnson-Groh16 hours ago
Particle Physics
The already tiny neutrino’s maximum possible mass has shrunk even further

By Emily Conover22 hours ago
Astronomy
Neutron stars may not be as squishy as some scientists thought

By Emily ConoverApril 20, 2021
Planetary Science
NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made history by flying on Mars

By Lisa GrossmanApril 19, 2021
Humans
Lidar reveals the oldest and biggest Maya structure yet found

By Bruce BowerJune 3, 2020
Health & Medicine
Here’s what we know about B.1.1.7, the U.S.’s dominant coronavirus strain

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 19, 2021

The Coronavirus Pandemic

man sitting next to a meat market stand in Wuhan, China

4 takeaways from the WHO’s report on the origins of the coronavirus

The leading hypothesis is that the coronavirus spread to people from bats via a yet-to-be-identified animal, but no animals have tested positive so far.

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 1, 2021
Microscopic images reveal the science and beauty of face masks
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From the Archives

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Science News Bulletin

April 2, 1921 No. 1

Science News Magazine

cover of the April 10, 2021 issue

April 10, 2021 Vol. 199 No. 7

Featured Media

scores of small silver fish swimming

Tiny crystals give a plain fish twinkling, colorful dots under light

Fishes’ flashing photonic crystals may provide inspiration for ultra-miniaturized sensors that work in a living body.

microscopic image of several xenobots

Frog skin cells turned themselves into living machines

black and white image of Calder Hall power plant smokestacks

How matter’s hidden complexity unleashed the power of nuclear physics

close up of lasers pointed at a target

Giant lasers help re-create supernovas’ explosive, mysterious physics

a cone snail shell

Cone snail venom may trick mate-seeking worms into becoming meals

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More Stories

Life

Only 3 percent of Earth’s land hasn’t been marred by humans

By Jonathan LambertApril 15, 2021
Yawning helps lions synchronize their groups’ movements

By Jake BuehlerApril 6, 2021
Flamboyant fishes evolved an explosion of color as seas rose and fell

By Jake BuehlerApril 1, 2021

Humans

Neandertal DNA from cave mud shows two waves of migration across Eurasia

By Charles ChoiApril 15, 2021
New depictions of ancient hominids aim to overcome artistic biases

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 5, 2021
Ancient humans may have deliberately voyaged to Japan’s Ryukyu Islands

By Charles ChoiDecember 3, 2020

Climate

A trek under Thwaites Glacier’s ice shelf reveals specific risks of warm water

By Carolyn GramlingApril 9, 2021
Ship exhaust studies overestimate cooling from pollution-altered clouds

By Carolyn GramlingFebruary 1, 2021
How much will Africa capitalize on cheap renewable energy as its power grid grows?

By Carolyn GramlingJanuary 25, 2021

Astronomy

A record-breaking, oxygen-starved galaxy may be full of gigantic stars’ shrapnel

By Ken CroswellApril 9, 2021
Here’s why humans chose particular groups of stars as constellations

By Emily ConoverMarch 29, 2021
The ‘USS Jellyfish’ emits strange radio waves from a distant galaxy cluster

By Ken CroswellMarch 26, 2021

Physics

Newly made laser-cooled antimatter could test foundations of modern physics

By Maria TemmingApril 5, 2021
Uranium ‘snowflakes’ could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars

By Emily ConoverMarch 30, 2021
Atomic clocks take a step toward redefining the second

By Emily ConoverMarch 24, 2021

Health & Medicine

People with rare blood clots after a COVID-19 jab share an uncommon immune response

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 16, 2021
The P.1 coronavirus variant is twice as transmissible as earlier strains

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 14, 2021
U.S. pauses J&J vaccine rollout after 6 people of 6.8 million get rare blood clots

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 13, 2021

Earth

A spike in Arctic lightning strikes may be linked to climate change

By Maria TemmingApril 6, 2021
Phosphorus for Earth’s earliest life may have been forged by lightning

By Maria TemmingMarch 16, 2021
To understand how ‘night-shining’ clouds form, scientists made one themselves

By Maria TemmingMarch 5, 2021

Science & Society

A new book explores how military funding shaped the science of oceanography

By Alka Tripathy-LangApril 16, 2021
50 years ago, the United States wanted to deflate the helium stockpile

By Bethany BrookshireApril 16, 2021
STEM’s racial, ethnic and gender gaps are still strikingly large

By Maria TemmingApril 14, 2021