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illustration of a long-necked dinosaur leaning down to drink from a river

How massive long-necked dinosaurs rose to rule the Jurassic herbivores

New dinosaur fossil dates to same time as a volcanic surge, suggesting ensuing changes in plant life allowed these long-necked giants to emerge.

By Carolyn Gramling4 hours ago

photograph of a roadrunner with a lizard in its beak

Animals

Hundreds of new genomes help fill the bird ‘tree of life’

By Jake Buehler14 hours ago

hallucinogenic mushrooms

Psilocybin may help treat depression, a small study finds

By Laura Sanders17 hours ago

Space

Planets with many neighbors may be the best places to look for life

By Lisa GrossmanNovember 16, 2020

Health & Medicine

Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective

By Erin Garcia de JesusNovember 16, 2020

Genetics

A key to the mystery of fast-evolving genes was found in ‘junk DNA’

By Monique BrouilletteNovember 16, 2020

Health & Medicine

Measles has come back with a vengeance in the last several years

By Aimee CunninghamNovember 13, 2020

Neuroscience
Psilocybin may help treat depression, a small study finds

By Laura Sanders17 hours ago
Genetics
A key to the mystery of fast-evolving genes was found in ‘junk DNA’

By Monique BrouilletteNovember 16, 2020
Space
Planets with many neighbors may be the best places to look for life

By Lisa GrossmanNovember 16, 2020
Animals
Hundreds of new genomes help fill the bird ‘tree of life’

By Jake Buehler14 hours ago
Health & Medicine
Moderna says its COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 95 percent effective

By Erin Garcia de JesusNovember 16, 2020
Paleontology
How massive long-necked dinosaurs rose to rule the Jurassic herbivores

By Carolyn Gramling4 hours ago
Earth
STEVE may be even less like typical auroras than scientists thought

By Maria TemmingNovember 12, 2020
Health & Medicine
Can supplements really help fight COVID-19? Here’s what we know and don’t know

By Laura BeilOctober 16, 2020

The Coronavirus Pandemic

medical professional wearing a mask working in a tent

Coronavirus cases are skyrocketing. Here’s what it will take to gain control

Basic public health measures can still curb COVID-19, if everyone does their part.

By Jonathan LambertNovember 11, 2020
We still don’t know what COVID-19 immunity means or how long it lasts
Sign up for e-mail updates on the latest coronavirus news and research

From the Archives

Testing Man’s Value in Space

October 10, 1970 Vol. 98 No. #15

Science News Magazine

cover of the November 7, 2020 issue

November 7, 2020 Vol. 198 No. 8

Featured Media

close up of lasers pointed at a target

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

For the first time, scientists have re-created a type of shock wave that occurs in supernovas.

image of a sea butterfly on a black background

Sea butterflies’ shells determine how the snails swim

toy boats floating right side up and upside down

Toy boats float upside down underneath a layer of levitated liquid

photos of three mummified animals

X-rays reveal what ancient animal mummies keep under wraps

Pit viper

Cheap, innovative venom treatments could save tens of thousands of snakebite victims

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More Stories

Life

An ancient amphibian is the oldest known animal with a slingshot tongue

By Carolyn GramlingNovember 5, 2020
Ogre-faced spiders catch insects out of the air using sound instead of sight

By Curtis SegarraOctober 29, 2020
A glowing zebrafish wins the 2020 Nikon Small World photography contest

By Erin Garcia de JesusOctober 13, 2020

Humans

The longest trail of fossilized human footprints hints at a risky Ice Age trek

By Aayushi PratapOctober 26, 2020
Drones find signs of a Native American ‘Great Settlement’ beneath a Kansas pasture

By Bruce BowerSeptember 10, 2020
Puberty can repair the brain’s stress responses after hardship early in life

By Esther LandhuisAugust 28, 2020

Climate

Once hurricanes make landfall, they’re lingering longer and staying stronger

By Carolyn GramlingNovember 11, 2020
By 2100, Greenland will be losing ice at its fastest rate in 12,000 years

By Carolyn GramlingSeptember 30, 2020
Global warming may lead to practically irreversible Antarctic melting

By Carolyn GramlingSeptember 23, 2020

Astronomy

Turning space images into music makes astronomy more accessible

By Maria TemmingOctober 16, 2020
The Milky Way’s most massive star cluster may have eaten a smaller cluster

By Ken CroswellSeptember 29, 2020
Check out the first-ever map of the solar corona’s magnetic field

By Lisa GrossmanAugust 21, 2020

Physics

LIGO and Virgo’s gravitational wave tally more than quadrupled in six months

By Emily ConoverOctober 28, 2020
A photon’s journey through a hydrogen molecule is the shortest event ever timed

By Maria TemmingOctober 27, 2020
The first room-temperature superconductor has finally been found

By Emily ConoverOctober 14, 2020

Health & Medicine

Protecting the brain from infection may start with a gut reaction

By Aayushi PratapNovember 11, 2020
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is 90% effective, preliminary trial data show

By Erin Garcia de JesusNovember 9, 2020
COVID-19’s death rate in the U.S. could spike as new cases soar

By Aimee CunninghamNovember 3, 2020

Earth

Technology and natural hazards clash to create ‘natech’ disasters

By Megan SeverNovember 13, 2020
STEVE may be even less like typical auroras than scientists thought

By Maria TemmingNovember 12, 2020
With Theta, 2020 sets the record for most named Atlantic storms

By Curtis SegarraNovember 10, 2020

Science & Society

These are science’s Top 10 erroneous results

By Tom SiegfriedNovember 10, 2020
‘Great Adaptations’ unravels mysteries of amazing animal abilities

By Erin Garcia de JesusOctober 12, 2020
Easy interventions like revamping forms help people show up to court

By Sujata GuptaOctober 8, 2020