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Marguerite Vogt in a lab at the Salk Institute

Health & Medicine

By taking on poliovirus, Marguerite Vogt transformed the study of all viruses

She pioneered the field of molecular virology with her meticulous lab work and “green thumb” for tissue culture.

By Megan Scudellari14 hours ago

an ancient hide scraping tool shown at three different angles

Stone Age people used bone scrapers to make leather and pelts

By Bruce BowerSeptember 16, 2021

ancient elephant footprint

Fossil tracks may reveal an ancient elephant nursery

By Sid PerkinsSeptember 16, 2021

Animals

Some birds learn to recognize calls while still in their eggs

By Lesley Evans OgdenSeptember 16, 2021

Climate

Australian fires in 2019–2020 had even more global reach than previously thought

By Carolyn GramlingSeptember 15, 2021

Humans

Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins

By Erin WaymanSeptember 15, 2021

Sponsored Content

Conversations with Maya: Roderic Pettigrew

From Society for ScienceSeptember 7, 2021

Physics
A newfound quasicrystal formed in the first atomic bomb test

By Emily ConoverMay 17, 2021
Earth
Space station detectors found the source of weird ‘blue jet’ lightning

By Maria TemmingJanuary 21, 2021
Humans
Fossils and ancient DNA paint a vibrant picture of human origins

By Erin WaymanSeptember 15, 2021
Animals
Some birds learn to recognize calls while still in their eggs

By Lesley Evans OgdenSeptember 16, 2021
Astronomy
A supernova’s delayed reappearance could pin down how fast the universe expands

By Ken CroswellSeptember 13, 2021
Health & Medicine
By taking on poliovirus, Marguerite Vogt transformed the study of all viruses

By Megan Scudellari14 hours ago
Health & Medicine
These charts show that COVID-19 vaccines are doing their job

By Erin Garcia de JesúsAugust 31, 2021
Paleontology
Fossil tracks may reveal an ancient elephant nursery

By Sid PerkinsSeptember 16, 2021

Century of Science from ScienceNews

Explore major advances across the sciences that have transformed our understanding of the world and our universe, and our lives.

Explore Century of Science

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The Coronavirus Pandemic

doctors tend to a COVID-19 patient in a hospital bed

These charts show that COVID-19 vaccines are doing their job

COVID-19 shots may not always prevent infections, but for now, they are keeping the vast majority of vaccinated people out of the hospital.

By Erin Garcia de JesúsAugust 31, 2021
How coronavirus vaccines still help people who already had COVID-19
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From the Archives

first page of the first issue of Science News Bulletin

Science News Bulletin

April 2, 1921 No. 1

Science News Magazine

cover for the September 11, 2021 issue

September 11, 2021 Vol. 200 No. 5

Featured Media

telescope image of a star cluster, which is surrounded by a blue haze

How do scientists calculate the age of a star?

There are a few different methods to determine the age of a star, but none are perfect.

a fox squirrel in a tree

Squirrels use parkour tricks when leaping from branch to branch

an elephant takes a drink from a lake

Newly recognized tricks help elephants suck up huge amounts of water

illustration of a black hole merging with a neutron star

Gravitational waves reveal the first known mergers of a black hole and neutron star

scores of small silver fish swimming

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

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More Stories

Life

A beautiful oak leaf portrait won the 2021 Nikon Small World photography contest

By Erin Garcia de JesúsSeptember 13, 2021
Infants may laugh like some apes in their first months of life

By Carolyn WilkeSeptember 9, 2021
Fires may have affected up to 85 percent of threatened Amazon species

By Jake BuehlerSeptember 1, 2021

Humans

Only a tiny fraction of our DNA is uniquely human

By Tina Hesman SaeyJuly 16, 2021
‘The Joy of Sweat’ will help you make peace with perspiration

By Bethany BrookshireJuly 13, 2021
How wielding lamps and torches shed new light on Stone Age cave art

By Jaime ChambersJuly 6, 2021

Climate

Climate change made Europe’s flash floods in July more likely

By Carolyn GramlingAugust 23, 2021
The new UN climate change report shows there’s no time for denial or delay

By Carolyn GramlingAugust 9, 2021
A stunning visualization of Alaska’s Yukon Delta shows a land in transition

By Carolyn GramlingJuly 26, 2021

Astronomy

A supernova’s delayed reappearance could pin down how fast the universe expands

By Ken CroswellSeptember 13, 2021
How radio astronomy put new eyes on the cosmos

By Christopher CrockettAugust 31, 2021
New ideas on what makes a planet habitable could reshape the search for life

By Lisa GrossmanAugust 30, 2021

Physics

New ‘vortex beams’ of atoms and molecules are the first of their kind

By Emily ConoverSeptember 2, 2021
Physicists caught protons ‘surfing’ on shock waves

By Emily ConoverAugust 26, 2021
50 years ago, physicists thought they found the W boson. They hadn’t

By Erin Garcia de JesúsAugust 20, 2021

Health & Medicine

How personalized brain organoids could help us demystify disorders

By Laura SandersSeptember 3, 2021
New studies hint that the coronavirus may be evolving to become more airborne

By Tina Hesman SaeyAugust 17, 2021
How different COVID-19 testing plans can help keep kids safe in school

By Jonathan LambertAugust 13, 2021

Earth

How AI can help forecast how much Arctic sea ice will shrink

By Gloria DickieSeptember 14, 2021
Clouds affected by wildfire smoke may produce less rain

By Rachel CrowellSeptember 9, 2021
This pictogram is one of the oldest known accounts of earthquakes in the Americas

By Carolyn GramlingSeptember 7, 2021

Science & Society

‘On the Fringe’ explores the thin line between science and pseudoscience

By Tom SiegfriedAugust 30, 2021
Gender-affirming care improves mental health for transgender youth

By Maria TemmingAugust 26, 2021
Racism lurks in names given to plants and animals. That’s starting to change

By Jaime ChambersAugust 25, 2021