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Planetary Science

Some exoplanets may be covered in weird water that’s between liquid and gas

“Supercritical” water, a corrosive substance used to break down toxic waste on Earth, coats some small worlds around other stars, simulations suggest.

By Maria TemmingJuly 6, 2020

satellite dishes of the allen telescope array

Space

Self-destructive civilizations may doom our search for alien intelligence

By Tom Siegfried23 hours ago

diver in underwater Mexican cave

Underwater caves once hosted the Americas’ oldest known ochre mines

By Bruce BowerJuly 3, 2020

Life

Bizarre caecilians may be the only amphibians with venomous bites

By Christie WilcoxJuly 3, 2020

COVID-19: The first six months

Why COVID-19 is both startlingly unique and painfully familiar

By Aimee CunninghamJuly 2, 2020

Science & Society

The U.S. largely wasted time bought by COVID-19 lockdowns. Now what?

By Jonathan LambertJuly 1, 2020

Health & Medicine

Here’s what we’ve learned in six months of COVID-19 — and what we still don’t know

By Erin Garcia de JesusJune 30, 2020

Health & Medicine
How making a COVID-19 vaccine confronts thorny ethical issues

By Bethany Brookshire2 hours ago
Space
Self-destructive civilizations may doom our search for alien intelligence

By Tom Siegfried23 hours ago
Planetary Science
Some exoplanets may be covered in weird water that’s between liquid and gas

By Maria TemmingJuly 6, 2020
Health & Medicine
Why scientists say wearing masks shouldn’t be controversial

By Tina Hesman SaeyJune 26, 2020
Health & Medicine
4 reasons not to worry about that ‘new’ swine flu in the news

By Erin Garcia de JesusJuly 2, 2020
Life
More ‘murder hornets’ are turning up. Here’s what you need to know

By Susan MiliusMay 29, 2020
Health & Medicine
New data suggest people aren’t getting reinfected with the coronavirus

By Erin Garcia de JesusMay 19, 2020
Health & Medicine
Is the coronavirus mutating? Yes. But here’s why you don’t need to panic

By Erin Garcia de JesusMay 26, 2020

The Coronavirus Outbreak

farmers market in Davis, California

Why scientists say wearing masks shouldn’t be controversial

New data suggest that cloth masks work to reduce coronavirus cases, though less well than medical masks.

By Tina Hesman SaeyJune 26, 2020
Preventing dangerous blood clots from COVID-19 is proving tricky
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From the Archives

Into the Eye of a Storm

June 27, 1970 Vol. 97 No. #26

Science News Magazine

cover of June 20, 2020 issue

June 20, 2020 Vol. 197 No. 11

Featured Media

Element character illustration

Here’s how the periodic table gets new elements

Today’s scientists keep adding to the periodic table. But an element has to earn its spot.

Worker spraying disinfectant in a fitness center

COVID-19 case clusters offer lessons and warnings for reopening

Asian small-clawed otter

Why otters ‘juggle’ rocks is still a mystery

illustration of people in the United States

How the U.S. census has measured race over 230 years

mini Mars rover

Wiggling wheels could keep future rovers trucking in loose lunar soil

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More Stories

Life

Here’s how flying snakes stay aloft

By Emily ConoverJune 29, 2020
Fish eggs can hatch after being eaten and pooped out by ducks

By Carolyn WilkeJune 29, 2020
Fossil footprints show some crocodile ancestors walked on two legs

By Carolyn GramlingJune 12, 2020

Humans

Births in the United States have dropped to a 34-year low

By Aimee CunninghamMay 20, 2020
Malaria parasites may have their own circadian rhythms

By Jake BuehlerMay 14, 2020
A gene variant partly explains why Peruvians are among the world’s shortest people

By Tina Hesman SaeyMay 13, 2020

Climate

4 ways to put the 100-degree Arctic heat record in context

By Carolyn GramlingJuly 1, 2020
A Siberian town hit 100 degrees, setting a new record for the Arctic Circle

By Carolyn GramlingJune 23, 2020
Rapid sea level rise could drown protective mangrove forests by 2100

By Carolyn GramlingJune 4, 2020

Astronomy

The oldest disk galaxy yet found formed more than 12 billion years ago

By Lisa GrossmanMay 20, 2020
The sun is less magnetically active than similar stars, and we don’t know why

By Lisa GrossmanApril 30, 2020
A century ago, astronomy’s Great Debate foreshadowed today’s view of the universe

By Tom SiegfriedApril 24, 2020

Physics

A new device can produce electricity using shadows

By Carolyn WilkeJune 3, 2020
A star shredded by a black hole may have spit out an extremely energetic neutrino

By Emily ConoverMay 26, 2020
Physicists have found a way to foil a classic oobleck science trick

By Emily ConoverMay 8, 2020

Health & Medicine

How making a COVID-19 vaccine confronts thorny ethical issues

By Bethany Brookshire2 hours ago
4 reasons not to worry about that ‘new’ swine flu in the news

By Erin Garcia de JesusJuly 2, 2020
Strokes and mental state changes hint at how COVID-19 harms the brain

By Laura SandersJune 25, 2020

Earth

Earth’s annual e-waste could grow to 75 million metric tons by 2030

By Carolyn GramlingJuly 2, 2020
Two lightning megaflashes shattered distance and duration records

By Carolyn GramlingJune 25, 2020
Machine learning helped demystify a California earthquake swarm

By Carolyn GramlingJune 18, 2020

Science & Society

Real-life scientists inspire these comic book superheroes

By Kyle PlantzJune 14, 2020
Biomedical studies are including more female subjects (finally)

By Bethany BrookshireJune 9, 2020
What the 1960s civil rights protests can teach us about fighting racism today

By Sujata GuptaJune 5, 2020