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A satellite image of Hurricane Ian with its eye just west of Florida

Climate

Why the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season is especially hard to predict

It’s hard to know how busy this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will be, thanks to a rarely observed combination of ocean and climate conditions.

By Carolyn GramlingMay 26, 2023

Mars' northern hemisphere, shown in false color that highlights lowlands near the north pole

Planetary Science

A quake on Mars showed its crust is thicker than Earth’s

By Lisa GrossmanMay 26, 2023

A house in Indonesia

This house was built partly from recycled diapers

By Carolyn GramlingMay 26, 2023

Humans

Oldest traces of a dysentery-causing parasite were found in ancient toilets

By Freda KreierMay 25, 2023

Plants

Soil microbes that survived tough climates can help young trees do the same

By Erin Garcia de JesúsMay 25, 2023

Life

5,000 deep-sea animals new to science turned up in ocean records

By Jude ColemanMay 25, 2023

19th century painters may have primed their canvases with beer-brewing leftovers

By McKenzie PrillamanMay 24, 2023

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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Spotlights

Special Report: Precious Metals

An aerial view of Mountain Pass rare earth mine in southeastern California,

Rare earth mining may be key to our renewable energy future. But at what cost?

We take you inside Mountain Pass, the only rare earth mine in the United States.

By Carolyn GramlingJanuary 11, 2023
How rare earth elements’ hidden properties make modern technology possible
Recycling rare earth elements is hard. Science is trying to make it easier

From the Archives

Jupiter’s Lopsided (?) Magnetic Field

May 19, 1973 Vol. 103 No. #20

Science News Magazine

May 6, 2023 cover of Science News

May 6, 2023 Vol. 203 No. 9

Featured Media

a black and white animation in which ghosts representing neutrinos pass through the earth

How ghostly neutrinos could explain the universe’s matter mystery

If neutrinos behave differently from their antimatter counterparts, it could help explain why our cosmos is full of stuff.

A black and white image of a fruit surrounded by white lines that show the leaps of roundworms.

Static electricity helps parasitic nematodes glom onto victims

A close up photo of several ghost catfish swimming on a black background while a light is shining on some of their scales which appear iridescent.

These transparent fish turn rainbow with white light. Now, we know why

A diagram showing every nerve cell in a larval fruit fly brain, in all the colors of the rainbow, on a white backdrop

Scientists have mapped an insect brain in greater detail than ever before

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

How do scientists calculate the age of a star?

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More Stories

Life

Spiny mice have armadillo-like armor in their tails

By Jake BuehlerMay 24, 2023
Microwaving an insecticide restores its mosquito-killing power

By Tina Hesman SaeyMay 21, 2023
Large predators push coyotes and bobcats near people and to their demise

By Freda KreierMay 18, 2023

Humans

Race car drivers tend to blink at the same places in each lap

By Darren IncorvaiaMay 19, 2023
‘Period’ wants to change how you think about menstruation

By Aimee CunninghamApril 14, 2023
A new biomaterial heals heart attack damage in animals. Humans could be next

By Allison GaspariniFebruary 24, 2023

Climate

There’s good and bad news with California’s electric vehicle program

By Carolyn GramlingMay 12, 2023
Thawing permafrost may unleash industrial pollution across the Arctic

By Nikk OgasaApril 26, 2023
Methane may not warm the Earth quite as much as previously thought

By Douglas FoxApril 18, 2023

Astronomy

The first radiation belt outside the solar system has been spotted

By Lisa GrossmanMay 15, 2023
A reappearing supernova offers a new measure of the universe’s expansion

By James R. RiordonMay 11, 2023
The James Webb telescope revealed surprise asteroids in the Fomalhaut star system

By James R. RiordonMay 8, 2023

Physics

Science explains why shouting into the wind seems futile

By Emily ConoverMay 11, 2023
Black holes resolve paradoxes by destroying quantum states

By Lisa GrossmanApril 28, 2023
These worms can escape tangled blobs in an instant. Here’s how

By Emily ConoverApril 27, 2023

Health & Medicine

How over-the-counter birth control pills could improve reproductive health

By Aimee CunninghamMay 19, 2023
As U.S. courts weigh in on mifepristone, here’s the abortion pill’s safety record

By Meghan RosenMay 18, 2023
Stimulating spleens with ultrasound hints at a treatment for inflammation

By Nora BradfordMay 17, 2023

Earth

A massive cavern beneath a West Antarctic glacier is teeming with life

By Douglas FoxApril 21, 2023
The Great Salt Lake is shrinking. What can we do to stop it?

By Brianna RandallApril 17, 2023
Earth’s inner core may be more complex than researchers thought

By Carolyn GramlingMarch 16, 2023

Science & Society

Anténor Firmin challenged anthropology’s racist roots 150 years ago

By Sujata GuptaMay 17, 2023
Deliberate ignorance is useful in certain circumstances, researchers say

By Sujata GuptaMay 16, 2023
The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky

By McKenzie PrillamanApril 11, 2023