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hydrogen molecule

Physics

A photon’s journey through a hydrogen molecule is the shortest event ever timed

The shortest duration ever measured is 247 zeptoseconds, or trillionths of a billionth of a second.

By Maria Temming22 hours ago

Mummified llama head from Inca sacrifices

Mummified llamas yield new insights into Inca ritual sacrifices

By Bruce Bower20 hours ago

illuminated moon

Space

Water exists on sunny parts of the moon, scientists confirm

By Maria TemmingOctober 26, 2020

Microbes

How malaria parasites hide from the human immune system

By Erin Garcia de JesusOctober 26, 2020

Humans

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

By Aayushi PratapOctober 26, 2020

Animals

Why bat scientists are socially distancing from their subjects

By Jerimiah OettingOctober 23, 2020

Health & Medicine

The arthritis drug tocilizumab doesn’t appear to help fight COVID-19

By Aimee CunninghamOctober 23, 2020

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

By Aayushi PratapOctober 26, 2020
Physics
A photon’s journey through a hydrogen molecule is the shortest event ever timed

By Maria Temming22 hours ago
Space
Water exists on sunny parts of the moon, scientists confirm

By Maria TemmingOctober 26, 2020
Anthropology
Homo erectus, not humans, may have invented the barbed bone point

By Bruce BowerOctober 22, 2020
Microbes
How malaria parasites hide from the human immune system

By Erin Garcia de JesusOctober 26, 2020
Anthropology
Mummified llamas yield new insights into Inca ritual sacrifices

By Bruce Bower20 hours ago
Health & Medicine
Can supplements really help fight COVID-19? Here’s what we know and don’t know

By Laura BeilOctober 16, 2020
Physics
The first room-temperature superconductor has finally been found

By Emily ConoverOctober 14, 2020

The Coronavirus Pandemic

people wearing masks

We still don’t know what COVID-19 immunity means or how long it lasts

Without knowing how long immunity lasts, it may be impossible to reach herd immunity without a vaccine or an extremely high death toll.

By Erin Garcia de JesusOctober 19, 2020
What will happen when COVID-19 and the flu collide this fall?
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From the Archives

Testing Man’s Value in Space

October 10, 1970 Vol. 98 No. #15

Science News Magazine

October 10, 2020 cover

October 10, 2020 Vol. 198 No. 7

Featured Media

image of a sea butterfly on a black background

Sea butterflies’ shells determine how the snails swim

New aquarium videos show that sea butterflies of various shapes and sizes flutter through water differently.

robotic beetle on a leaf

Methanol fuel gives this tiny beetle bot the freedom to roam

photos of three mummified animals

X-rays reveal what ancient animal mummies keep under wraps

Element character illustration

Here’s how the periodic table gets new elements

Pit viper

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

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More Stories

Life

A glowing zebrafish wins the 2020 Nikon Small World photography contest

By Erin Garcia de JesusOctober 13, 2020
A new map shows where Asian giant hornets could thrive in the U.S.

By Curtis SegarraOctober 1, 2020
Before migrating, some blue whales switch up the timing of their songs

By Jake BuehlerOctober 1, 2020

Humans

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
Ancient sculptures hint at universal facial expressions across cultures

By Bruce BowerAugust 19, 2020

Climate

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
New maps show how warm water may reach Thwaites Glacier’s icy underbelly

By Carolyn GramlingSeptember 9, 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

The first room-temperature superconductor has finally been found

By Emily ConoverOctober 14, 2020
Fundamental constants place a new speed limit on sound

By Emily ConoverOctober 9, 2020
Black hole revelations win the 2020 Nobel Prize in physics

By Emily ConoverOctober 6, 2020

Health & Medicine

Remdesivir doesn’t reduce COVID-19 deaths, a large WHO trial finds

By Tina Hesman SaeyOctober 16, 2020
Can supplements really help fight COVID-19? Here’s what we know and don’t know

By Laura BeilOctober 16, 2020
The FDA has approved the first treatment for Ebola

By Jonathan LambertOctober 15, 2020

Earth

50 years ago, scientists were looking for ways to predict earthquakes

By Maria TemmingOctober 9, 2020
Earth’s rarest diamonds form from primordial carbon in the mantle

By Carolyn GramlingSeptember 14, 2020
What’s behind August 2020’s extreme weather? Climate change and bad luck

By Carolyn GramlingAugust 27, 2020

Science & Society

‘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
This year’s SN 10 scientists aim to solve some of science’s biggest challenges

By Science News StaffSeptember 30, 2020