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scientists in Estatuas cave

Humans

Neandertal DNA from cave mud shows two waves of migration across Eurasia

Genetic material left behind in sediments reveals new details about how ancient humans once spread across the continent.

By Charles Choi11 hours ago

5 micrometeorites found in Antarctica

Planetary Science

Earth sweeps up 5,200 tons of extraterrestrial dust each year

By Sid Perkins18 hours ago

Wildebeest herd

Life

Only 3 percent of Earth’s land hasn’t been marred by humans

By Jonathan LambertApril 15, 2021

Health & Medicine

The P.1 coronavirus variant is twice as transmissible as earlier strains

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 14, 2021

‘Monkeydactyl’ may be the oldest known creature with opposable thumbs

By Maria TemmingApril 14, 2021

‘First Steps’ shows how bipedalism led humans down a strange evolutionary path

By Riley BlackApril 14, 2021

A coronavirus epidemic may have hit East Asia about 25,000 years ago

By Bruce BowerApril 14, 2021

Humans
Neandertal DNA from cave mud shows two waves of migration across Eurasia

By Charles Choi11 hours ago
Planetary Science
Earth sweeps up 5,200 tons of extraterrestrial dust each year

By Sid Perkins18 hours ago
Life
Only 3 percent of Earth’s land hasn’t been marred by humans

By Jonathan LambertApril 15, 2021
Health & Medicine
The P.1 coronavirus variant is twice as transmissible as earlier strains

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 14, 2021
Anthropology
A coronavirus epidemic may have hit East Asia about 25,000 years ago

By Bruce BowerApril 14, 2021
Anthropology
‘First Steps’ shows how bipedalism led humans down a strange evolutionary path

By Riley BlackApril 14, 2021
Paleontology
‘Monkeydactyl’ may be the oldest known creature with opposable thumbs

By Maria TemmingApril 14, 2021
Genetics
Europe’s oldest known humans mated with Neandertals surprisingly often

By Bruce BowerApril 7, 2021

The Coronavirus Pandemic

Baré person getting Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine

Here’s what makes 4 promising COVID-19 vaccines unique — and potentially useful

More vaccines still in the works are exploring a variety of approaches, including pills and electrical zaps.

By Tina Hesman SaeyMarch 23, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic is now a year old. What have scientists learned?
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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 of the April 10, 2021 issue

April 10, 2021 Vol. 199 No. 7

Featured Media

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close up of lasers pointed at a target

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

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Sea butterflies’ shells determine how the snails swim

Ogre-faced spider

Ogre-faced spiders catch insects out of the air using sound instead of sight

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More Stories

Life

Yawning helps lions synchronize their groups’ movements

By Jake BuehlerApril 6, 2021
Flamboyant fishes evolved an explosion of color as seas rose and fell

By Jake BuehlerApril 1, 2021
These are the 5 costliest invasive species, causing billions in damages

By Jonathan LambertMarch 31, 2021

Humans

New depictions of ancient hominids aim to overcome artistic biases

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 5, 2021
Ancient humans may have deliberately voyaged to Japan’s Ryukyu Islands

By Charles ChoiDecember 3, 2020
The longest trail of fossilized human footprints hints at a risky Ice Age trek

By Aayushi PratapOctober 26, 2020

Climate

A trek under Thwaites Glacier’s ice shelf reveals specific risks of warm water

By Carolyn GramlingApril 9, 2021
Ship exhaust studies overestimate cooling from pollution-altered clouds

By Carolyn GramlingFebruary 1, 2021
How much will Africa capitalize on cheap renewable energy as its power grid grows?

By Carolyn GramlingJanuary 25, 2021

Astronomy

A record-breaking, oxygen-starved galaxy may be full of gigantic stars’ shrapnel

By Ken CroswellApril 9, 2021
Here’s why humans chose particular groups of stars as constellations

By Emily ConoverMarch 29, 2021
The ‘USS Jellyfish’ emits strange radio waves from a distant galaxy cluster

By Ken CroswellMarch 26, 2021

Physics

Newly made laser-cooled antimatter could test foundations of modern physics

By Maria TemmingApril 5, 2021
Uranium ‘snowflakes’ could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars

By Emily ConoverMarch 30, 2021
Atomic clocks take a step toward redefining the second

By Emily ConoverMarch 24, 2021

Health & Medicine

U.S. pauses J&J vaccine rollout after 6 people of 6.8 million get rare blood clots

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 13, 2021
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine is tied to uncommon blood clots in rare cases

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 7, 2021
4 takeaways from the WHO’s report on the origins of the coronavirus

By Erin Garcia de JesúsApril 1, 2021

Earth

A spike in Arctic lightning strikes may be linked to climate change

By Maria TemmingApril 6, 2021
Phosphorus for Earth’s earliest life may have been forged by lightning

By Maria TemmingMarch 16, 2021
To understand how ‘night-shining’ clouds form, scientists made one themselves

By Maria TemmingMarch 5, 2021

Science & Society

STEM’s racial, ethnic and gender gaps are still strikingly large

By Maria TemmingApril 14, 2021
We’ve covered science for 100 years. Here’s how it has — and hasn’t — changed

By Tom SiegfriedApril 2, 2021
Parents in Western countries report the highest levels of burnout

By Sujata GuptaMarch 29, 2021