All Stories
- Space
These discoveries in 2024 could be groundbreaking — if they’re true
Did microbes ever live on Mars? Did an "elevator" help build Egypt’s first pyramid? Some signs pointed to yes this year, but confirmation is still needed.
- Health & Medicine
Cancer screening and quitting smoking have saved nearly 6 million lives
Prevention, screening and treatment advances combined stopped 5.94 million deaths from cancer in the United States from 1975 through 2020.
- Anthropology
Humans have linked emotions to the same body parts for 3,000 years
3,000-year-old clay tablets show that some associations between emotion and parts of the body have remained the same for millennia.
- Space
The 2024 eclipse gave a rare view of the sun. Here’s a peek at early data
Teams are starting to analyze data from the total solar eclipse to learn more about the sun’s corona, gravity waves and changes in Earth’s ionosphere.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s Perseverance rover found a new potential setting for Martian life
Now atop Jezero Crater, the robotic explorer found quartz indicative of habitable environments and possibly the oldest rocks yet seen in the solar system.
- Life
The ‘Blob,’ an unprecedented marine heat wave, killed 4 million seabirds
Millions of other animals may have perished too, suggesting the die-off event might be one of the worst in modern times.
- Genetics
Neandertal genes in people today came from hook-ups around 47,000 years ago
Most present-day humans carry a small amount of Neandertal DNA that can be traced back to a single period of interbreeding, two genetic analyses find.
- Health & Medicine
These are the viruses that defined 2024
Here’s the latest on mpox, bird flu, dengue and other viral outbreaks that flared up this year.
- Earth
Earth’s inner core may be changing shape
Earthquake data suggest that all or small patches of the inner core's surface may be swelling and contracting.
- Earth
The 2004 tsunami killed hundreds of thousands. Are we better prepared now?
Twenty years after the deadliest wave in recorded history, most oceans have warning systems and communities have learned how best to escape the danger.
- Health & Medicine
The benefits of Ozempic and its kin may extend far beyond weight loss
Studies suggest that semaglutide reduces heart attack and stroke and may curb addiction and more. Scientists reflect on the future of GLP-1 drugs beyond weight loss.
- Health & Medicine
U.S. hospitals continue to shut down labor and delivery services
More than half of rural hospitals and more than one-third of urban hospitals did not offer labor and delivery services in 2022.
