All Stories
- Cosmology
Slow, cold start to universe suggested
By allowing particle masses to change, a new theory suggests how the universe could have arisen without a Big Bang.
- Animals
Disco clams put on a streak show
Scuba divers call Ctenoides ales the disco or electric clam because the restless, curling lips of its mantle flash bright streaks.
- Physics
Quarks celebrate their 50th anniversary
In a 1997 interview with Context blogger Tom Siegfried, Murray Gell-Mann discussed the origin of the idea for the subatomic particles that he named quarks.
- Health & Medicine
Smoking equality
A study of tobacco smoking patterns reports that more men than women smoke in every country except Sweden.
- Health & Medicine
Your baby knows who your real friends are
Infants are surprisingly good judges of who ought to be friendly to each other.
- Animals
Synchronous birth
For young banded mongoose moms, there’s only one choice for when to give birth — the same day as older, dominant mothers. In communities of these cat-sized animals, all females give birth together, no matter when they became pregnant.
- Animals
When snakes fly
A gliding snake gets some lift by spreading its ribs, but much about its flight remains a mystery.
- Health & Medicine
Tumors grow faster in cancer-prone mice given vitamins
The tumors killed the mice twice as fast as early-stage lung lesions in mice not given the antioxidants, researchers report.
- Health & Medicine
Immunotherapy attacks aberrant cervical growth
The treatment might stop cancers before they arise.
- Humans
Neandertal hot spots highlighted in modern humans’ DNA
Mating with evolutionary cousins produced genetic trade-offs for Stone Age people.
- Astronomy
Clouds on nearby brown dwarf mapped
A study of clouds on a nearby brown dwarf reveals partial cloud cover.
- Plants
Sexually deceived flies not hopelessly dumb
Pollinators tricked into mating with a plant become harder to fool a second time.
