All Stories
- Paleontology
Tooth stranger than fiction
A mammal fossil unearthed in South America resembles ‘Ice Age’ saber-toothed squirrel.
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- Space
Mars’ history is a fluid situation
Recent data from two spacecraft suggest the planet was mostly dry and cold, with a wet, warm subsurface.
- Earth
Pollution may be strengthening Asian cyclones
Sooty brown clouds may underlie the recent emergence of mega-storms striking from India to the Middle East.
- Life
Axing molecular zombies may slow aging
Killing off dormant cells slows the decline of mice genetically engineered to grow old fast.
- Humans
Humans’ entry into Europe pushed earlier
Homo sapiens fossils from Italy and England point to an early arrival and a longer time living alongside Neandertals.
- Physics
The sound of screech
Auditory experts decipher the blood-curdling nature of fingernails on a chalkboard.
- Space
The Drake Equation: All in the family
On November 1, the formula for estimating the abundance of extraterrestrial life in our galaxy celebrates its 50th birthday. It’s known as the Drake equation for its creator, Frank Drake, who is also my father.
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- Life
Nearness key in microbe DNA swaps
Close quarters, like those inside the human body, are the most important factor in determining how often bacteria pick up one another’s genes.
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Climate’s effect on extreme weather is no game of chance
Climate change is supposed to be about climate, you’d think — not weather. After all, climate is what you expect in the long term, like how bad the average winter will be; weather is what you get day to day, like whether there will be frost on Halloween night. Predicting even next week’s weather often seems like […]
