All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Can probiotics actually curb sugar cravings?
Some companies claim that taking beneficial bacteria can reduce the desire for sugar. But the evidence comes from mice, not people.
- Life
A new book chronicles the science of life in the air
Carl Zimmer’s Air-Borne recounts centuries of aerobiology’s greatest moments and mistakes.
- Planetary Science
Ancient Mars wasn’t just wet. It was cold and wet
Mars may once have held enough water to fill oceans and form coastlines. The planet’s red dust contains water and likely formed in cold conditions.
- Life
A skull found in Egypt shows this top predator stalked ancient Africa
Archaeologists uncovered a fossilized skull of an ancient sharp-toothed predator that likely hunted early elephants and primates.
- Animals
How fish biologists discovered birds of paradise have fluorescent feathers
A survey of museum specimens reveals that more than a dozen species of the birds sport biofluorescence in feathers, skin or even inside their throats.
- Animals
How a puffin patrol in Iceland is saving the iconic seabirds
Light pollution disorients young puffins. The Puffling Patrol helps them find their way to the sea.
- Health & Medicine
Hear patients with brain implants describe what it feels like
In the third episode of The Deep End, Jon shares how DBS surgery went and how he and other volunteers felt in the days and weeks afterward.
- Science & Society
Fired federal workers share the crucial jobs no longer being done
Thousands of probationary federal employees received termination notices. Many were doing crucial work at science-related agencies.
- Science & Society
Why some chaos-seekers just want to watch the world burn
A political scientist explains how a confluence of personality traits and perceived status loss can encourage some people to generate chaos as a solution to their woes.
- Life
The butts of these blowfly larvae mimic termite faces
The young of a mysterious blowfly species look — and smell — like the termites they hide among.
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Buried Treasure Crossword
Solve our latest interactive crossword. We'll publish science-themed crosswords and math puzzles on alternating months.
- Humans
Biological sex is not as simple as male or female
A recent Trump executive order defines sex based on gamete size. But the order oversimplifies genetics, hormones and reproductive biology.
