All Stories

  1. Neuroscience

    Biological puzzles abound in an up-close look at a human brain

    Mirror-image nerve cells, tight bonds between neuron pairs and surprising axon swirls abound in a bit of gray matter smaller than a grain of rice.

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  2. Quantum Physics

    Two real-world tests of quantum memories bring a quantum internet closer to reality

    Scientists successfully entangled quantum memories linked by telecommunications fibers across two different urban environments.

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  3. Neuroscience

    Two distinct neural pathways may make opioids like fentanyl so addictive

    A study in mice looked at how feelings of reward and withdrawal that opioids trigger play out in two separate circuits in the brain.

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  4. Physics

    Here’s how ice may get so slippery 

    Ice’s weirdly slick exterior might originate from the boundaries between two different types of ice that form on the surface of frozen water.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    Young people’s use of diabetes and weight loss drugs is up 600 percent 

    Young people’s use of diabetes and weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is surging, especially among females ages 18 to 25.

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  6. Health & Medicine

    Human body lice could harbor the plague and spread it through biting 

    Rats and fleas previously got all the blame, but humans’ own parasites could be involved.

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  7. Particle Physics

    The neutrino’s quantum fuzziness is beginning to come into focus

    An experiment studying the neutrino’s “wave packet” sets a limit on the uncertainty of the subatomic particle’s position.

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  8. Archaeology

    One of the world’s earliest farming villages housed surprisingly few people

    Hundreds, not thousands, occupied the Turkish site of Çatalhöyük nearly 9,000 years ago, undermining arguments for a Neolithic social revolution.

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  9. Environment

    ‘The High Seas’ tells of the many ways humans are laying claim to the ocean

    The book explains how the race for ocean resources from fish to ores to new medicines — the Blue Acceleration — is playing out.

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  10. Health & Medicine

    Burning the stomach lining reduces the ‘hunger hormone’ and cuts weight 

    An experimental weight loss procedure blasts the stomach lining with heat to curb hunger and cut pounds.

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  11. Animals

    Sumatran orangutans start crafting their engineering skills as infants

    By 6 months old, young orangutans are experimenting with construction materials, and by 6 years old, they are building platforms 20 meters in the air.

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  12. Neuroscience

    The heart plays a hidden role in our mental health

    Deciphering the messages that the heart sends to the brain could lead to new anxiety treatments and even unlock the secrets of consciousness.

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