All Stories
- Science & Society
Do science dioramas still have a place in today’s museums?
Science dioramas of yesteryear can highlight the biases of the time. Exhibit experts are reimagining, annotating — and sometimes mothballing — the scenes.
- Earth
Ancient rocks reveal when rivers began pouring nutrients into the sea
Rivers began pumping weathered material into the sea about a billion years after Earth formed, suggesting continents may have gotten an early start.
- Animals
Wild baboons don’t recognize themselves in a mirror
In a lab test, chimps and orangutans can recognize their own reflection. But in the wild, baboons seemingly can’t do the same.
- Neuroscience
Scratching an itch is so good, and so bad
The motion kicks off inflammation but may also combat harmful bacteria
- Particle Physics
A tiny neutrino detector scored big at a nuclear reactor
A compact method of detecting neutrinos provides new tests of physics theories and could lead to new reactor-monitoring methods.
- Animals
Feeding sharks ‘junk food’ takes a toll on their health
Many blacktip reef sharks in French Polynesia are commonly fed by tourists. But the low-quality diet is changing the sharks’ behavior and physiology.
- Health & Medicine
Better male birth control is on the horizon
Men have two birth control options: condoms and vasectomies. Why has it taken so long to develop more contraceptives?
- Science & Society
Trump orders sow chaos in global public health
A recent flurry of executive orders and surprise actions by the Trump administration have roiled WHO, the CDC and the international public health community.
- Archaeology
Here’s how ancient Amazonians became master maize farmers
Casarabe people grew the nutritious crop year-round on savannas thanks to networks of drainage canals and ponds.
- Space
Life’s ingredients have been found in samples from asteroid Bennu
Samples from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission show the asteroid Bennu had organic molecules and minerals and possibly salty water and other life ingredients.
- Health & Medicine
Can you actually die of a broken heart?
Death by heartbreak doesn't just happen in stories. In real life, severe stress can cause the sometimes-fatal takotsubo syndrome.
- Animals
Chatty bats are more likely to take risks
Bats may broadcast their personalities to others from a distance, new experiments suggest, which could play into social dynamics within a colony.
