All Stories
- Archaeology
A tour of ‘Four Lost Cities’ reveals modern ties to ancient people
In the book 'Four Lost Cities,' author Annalee Newitz uses cities of the past to show what might happen to cities in the future.
- Health & Medicine
The COVID-19 pandemic is now a year old. What have scientists learned?
As we enter the pandemic’s second year, researchers share what they’ve learned and what they look forward to.
- Microbes
Archaea microbes fold, twist and contort their DNA in extreme ways
Single-celled archaea open and close their Slinky-like genetic material in a clamshell motion, possibly providing easy access to their genes.
- Anthropology
Riches in a Bronze Age grave suggest it holds a queen
Researchers have long assumed mostly men ran ancient Bronze Age societies, but the find points to a female ruler in Spain 3,700 years ago.
- Health & Medicine
A year ago, we asked 6 questions about COVID-19. Here’s how the answers evolved
A year after launching our Coronavirus Update newsletter, we revisit the first topics we wrote about.
- Physics
A tiny gold ball is the smallest object to have its gravity measured
A gold sphere with a mass of about 90 milligrams pulled on another sphere in accordance with Newton’s law of universal gravitation.
- Health & Medicine
An experimental toothpaste aims to treat peanut allergy
By rolling an immune therapy into a toothbrushing routine, a company hopes to show its product can help build and maintain tolerance to allergens.
- Environment
The world wasted nearly 1 billion metric tons of food in 2019
A new United Nations global food waste report shows where waste can be reduced, which would decrease hunger and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Anthropology
Finds in a Spanish cave inspire an artistic take on warm-weather Neandertals
Iberia’s mild climate fostered a host of resources for hominids often pegged as mammoth hunters.
- Animals
A year after Australia’s wildfires, extinction threatens hundreds of species
As experts piece together a fuller picture of the scale of damage to wildlife, more than 500 species may need to be listed as endangered.
- Health & Medicine
People fully vaccinated against COVID-19 can socialize without masks, CDC says
Two weeks after their final COVID-19 shot, people can visit other vaccinated people indoors without masks or physical distancing.
- Animals
A sea slug’s detached head can crawl around and grow a whole new body
Chopped-up planarians regrow whole bodies from bits and pieces. But a sea slug head can regrow fancier organs such as hearts.
