All Stories

  1. Life

    Wild bees add about $1.5 billion to yields for just six U.S. crops

    Native bees help pollinate blueberries, cherries and other crops on commercial farms.

    By
  2. Archaeology

    A submerged Inca offering hints at Lake Titicaca’s sacred role

    Divers found a stone box holding a figurine and a gold item, highlighting Lake Titicaca’s sacred status to the Inca.

    By
  3. Life

    Water beetles can live on after being eaten and excreted by a frog

    After being eaten by a frog, some water beetles can scurry through the digestive tract and emerge on the other side, alive and well.

    By
  4. Data visualizations turn numbers into a story

    Editor in chief Nancy Shute writes about the power of using data visualizations in storytelling.

    By
  5. Animals

    Some spiders may spin poisonous webs laced with neurotoxins

    The sticky silk threads of spider webs may be hiding a toxic secret: potent neurotoxins that paralyze a spider’s prey.

    By
  6. Health & Medicine

    Heavy drinking drove hundreds of thousands of Americans to early graves

    From 2011 to 2015, more than 93,000 U.S. deaths per year could be tied to excessive alcohol use, researchers say.

    By
  7. Health & Medicine

    Hydroxychloroquine can’t stop COVID-19. It’s time to move on, scientists say

    Hydroxychloroquine doesn’t work as antiviral or a treatment for COVID-19, an abundance of scientific data suggest.

    By
  8. Health & Medicine

    Coronavirus outbreak at a Georgia overnight camp infected over 200 kids and staff

    A report documenting a COVID-19 outbreak in Georgia hints that children might play a key role in spreading the virus.

    By
  9. Health & Medicine

    Human sperm don’t swim the way that anyone had thought

    High-speed 3-D microscopy and mathematical analyses reveal that rolling and lopsided tail flicks keep the cells swimming in a straight line.

    By
  10. Ecosystems

    To save Appalachia’s endangered mussels, scientists hatched a bold plan

    Biologists have just begun to learn whether their bold plan worked to save the golden riffleshell, a freshwater mussel teetering on the brink of extinction.

    By
  11. Plants

    This parasitic plant consists of just flashy flowers and creepy suckers

    With only four known species, Langsdorffia are thieves stripped down to their essentials.

    By
  12. Physics

    The physics of solar flares could help scientists predict imminent outbursts

    Physicists aim to improve space weather predictions by studying the physical processes that spark a solar flare.

    By