All Stories
- Earth
Agriculture and fossil fuels are driving record-high methane emissions
Releases of the heat-trapping gas methane from human activities have ramped up in the 21st century, especially in Africa and Asia.
- Animals
The ‘ratpocalypse’ isn’t nigh, according to service call data
A new study shows that rat-related reports in New York City went down during COVID-19 lockdowns compared with previous years during March and April.
- Planetary Science
How upcoming missions to Mars will help predict its wild dust storms
Predicting the weather on Mars is essential for landing and keeping rovers — or astronauts — safe on the surface. The next Mars missions will give forecasts a boost.
- Health & Medicine
Remdesivir may work even better against COVID-19 than we thought
Gilead Sciences says remdesivir cuts the chances of dying from the coronavirus, and data show the drug can curb the virus’s growth in cells and mice.
- Archaeology
This 1.4-million-year-old hand ax adds to Homo erectus’ known toolkit
A newly described East African find, among the oldest bone tools found, shows the ancient hominids crafted a range of simple and more complex tools.
- Genetics
A bacterial toxin enables the first mitochondrial gene editor
Researchers have engineered a protein from bacteria that kills other microbes to change DNA in a previously inaccessible part of the cell.
- Physics
The universe might have a fundamental clock that ticks very, very fast
A theoretical study could help physicists searching for a theory of quantum gravity.
- Health & Medicine
These cells slow an immune response. Derailing them could help fight tumors
Immune therapies don’t work for a lot of cancer patients. Some researchers are enhancing these treatments with drugs that stymie suppressor cells.
- Health & Medicine
A COVID-19 vaccine may come soon. Will the blistering pace backfire?
Speed is essential, but not at the expense of safety and efficacy, experts warn. Sacrificing either could damage public trust.
- Neuroscience
Boosting a liver protein may mimic the brain benefits of exercise
Finding that liver-made proteins influence the brain may advance the quest for an “exercise pill” that can deliver the benefits of physical activity.
- Science & Society
There’s little evidence showing which police reforms work
When stories of police violence against civilians capture public attention, reforms follow despite a dearth of hard data quantifying their impact.
- Physics
Physicists have ‘braided’ strange quasiparticles called anyons
All known particles fall into two classes. Physicists just found new evidence of a third class in 2-D materials.
