All Stories
- Genetics
Chinese scientists raise ethical questions with first gene-edited babies
Scientists say gene editing of human embryos isn’t yet safe, and creating babies was unethical.
- Animals
Mosquitoes may surf winds above Africa more than we realized
More than 40 meters up, balloon traps in Mali caught females of malaria-spreading mosquito species.
- Earth
A new algorithm could help protect planes from damaging volcanic ash
A computer program that tracks the temperature and height of clouds in the atmosphere could keep planes away from volcanic ash.
- Plants
Cactus spine shapes determine how they stab victims
The shapes of cactus spines influence how they poke passersby.
- Planetary Science
NASA’s InSight lander has touched down safely on Mars
NASA’s InSight lander just touched down on Mars for a years-long study of the Red Planet’s insides.
- Animals
How locust ecology inspired an opera
When an entomologist decides to write a libretto, you get an operatic elegy to locusts.
- Particle Physics
Physicists finally calculated where the proton’s mass comes from
New study indicates that the proton is much more than just the sum of its parts.
- Particle Physics
Why a chemistry teacher started a science board game company
Subatomic is the latest game from John Coveyou, whose company Genius Games wants people to find the joy in science.
- Environment
Engineers are plugging holes in drinking water treatment
Drinking water quality has come a long way in the past hundred years — but challenges remain.
- Agriculture
50 years ago, screwworm flies inspired a new approach to insect control
The United States has wiped out screwworm flies repeatedly since 1966 using the sterile male eradication technique.
- Paleontology
This huge plant eater thrived in the age of dinosaurs — but wasn’t one of them
A newly named plant-eater from the Late Triassic was surprisingly hefty.
- Planetary Science
An orbiter glitch may mean some signs of liquid water on Mars aren’t real
The way that scientists process data from a Mars orbiter creates what look like signs of saltwater, but may actually be nothing, a study finds.
