All Stories
- Anthropology
Conflict reigns over the history and origins of money
Thousands of years ago, money took different forms as a means of debt payment, archaeologists and anthropologists say.
- Health & Medicine
A new Ebola species has been found in bats in Sierra Leone
A sixth species of Ebola has been found, but we don’t know if it can cause disease in humans.
- Microbes
How a slime mold near death packs bacteria to feed the next generation
Social amoebas that farm bacteria for food use proteins to preserve the crop for their offspring.
- Planetary Science
What does Mars’ lake mean for the search for life on the Red Planet?
A lake spotted hiding under Martian ice could support life, but finding out if anything lives there could be challenging.
- Animals
Got an environmental problem? Beavers could be the solution
A new book shows how important beavers have been in the past — and how they could improve the landscape of the future.
- Science & Society
Women and men get research grants at equal rates — if women apply in the first place
When women get research funding, they’ll stay funded as long as their male counterparts. But getting to the top of that heap is a challenge.
- Genetics
Most Americans think it’s OK to tweak a baby’s genes to prevent disease
Americans generally favor tweaking a baby’s genes to reduce the chance of getting a disease, but think boosting intelligence is a step too far.
- Science & Society
People are bad at spotting fake news. Can computer programs do better?
Fake news–finding algorithms could someday make up the front lines of online fact checking.
- Particle Physics
A new quasiparticle lurks in semiconductors
Strange entities called collexons hint at undiscovered physics among interacting subatomic particles in a semiconductor.
- Physics
A star orbiting a black hole shows Einstein got gravity right — again
For the first time, general relativity has been confirmed in the region near a supermassive black hole.
- Genetics
Here’s why wounds heal faster in the mouth than in other skin
Wounds in the mouth heal speedily thanks to some master regulators of immune reactions.
- Planetary Science
Mars (probably) has a lake of liquid water
A 15-year-old Mars orbiter has spotted signs of a salty lake beneath the Red Planet’s south polar ice sheets.
