All Stories

  1. Animals

    Bonobos rival chimps at the art of cracking oil palm nuts

    Bonobos demonstrate their overlooked nut-cracking skills in an African sanctuary.

    By Bruce Bower
  2. Astronomy

    Black hole app lets you blow up stars

    NOVA’s Black Hole app for iPad is an addictive game that teaches lessons about gravity and astronomy while letting you hurl stars at one another.

    By Christopher Crockett
  3. Chemistry

    FDA bans chemicals in antibacterial soaps

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled against 19 antibacterial soap ingredients, citing insufficient evidence of bacteria-killing and safety problems.

    By Helen Thompson
  4. Planetary Science

    Juno transmits first intimate snapshots of Jupiter

    Hurricane-like clouds spiral over Jupiter’s poles, new photos taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveal.

    By Emily Conover
  5. Health & Medicine

    Doctors need better ways to figure out fevers in newborns

    When a very young baby gets a fever, doctors scramble to figure out the cause. A new type of test may ultimately help identify whether the culprit is bacterial or viral.

    By Laura Sanders
  6. Tech

    SpaceX rocket explodes on Florida launchpad

    SpaceX has lost a Falcon 9 rocket and its satellite payload in a standard prelaunch test.

    By Helen Thompson
  7. Planetary Science

    Water plays big role in shaping dwarf planet Ceres

    Findings from the Dawn spacecraft turn up cryovolcanoes, ice patches and hydrated minerals on Ceres, supporting the idea that water helped shape the dwarf planet.

    By Christopher Crockett
  8. Health & Medicine

    Bacterial weaponry that causes stillbirth revealed

    Vaginal bacteria may cause stillbirth by deploying tiny weapons

    By Amy McDermott
  9. Planetary Science

    Water has played a big role in shaping dwarf planet Ceres

    Findings from the Dawn spacecraft turn up cryovolcanoes, ice patches and hydrated minerals on Ceres, supporting the idea that water helped shape the dwarf planet.

    By Christopher Crockett
  10. Materials Science

    High-tech cloth could make summer days a breeze

    A plastic material like kitchen cling wrap may be the next big thing in high-tech clothing. The fabric lets heat pass through, but blocks visible light, making it opaque enough to wear.

    By Meghan Rosen
  11. Animals

    In drought, zebra finches wring water from their own fat

    A zebra finch with no water or food can keep itself hydrated by metabolizing body fat.

    By Susan Milius
  12. Paleontology

    Greenland may be home to Earth’s oldest fossils

    Dating to 3.7 billion years ago, mounds of sediment called stromatolites found in Greenland may be the oldest fossilized evidence of life on Earth.

    By Thomas Sumner