All Stories
- Earth
Glass bits, charcoal hint at 56-million-year-old space rock impact
Glassy debris and the burnt remains of wildfires suggest that a large space rock hit Earth near the start of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum warming event around 56 million years ago.
- Health & Medicine
Concern expands over Zika birth defects
Infection with Zika virus in utero can trigger a spectrum of birth defects beyond microcephaly, and could potentially cause long-term health problems as well.
- Paleontology
Ancient microbe fossils show earliest evidence of shell making
Armor-plated, 809-million-year-old fossilized microbes discovered in Canada are the oldest known evidence of shell making.
- Astronomy
Solar system sits within major spiral arm of Milky Way
The solar system appears to live in one of the major spiral arms of the Milky Way, not in an offshoot as previously thought.
- Astronomy
Solar system sits within a major spiral arm of the Milky Way
The solar system appears to live in one of the major spiral arms of the Milky Way, not in an offshoot as previously thought.
- Animals
New case emerging for Culex mosquito as unexpected Zika spreader
The much-debated proposal that a Culex mosquito could help spread Zika gets some international support.
- Genetics
First ‘three-parent baby’ born from nuclear transfer
The first human baby produced through spindle nuclear transfer was born in April, New Scientist reports.
- Health & Medicine
Measles has been eliminated in the Americas, WHO says
Thanks to wide-spread vaccination against the viral disease, measles has officially been declared eliminated from the Americas.
- Animals
Barnacles track whale migration
The mix of oxygen isotopes in the shells of barnacles that latch on to baleen whales may divulge how whale migration routes have changed over millions of years.
- Tech
Wi-Fi can help house distinguish between members
Using Wi-Fi, computers could one day identify individual family members in a smart home.
- Planetary Science
Europa spouting off again
Plumes of presumably water erupt from the surface of Jupiter’s frozen moon Europa, in images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
- Climate
Methane didn’t warm ancient Earth, new simulations suggest
Scarce oxygen and abundant sulfate prevented methane from accumulating enough to keep Earth warm hundreds of millions of years ago, reviving the faint young sun paradox.
