All Stories
- Life
Mini ‘wind farm’ could capture energy from microbes in motion
Bacteria could spontaneously organize and rotate turbines, computer simulations show.
- Oceans
Underwater city was built by microbes, not people
Submerged stoneworklike formations near the Greek island of Zakynthos were built by methane-munching microbes, not ancient Greeks.
- Life
Hightailing it out of the water, mudskipper style
A robot and a land-walking fish show how a tail might have made a huge difference for early vertebrates conquering the slippery slopes of terrestrial life.
- Tech
Light-activated heart cells help guide robotic stingray
Layers of silicone, gold and genetically engineered rat heart cells make up the body of a new stingray robot that can swim in response to light.
- Life
Artificial hearing has come a long way since 1960s
Scientists envisioned artificial hearing 50 years ago. Today, they are working to make it superhuman.
- Life
Donor mitochondria could influence metabolism, aging
Mitochondrial DNA donation could have unexpected long-term health consequences for “three-parent babies.”
- Animals
To zip through water, swordfish reduce drag
A newly discovered oil-producing organ inside the swordfish’s head gives the animal slick skin to swim faster.
- Animals
Lionfish invasion comes to the Mediterranean
Scientists had thought that the Mediterranean was too cold for lionfish to permanently settle there. But now they’ve found a population of the fish off Cyprus.
- Chemistry
Nuclear bomb debris can reveal blast size, even decades later
Measuring the relative abundance of various elements in debris left over from nuclear bomb tests can reveal the energy released in the initial blast, researchers report.
- Anthropology
New dating suggests younger age for Homo naledi
South African fossil species lived more recently than first thought, study suggests.
- Planetary Science
New clues in search for Planet Nine
Lots of unknowns remain as researchers try to pin down where a possible ninth planet might be hiding in the solar system.
- Planetary Science
The Juno spacecraft is now in orbit around Jupiter
NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully entered orbit around Jupiter, beginning a 20-month investigation of the giant planet’s interior.
