All Stories

  1. Plants

    To catch a meal, a Venus flytrap counts to five

    It takes two taps to trigger a Venus flytrap to close. Another three, a new study finds, are needed to turn on genes for producing enzymes.

    By Sarah Zielinski
  2. Earth

    Earth’s inner secrets divulged in ‘Into the Heart of Our World’

    A scientific journey to the center of the Earth includes just as much excitement and mystery as Jules Verne’s classic novel, a new book demonstrates.

    By Thomas Sumner
  3. Health & Medicine

    Rapid spread of Zika virus in the Americas raises alarm

    After blazing through Brazil, a mosquito-borne virus called Zika, which may cause birth defects, is now poised to jump to the United States.

    By Meghan Rosen
  4. Animals

    Tegu lizards warm up for mating season

    The heat is on in tegu lizards during mating season, study suggests.

    By Helen Thompson
  5. Animals

    Tegu lizards warm up for mating

    Despite their cold-blooded reputation, tegu lizards boost their body heat while on the prowl for a mate, biologists report online January 22 in Science Advances.

    By Helen Thompson
  6. Astronomy

    Middleweight black hole suspected near Milky Way’s center

    A gas cloud in the center of the galaxy might be temporarily hosting the second most massive black hole known in the Milky Way.

    By Christopher Crockett
  7. Health & Medicine

    Noisy toys mute conversations

    Electronic toys put a damper on the conversations between parents and babies.

    By Laura Sanders
  8. Agriculture

    Just adding pollinators could boost small-farm yields

    Adding pollinators could start closing gap in yields for small farms.

    By Susan Milius
  9. Physics

    Early quark estimates not entirely realized

    Decades of research have shed a little light on quarks, the mysterious building blocks of atoms.

    By Sarah Schwartz
  10. Climate

    2015 smashed heat records

    Spurred by global warming and a “super El Niño,” 2015 now ranks as the warmest year since record-keeping began in 1880.

    By Thomas Sumner
  11. Planetary Science

    Time running out on comet lander

    Philae’s days are numbered as temperatures on comet 67P drop and attempts to communicate with the lander fail.

    By Christopher Crockett
  12. Animals

    New tree frog genus discovered in India

    Researchers unveil a newly identified tree frog genus from northeastern India that eats mom’s eggs.

    By Helen Thompson