All Stories

  1. Anthropology

    Attack 10,000 years ago is earliest known act of warfare

    Human skeletons unearthed in East Africa show signs of a roughly 10,000-year-old lethal raid.

    By Bruce Bower
  2. Animals

    Meet the bugs that call your house home

    A census of arthropods in human homes finds plenty of diversity — but few pests.

    By Sarah Zielinski
  3. Planetary Science

    Evidence mounts for hidden ninth planet

    A new analysis of bodies in the Kuiper Belt strengthens the case for an unseen planet lurking in the outer regions of our solar system.

    By Christopher Crockett
  4. Humans

    No fairy tale: Origins of some famous stories go back thousands of years

    Pairing folktales with ancient languages shows that at least a few folktales originated thousands of years ago.

    By Chris Samoray
  5. Life

    MicroRNAs manage gut microbes

    MicroRNAs mold gut microbes into healthier communities for the host.

    By Tina Hesman Saey
  6. Climate

    Atmospheric tides alter rainfall rate

    Atmospheric tides caused by the moon’s gravitational pull ever-so-slightly alter rainfall rates on Earth by producing rises and falls in atmospheric pressure.

    By Thomas Sumner
  7. Animals

    Whales are full of toxic chemicals

    For decades, scientists have been finding troublesome levels of PCBs, mercury and other toxic chemicals in whales and dolphins.

    By Sarah Zielinski
  8. Science & Society

    Human evolution, biomimicry and more go on display

    A new human evolution gallery and a lecture series on Europa are among science events to explore in February 2016.

    By Science News Staff
  9. Oceans

    Ocean heating doubles

    Earth’s oceans now absorb twice as much heat as they did 18 years ago, with more than a third of that warmth going into the ocean depths.

    By Thomas Sumner
  10. Astronomy

    The votes are in: Exoplanets get new names

    Arion, Galileo and Poltergeist are just three winners of a contest to name planets and suns in 20 solar systems.

    By Christopher Crockett
  11. Genetics

    Bubonic plague hung out in Europe

    The plague bacterium Yersinia pestis may have lurked in a medieval European reservoir for at least 300 years, researchers from Germany suggest January 13 in PLOS ONE.

    By Helen Thompson
  12. Genetics

    Bubonic plague hung around in Europe

    DNA from plague victims suggests that a European reservoir of the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis could have fueled the medieval pandemic.

    By Helen Thompson