All Stories
- Science & Society
These truisms proved false in 2015
Don’t always believe what you hear. These truisms turned out to be false in 2015.
- Animals
Puff adders appear ‘invisible’ to noses
The snakey scent of puff adders proves difficult for even sensitive animal noses to detect.
- Planetary Science
Equipment failure delays Mars mission
A leaky instrument will push back launch of the Mars InSight lander by at least two years.
- Astronomy
Equipment failure pushes back Mars lander mission
The launch of the Mars InSight lander is suspended until at least 2018 because of a faulty seismometer.
- Science & Society
How seeing ‘Star Wars’ satisfies your narcissistic tendencies
Participating in geek culture allows self-identified geeks to satisfy a narcissistic need for expert status, a new study hypothesizes.
- Astronomy
New recipe found for making supermassive black hole
The universe’s first supermassive black holes may have formed directly from gas in colliding galaxies, new simulations suggest.
- Health & Medicine
Gene behavior distinguishes viral from bacterial infections
Researchers have identified signatures of viral infection, a distinction that may help doctors tell whether bacteria or a virus is causing trouble.
- Paleontology
Bubbles may have sheltered Earth’s early life
Bubbles formed on ancient shorelines offer scientists a new place to look for traces of early life.
- Tech
SpaceX rocket sticks its landing
A Falcon 9 rocket section lands after launching a set of satellites during a successful test of SpaceX’s reusable rocket parts.
- Tech
SpaceX rocket blasts to space and back, sticks the landing
A Falcon 9 rocket section lands after launching a set of satellites during a successful test of SpaceX’s reusable rocket parts.
- Science & Society
In science, a lack of replication shouldn’t kill your reputation
The proof is science is when a study is replicated. When it’s not, do scientists suffer? A new study says researchers may overestimate the negative effects.
- Health & Medicine
Anatomy of the South Korean MERS outbreak
The Middle East respiratory syndrome virus, which infected 186 people in South Korea in 2015, quickly spread within and between hospitals via a handful of “superspreaders.”
