All Stories
- Animals
Forgetful male voles more likely to wander from mate
Poor memory linked to a hormone receptor in the brain could make male prairie voles more promiscuous.
- Planetary Science
Comets-spewing-oxygen club gets new member
Halley’s comet becomes possibly the second comet known to be carting around oxygen buried since the formation of the solar system.
- Plants
Single gene influences a petunia’s primary pollinator
Mutations on a single gene determine how much ultraviolet light a petunia flower absorbs, and in turn, which animal pollinates the flower.
- Science & Society
Analysis gives a glimpse of the extraordinary language of lying
A study of fraudulent research articles reveals patterns in language that indicate a paper is worthy of closer scrutiny.
- Climate
195 nations approve historic climate accord
The Paris climate talks end with delegates from 195 nations releasing a hard-fought agreement to curb climate change and limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius.
- Cosmology
Debate grows over whether X-rays are a sign of dark matter
The dwarf galaxy Draco, which is chock-full of dark matter, doesn’t emit a band of X-rays that researchers hoped were produced by the mysterious invisible stuff.
- Life
To push through goo, use itty, bitty propellers
Newly designed micropropellers mimic bacteria to move through viscous surroundings.
- Animals
New movie asks viewers to care about whale hunters. Will they?
A new movie tells the tale of sailors shipwrecked by a whale. But it’s hard to feel sorry for the people trying to kill the animal.
- Planetary Science
It’s a new planet! It’s an unknown star! It’s — oops!
A couple of unexpected wandering points of light in the sky could be new planets or even a dim star orbiting the sun, but researchers have plenty of reasons to be skeptical.
- Quantum Physics
Google’s quantum computer speeds up, but practical use is unclear
Google’s D-Wave quantum computer is getting faster, but it’s still unclear whether it will ever outperform regular computers at completing useful tasks.
- Life
Microbes show up on schedule after death
Microbes in the soil beneath dead bodies offer forensic clues for time and place of death.
- Earth
Gooey rock in mantle thickens 1,000 kilometers down
Gravitational tugs provide an unprecedented peek into the structure of Earth’s mantle and reveal a sudden increase in viscosity roughly 1,000 kilometers below ground.
