All Stories
- Genetics
Ebola continues to shift, but grows no more fatal
In the West African epidemic, Ebola evolved and spread quickly, but the virus is not becoming deadlier over time.
- Science & Society
Deflategate favored foul play over science
Science didn’t get center stage in the rulings on whether the New England Patriots underinflated footballs during championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.
- Earth
Dinosaurs may not have seen the Grand Canyon after all
New geologic comparisons peg the Grand Canyon’s inception well after dinosaurs went extinct.
- Animals
Unpredictable egg scramble throws off parasitic parents
Eggs of some species of warbler and weaver birds appear to have individual signatures, which can help distinguish them from the eggs of parasitic cuckoos.
- Animals
How mantis shrimps spar
In ritualized combat between deadly mantis shrimp, blows count but don’t kill.
- Science & Society
Home-brewed heroin: Hold the hype
Now is the time to think about policy for synthetically produced morphine, but the process, if it bears out, is years away from working.
- Astronomy
Mars-sized exoplanet is smallest to have its mass measured
The smallest exoplanet to be weighed is a hot, rocky cousin of the Red Planet.
- Animals
One bold, misinformed spider slows a colony’s ability to learn
Incorrect ideas prove more dangerous in bold velvet spiders than in shyer ones.
- Earth
Most of Earth’s impact craters await discovery
Hundreds of undiscovered impact craters probably dot Earth’s surface, new research estimates.
- Health & Medicine
Antibiotics can treat appendicitis
Antibiotics can successfully treat the majority of cases of a type of appendicitis, researchers find.
- Astronomy
Pluto at last
Precision matters, whether looking at global temperatures, subatomic particles or the carefully timed approach to a faraway world.
- Planetary Science
Water’s origin story, science and sci-fi and more reader feedback
Readers discuss how Earth got its water, chat about a hot spot's violent past and more.
