All Stories
- Plants
Flowers’ roles considered in ecosystems and economics
In ‘The Reason for Flowers’, a pollination ecologist chronicles the science and culture of blossoms from the dawn of humanity.
- Planetary Science
Pluto: A timeline of 85 years of discovery
Several observations in the last 85 years have given astronomers a little more information about Pluto, and the July 2015 flyby will offer the closest look yet at the solar system's far-flung satellite.
- Physics
The arrow of time
Gravity may explain how time always runs forward, even though the laws of physics should permit it to run backward.
- Paleontology
Ancient comb jellies might have had skeletons
Soft and filmy today, comb jellies might once have had rigid skeletons.
- Anthropology
Monkey’s small brain shows surprising folds
An ancient monkey’s tiny brain developed folds, raising questions about primate evolution.
- Math
Top 10 ways to save science from its statistical self
Saving science from its statistical flaws will require radical revision in its methods.
- Planetary Science
Get New Horizons’ views of Pluto
The “Eyes on Pluto” app lets you ride alongside New Horizons for a simulated preview of the spacecraft’s impending encounter with the dwarf planet.
- Life
Women blush when ovulating, and it doesn’t matter a bit
Women don’t signal their fertility in obvious ways like nonhuman primates. A new study shows that even skin flushes are too subtle to detect.
- Cosmology
Brightest supernova breaks record
A recent supernova shines with the light of 600 billion suns.
- Astronomy
Massive black hole lurks in lightweight galaxy
A heavyweight black hole grew to weigh as much as 7 billion suns within the first 2 billion years after the Big Bang.
- Earth
Natural concrete keeps lid on Italian volcano
Naturally occurring, concretelike rock allows the ground around Italy’s Campi Flegrei caldera to bulge without bursting.
- Tech
3-D–printed body helps jumping robot land on its feet
To launch itself into the air, a jumping robot relies on a 3-D–printed body made of a gradient of soft and stiff plastics.
