All Stories

  1. Anthropology

    Ancient Maya bookmakers get paged in Guatemala

    New discoveries peg ritual specialists as force behind bark-paper tomes and wall murals.

    By Bruce Bower
  2. Physics

    When entering a black hole, fasten your seat belt

    Rapidly spinning black holes can generate turbulence, a new analysis shows.

    By Andrew Grant
  3. Astronomy

    Giant rings encircle young exoplanet

    Stretching 90 million kilometers from their center, 37 stripes of dust around exoplanet were probably crafted by moons.

    By Christopher Crockett
  4. Animals

    How a spider spins electrified nanosilk

    The cribellate orb spider (Uloborus plumipes) hacks and combs its silk to weave electrically charged nanofibers, a new study suggests.

    By Helen Thompson
  5. Cosmology

    Dust erases evidence for gravity wave detection

    The claimed detection of primordial gravitational waves does not hold up after taking into account galactic dust, a new analysis concludes.

    By Andrew Grant
  6. Astronomy

    Neptune-like worlds could become habitable

    Mini-Neptunes can drift toward their stars and lose their atmospheres, leaving behind ice-rich rocky cores that can become watery worlds.

    By Christopher Crockett
  7. Health & Medicine

    Even when correct, diagnoses can harm kids

    Overdiagnosis is well documented in adults but is often overlooked in children and can lead to unnecessary treatments.

    By Lila Guterman
  8. Neuroscience

    Chicks show left-to-right number bias

    Recently hatched chicks may have their own version of the left-to-right mental number line.

    By Susan Milius
  9. Genetics

    Pregnancy in mammals evolved with help from roving DNA

    DNA that “jumped” around the genome helped early mammals shift from laying eggs to giving birth to live young.

    By Kate Baggaley
  10. Neuroscience

    Newly identified brain circuit could be target for treating obesity

    In mice, specific nerve cells control compulsive sugar consumption, but not normal feeding, hinting at a new therapeutic target for treating obesity.

    By Ashley Yeager
  11. Plants

    Plant chemical weaponry may offer ammunition for pesticides

    Chemicals produced by two plant species disrupt insect hormone pathways and could be developed in to efficient, safe pesticides.

    By Helen Thompson
  12. Health & Medicine

    Ebola vaccine performs well in U.K. human trial

    A vaccine that protects against the Zaire strain of Ebola turns in promising preliminary results from a human trial.

    By Helen Thompson