All Stories
- Science & Society
Logarithms celebrate their 400th birthday
Four centuries ago, John Napier provided human calculators the time-saving gift of logarithms.
- Astronomy
Searching for distant signals
Fast radio bursts are bright, brief and seem to come from very far away. Astronomers are pointing major telescopes skyward to solve the puzzle of these cryptic signals.
- Plants
These trees don’t mind getting robbed
Desert teak trees in India produce more fruit after they’ve been visited by nectar robbers.
- Health & Medicine
Long-term Parkinson’s treatment sheds bad rep
Prolonged used of levodopa doesn’t increase the severity of side effects from the Parkinson’s drug, new research shows.
- Earth
Wonders of the northern lights
An Icelandic aurora catches a photographer’s eye and a contest prize.
- Chemistry
Molecular cage traps rare gases
Organic compound could cull valuable xenon from the air and detect cancer-causing radon in homes.
- Life
Chemical evidence paved way for discovery of early life
The discovery in 1964 of compounds related to chlorophyll in billion-year-old rocks pushed back the timing of life’s origins.
- Environment
Wild monkeys near Fukushima have low blood cell counts
Primates near the ill-fated nuclear power plant may have been affected by radiation.
- Paleontology
Feathered dinosaurs may have been the rule, not the exception
Newly discovered fossil suggests feathers may have been common among all dinosaur species.
- Health & Medicine
Tests hint at trouble with pairing cystic fibrosis drugs
Combining two types of cystic fibrosis drugs may cancel out the benefits of one of the medications.
- Materials Science
Weird materials could make faster computers
Topological insulators could speed up how computers switch between 1s and 0s.
- Psychology
Schadenfreude starts young
Children as young as 2 years old feel joy at another’s misfortune, new research suggests, showing jealousy’s deep roots.
