All Stories
- Health & Medicine
New tests screen for lethal prion disease
Urine and nasal swabs can detect small amounts of the abnormal prions that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
- Tech
Robots start flat, then pop into shape and crawl
The machines use heated hinges to transform into shape and crawl around.
- Animals
Octomom and six other extreme animal parents
The octopus that brooded her young for 4.5 years is just the start when it comes to tales of extreme parenting.
- Planetary Science
Rosetta spacecraft confabs with a comet
After a 10-year chase, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has met up with comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
- Astronomy
Single black hole may be masquerading as a pair
New observations of a recently discovered binary black hole reveal that astronomers may have been seeing double.
- Computing
Barrel jellyfish may hunt with new kind of math
Barrel jellyfish use a new type of mathematical movement pattern to forage for food, a new study suggests.
- Life
Airborne transmission of Ebola unlikely, monkey study shows
No evidence found of macaque monkeys passing deadly virus to each other.
- Planetary Science
Three volcanic eruptions rock Jupiter’s moon Io
Over two weeks last year, the tiny moon Io blazed with three vigorous volcanic eruptions.
- Health & Medicine
Two American Ebola patients given experimental therapy
The two American missionaries who contracted Ebola in Liberia have been treated with an experimental therapy that consists of antibodies to fragments of the deadly virus.
- Genetics
Debate rages over mouse studies’ relevance to humans
Last year, researchers said rodents are not good mimics of human inflammation; a new study says the reverse.
- Psychology
Addiction showcases the brain’s flexibility
People with substance abuse disorders are not just chasing a high. Their brains are adapting to the presence of drug, evidence of humans’ impressive neural plasticity.
- Anthropology
‘Hobbit’ may have been human with Down syndrome
A reanalysis of a skull scientists used to argue for the hobbit species Homo floresiensis suggests the woman was a modern human with features of Down syndrome.
