All Stories
- Genetics
Ancient famine-fighting genes can’t explain obesity
Scientists question the long-standing notion that adaptation — specifically the evolution of genes that encourage humans to hold on to fat so they can survive times of famine — has driven the obesity crisis.
- Microbes
Magnets diagnose malaria in minutes
A small magnet-based device provides faster, more-sensitive malaria diagnosis in mice.
- Oceans
Plastic may take unexpected routes to marine garbage patches
By redefining ocean boundaries, researchers offer new insight to how litter moves through the oceans and who’s to blame for the floating clumps of trash.
- Tech
Space tourism’s price tag rockets upward
The “high price” of space tourism proposed in the 1960s is nowhere close to the astronomical price tag of trips today.
- Physics
Unusual turbulence seen along North Carolina coast
Storm winds in Currituck Sound, North Carolina, may have created just the right conditions for scientists to see a rare type of turbulence in ocean waves for the first time.
- Animals
Archerfish mouth is the secret of precision spit
Trained fish shoot down two hypotheses for their fine spit control but reveal fancy mouth work.
- Earth
Death Valley’s sailing stones caught on the move
Mysterious sailing stones wandering around Death Valley are powered by ice and wind.
- Genetics
Source of coffee’s kick found in its genetic code
Coffee doubled up on caffeine-making genes. Those genes evolved independently from similar ones found in tea and chocolate plants.
- Paleontology
World’s largest dinosaur discovered
A plant-eating dinosaur named Dreadnoughtus schrani has claimed the record for most massive land animal discovered to date.
- Quantum Physics
Molecules stop tumbling with hit of laser light
Stopping molecules' rotation with a custom laser could help scientists harness them for quantum computing.
- Neuroscience
Children’s brains shaped by music training
After two years of an enrichment program, children’s brains showed more sophisticated response to spoken syllables.
- Astronomy
Milky Way connected to a vast network of galaxies
The Milky Way galaxy lives on the outer edge of a newly discovered supercluster of galaxies named Laniakea that is 520 million light-years across.
