All Stories
- Space
In a rare event, the moon got a massive new crater
A crater as wide as two American football fields formed in spring 2024, a size expected roughly once a century. A NASA orbiter got to watch.
- Animals
Female giant rainforest mantises grow up to strike harder than males
Scientists tracked mantis strike force from youth to adulthood, showing females eventually hit far harder than males. Why is a mystery.
- Chemistry
Long nails don’t work on touchscreens. An experimental polish could help
Proton movement in the nail polish probably activates the touchscreen, but the formula isn’t ready to hit shelves yet.
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Science and armed conflict
Editor in chief Nancy Shute discusses how science and armed conflict have been intertwined throughout history, from the Greeks in 400 B.C. to the use of tear gas in the protests across the United States as recently as a few months ago.
- Health & Medicine
Amid vaccine policy whiplash, here’s how a pediatrician talks to families
A court ruling that blocks Trump administration vaccine policy is a win for science. But much work remains to rebuild trust in vaccines.
- Space
How realistic is Project Hail Mary?
Ryan Gosling is on a mission to save the sun — and Earth — from star-killing microbes. Science News dissects the science behind the sci-fi movie.
- Plants
Check out 6 ways orchids use tricks to reproduce
This spring, these six orchids will lure pollinators with mimicry, scent or other unusual strategies.
- Animals
Mosquitoes get the ‘I’m full’ signal from their butts, not their brains
Mosquitoes stop feeding because signals from rectal cells tell them they’re full, offering a target for preventing human bites.
- Health & Medicine
GLP-1 microdosers are chasing longevity
Experimenters hope to harness the powerful effects of medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy at doses smaller than those studied most.
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Math puzzle: Fresh gridflowers
Solve the math puzzle from our April 2026 issue, where we plant floras to celebrate an upcoming nuptial.
- Archaeology
A new study questions when people first reached South America
Data suggest people lived at Chile’s Monte Verde site thousands of years later than thought, challenging key “pre-Clovis” evidence. Not all agree.
- Earth
Earth’s continental plates were moving 3.48 billion years ago
Magnetic crystals provide the earliest evidence yet of the plate tectonics that likely made Earth habitable, pushing its start back by 140 million years.
