News
- Astronomy
Some of Earth’s meteors are probably coming all the way from a neighboring star system
The triple star system is sending comets, asteroids and meteors our way, and the number of interstellar objects entering the solar system will rise.
- Archaeology
Mount Vesuvius turned this ancient brain into glass. Here’s how
Transforming the brain tissue to glass would have required an extremely hot and fast-moving ash cloud, lab experiments suggest.
- Space
The International Space Station lacks microbial diversity. Is it too clean?
Hundreds of surface swabs reveal the station lacks microbial diversity, an imbalance that has been linked to health issues in other settings.
- Science & Society
Married men are doing more cleaning and laundry than in the past
Some scholars argue that efforts to equalize the time men and women spend on housework has stalled. An analysis reveals slow progress.
- Archaeology
Humans moved into African rainforests at least 150,000 years ago
This oldest known evidence of people living in tropical forests supports an idea that human evolution occurred across Africa.
- Planetary Science
Ancient Mars wasn’t just wet. It was cold and wet
Mars may once have held enough water to fill oceans and form coastlines. The planet’s red dust contains water and likely formed in cold conditions.
- Life
A skull found in Egypt shows this top predator stalked ancient Africa
Archaeologists uncovered a fossilized skull of an ancient sharp-toothed predator that likely hunted early elephants and primates.
- Animals
How fish biologists discovered birds of paradise have fluorescent feathers
A survey of museum specimens reveals that more than a dozen species of the birds sport biofluorescence in feathers, skin or even inside their throats.
- Science & Society
Fired federal workers share the crucial jobs no longer being done
Thousands of probationary federal employees received termination notices. Many were doing crucial work at science-related agencies.
- Science & Society
Why some chaos-seekers just want to watch the world burn
A political scientist explains how a confluence of personality traits and perceived status loss can encourage some people to generate chaos as a solution to their woes.
- Life
The butts of these blowfly larvae mimic termite faces
The young of a mysterious blowfly species look — and smell — like the termites they hide among.
- Humans
Biological sex is not as simple as male or female
A recent Trump executive order defines sex based on gamete size. But the order oversimplifies genetics, hormones and reproductive biology.
