News
- Astronomy
A shadowy birthplace may explain Jupiter’s strange chemistry
Dust that blocked sunlight caused the giant planet to form in a deep freeze, a new study suggests.
- Humans
How wielding lamps and torches shed new light on Stone Age cave art
Experiments with stone lamps and juniper branch torches are helping scientists see 12,500-year-old cave art with fresh eyes.
- Health & Medicine
What experts know so far about the delta variant
The variant, which first emerged in India, is outcompeting other highly transmissible forms of the coronavirus as it spreads around the world.
- Astronomy
Scientists spotted an electron-capture supernova for the first time
A flare that appeared in the sky in 2018 was an electron-capture supernova, a blast that can occur in stars too small to go off the usual way.
- Animals
Focusing on Asian giant hornets distorts the view of invasive species
2021’s first “murder hornet” is yet another arrival. This is the not-so-new normal.
- Earth
Invisible bursts of electricity from volcanoes signal explosive eruptions
Mysterious “vent discharges” could help warn of impending explosions, a study of Japan’s Sakurajima volcano shows.
- Paleontology
Fossilized dung from a dinosaur ancestor yields a new beetle species
Whole beetles preserved in fossilized poo suggest that ancient droppings may deserve a closer look.
- Physics
An atomic clock that could revolutionize space travel just passed its first test
The most precise clock ever sent to space successfully operated in Earth’s orbit for over a year.
- Astronomy
This moon-sized white dwarf is the smallest ever found
A newfound white dwarf is the smallest and perhaps the most massive known, and spins around once every seven minutes.
- Health & Medicine
A malaria vaccine with live parasites shows promise in a small trial
After taking anti-malarial drugs after each vaccine dose to clear the parasite from the body, volunteers appeared well-protected from infection.
- Humans
Ancient human bones reveal the oldest known strain of the plague
The earliest known plague strain emerged about 7,100 years ago and was less contagious as the one behind Black Death — but was still deadly.
- Climate
3 things to know about the record-smashing heat wave baking the Pacific Northwest
Road-buckling, cable-melting, life-threatening heat waves in the Pacific Northwest may become more common as global temperatures rise.
