News

  1. Life

    How much space does nature need? 30 percent of the planet may not be enough

    Nations are drafting a plan to protect 30 percent of Earth by 2030 to save biodiversity. The number reflects politics more than scientific consensus.

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  2. Health & Medicine

    More evidence hints that hydroxychloroquine doesn’t help treat COVID-19

    A malaria drug showed no benefit over standard care in two preliminary studies examining how well hydroxychloroquine works against the coronavirus.

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  3. Astronomy

    High-speed gas collisions prevent star birth in galaxies’ bars

    The spiral galaxy NGC 1300 makes few if any stars in its bright bar. Simulations suggest gas clouds colliding at high speed stunt star formation.

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  4. Space

    Interstellar comet Borisov has an unexpected amount of carbon monoxide

    The second known visitor from outside the solar system has three times as much CO relative to H2O than any comet seen in the inner solar system.

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  5. Planetary Science

    Unlike Earth, the gases in Venus’ atmosphere aren’t uniformly mixed

    Measurements of Venus’ atmospheric nitrogen show that a planet’s upper atmosphere doesn’t necessarily match the lower atmosphere.

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  6. Physics

    Gravitational waves have revealed the first unevenly sized black hole pair

    For the first time, LIGO and Virgo scientists spotted gravitational waves produced when one big black hole merged with a smaller one.

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  7. Life

    Toxin-producing bacteria can make this newt deadly

    Bacteria living on the skin of some rough-skinned newts produce tetrodotoxin, a paralytic chemical also found in pufferfish.

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  8. Humans

    Here’s where things stand on COVID-19 tests in the U.S.

    Government officials are weighing how to loosen social distancing measures across the United States, but that hinges on widespread COVID-19 testing.

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  9. Chemistry

    Ancient recipes led scientists to a long-lost natural blue

    Led by medieval texts, scientists hunted down a plant and extracted from its tiny fruits a blue watercolor whose origins had long been a mystery.

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  10. Space

    A weird stellar explosion may have caused the brightest supernova yet seen

    Astronomers may have spotted the first known example of a rare “pulsational pair-instability” supernova.

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  11. Health & Medicine

    Why 6 feet may not be enough social distance to avoid COVID-19

    Scientists who study airflow warn that virus-laden drops may travel farther than thought.

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  12. Climate

    Climate change made a southwestern U.S. drought one of the worst in 1,200 years

    Tree ring records show that the 2000–2018 drought in southwestern North America is among the most severe to strike the region in over a millennium.

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