News
- Physics
Physics Nobel awarded for discoveries about the universe’s evolution and exoplanets
Three scientists share the 2019 Nobel Prize in physics for revealing what makes up our cosmos and for finding the first planet orbiting a sunlike star.
- Humans
Nepal is reeling from an unprecedented dengue outbreak
As climate change opens new regions to mosquitoes, Nepal suffers an outbreak of the painful viral disease that has sickened more than 9,000 people.
- Health & Medicine
Discovery of how cells sense oxygen wins the 2019 medicine Nobel
Understanding the molecular switch that lets cells cope with oxygen has implications for everything from metabolism to wound healing.
- Climate
In a climate crisis, is geoengineering worth the risks?
Some scientists say the world needs to reconsider some human-made ideas to cool the climate as dire warnings about the looming crisis ramp up.
- Health & Medicine
The U.S. narrowly eked out a measles win, keeping elimination status
The risk of measles, while low in the United States, still remains due to undervaccinated areas and international travelers importing the virus.
- Space
Why just being in the habitable zone doesn’t make exoplanets livable
A reignited debate over whether a new planet is habitable highlights the difficult science of seeking alien life.
- Space
A new image reveals the structure of the cosmic web
Newly spotted tendrils of gas within a forming cluster of galaxies support scientists’ theory of the cosmos.
- Neuroscience
Dueling brain waves during sleep may decide whether rats remember or forget
In a slumbering rat, two distinct kinds of brain waves have opposite jobs.
- Health & Medicine
Men with breast cancer have lower survival rates than women
Men with breast cancer don’t fare as well as women. To expand treatment options, the U.S. FDA is encouraging drug companies to include men in studies.
- Life
Gene editing can make fruit flies into ‘monarch flies’
Just three molecular changes can make fruit flies insensitive to milkweed toxins.
- Genetics
Dog behaviors like aggression and fearfulness are linked to breed genetics
A study looking at how 101 dog breeds behave finds a strong association between genetics and 14 personality traits.
- Health & Medicine
Rare eastern equine encephalitis has killed 9 people in the U.S. in 2019
2019 is the worst eastern equine encephalitis outbreak since tracking began in 2003, with 31 cases and nine deaths from the brain infection so far.
