News
- Astronomy
First 3-D map of a gas cloud in space shows it’s flat like a pancake
An interstellar gas cloud dubbed the Dark Doodad Nebula looks like a wispy, thin cylinder. But it’s actually a flat sheet.
- Life
There’s a genetic explanation for why warmer nests turn turtles female
Scientists have found a temperature-responsive gene that controls young turtles’ sex fate.
- Artificial Intelligence
This AI uses the same kind of brain wiring as mammals to navigate
This AI creates mental maps of its environment much like mammals do.
- Astronomy
Gaia delivers a trove of data revealing secrets of the Milky Way
Astronomers are already using Gaia’s new information to estimate the galaxy’s mass, the diameter of exoplanets and more.
- Earth
How long will Kilauea’s eruption last?
A volcanologist with the U.S. Geological Survey answers burning questions about the ongoing Kilauea eruption.
- Astronomy
New ideas about how stars die help solve a decades-old mystery
New ideas about stellar evolution help explain why astronomers see so many bright planetary nebulae where they ought not be.
- Tech
This self-driving car could one day take you on a real road trip
Most autonomous cars are city drivers. This one’s made for cross-country road trips.
- Health & Medicine
An enzyme involved in cancer and aging gets a close-up
The structure of telomerase, described with the greatest detail yet, may give researchers clues to cancer treatments and other telomerase-related illnesses.
- Genetics
Adapting to life in the north may have been a real headache
A cold-sensing protein has adapted to different local climates, also affecting risk of migraine.
- Planetary Science
NASA gets ready to launch the first lander to investigate Mars’ insides
The InSight lander is launching to Mars on May 5 and is expected to be in position to sense seismic activity by early 2019.
- Health & Medicine
FDA approves the first smallpox treatment
Concerns about bioterrorism fueled the development of the first treatment for smallpox.
- Animals
This ancient fowl bit like a dinosaur and pecked like a bird
A new fossil of Ichthyornis dispar helped scientists create a 3-D reconstruction of the ancient bird’s skull, shedding light on early bird evolution.
