All Stories by Laurel Hamers
- Climate
Here’s how much climate change could cost the U.S.
A report by hundreds of scientists from 13 federal agencies starkly outlines the economic impacts of climate change on the United States.
- Environment
Engineers are plugging holes in drinking water treatment
Drinking water quality has come a long way in the past hundred years — but challenges remain.
- Paleontology
This huge plant eater thrived in the age of dinosaurs — but wasn’t one of them
A newly named plant-eater from the Late Triassic was surprisingly hefty.
- Tech
A new airplane uses charged molecules, not propellers or turbines, to fly
A small aircraft prototype is powered by ionic wind flowing in one direction and pushing the plane in the other.
- Animals
Wombats are the only animals whose poop is a cube. Here’s how they do it.
The elasticity of wombats’ intestines helps the creatures shape their distinctive poops.
- Climate
Development near natural areas puts more Californians in the path of wildfires
As urbanization extends its reach into once-natural areas, more homes and people are at risk from wildfires.
- Life
How a life-threatening allergic reaction can happen so fast
Cells that act as sentries facilitate quick communication between allergens and anaphylaxis-triggering immune cells, a study in mice finds.
- Neuroscience
Stimulating the spinal cord helps 3 more paralyzed people walk
There’s more evidence that with targeted spinal cord stimulation, paralyzed people can move voluntarily — and even walk.
- Ecosystems
How researchers flinging salmon inadvertently spurred tree growth
Scientists studying salmon in Alaska flung dead fish into the forest. After 20 years, the nutrients from those carcasses sped up tree growth.
- Environment
We’re probably undervaluing healthy lakes and rivers
Clean water legislation often doesn’t seem like a good deal on paper. Here’s why that may be misleading.
- Chemistry
Speeding up evolution to create useful proteins wins the chemistry Nobel
The three winners, which include the fifth woman to win the chemistry prize, pioneered techniques used to fashion customized proteins for new biofuels and drugs.
- Genetics
Smuggling a CRISPR gene editor into staph bacteria can kill the pathogen
A new way fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria co-opts toxin-producing genes.
