Vol. 204 No. 1
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More Stories from the July 15, 2023 issue

  1. An archaeologist wearing an orange safety vest touching some rocks
    Life

    1.6-billion-year-old steroid fossils hint at a lost world of microbial life

    Molecular fossils suggest the existence of a lost world of primitive eukaryotes that dominated aquatic ecosystems from at least 1.6 billion to 0.8 billion years ago.

    By
  2. An illustration of the Milky Way galaxy.
    Astronomy

    Alien life may be possible even at the Milky Way’s edges

    Phosphorus detected far from the Milky Way’s center seems to extend the zone where life could exist in the galaxy by thousands of light-years.

    By
  3. an illustration of a galaxy with a quasar, shown as a a swirl of blue and pink with a beam bisecting the center against the starry backdrop of space
    Astronomy

    In a first, JWST detected starlight from distant galaxies with quasars

    Until JWST’s sharp infrared eyes came along, it wasn’t possible to see the galaxies hosting extremely bright supermassive black holes called quasars.

    By
  4. An image of photosynthetic bacteria appears in shades of blue, purple and green on a black background.
    Chemistry

    One photon is all it takes to kick off photosynthesis

    A single particle of light is the spark that begins the process of turning light to chemical energy in photosynthetic bacteria, a new study confirms.

    By
  5. An artist's creation shows a red Jupiter-like planet with a red star shining in the distance.
    Astronomy

    Jupiter-sized planets are very rare around the least massive stars

    A six-year search of 200 nearby low-mass red dwarf stars found no Jupiter-like planets, boosting the standard theory for how such planets form.

    By
  6. An illustration of a Gonkoken nanoi dinosaur walking on the shore of a lake
    Life

    New fossils from Patagonia may rewrite the history of duck-billed dinosaurs

    New findings are adding a wrinkle to researchers’ understanding of how duck-billed dinosaurs conquered the Cretaceous world.

    By
  7. A drone photo of a southern stretch of the North American boreal forest burnt by wildfires.
    Climate

    The snow forest of North America may be about to shrink

    From 2000 to 2019, the boreal forest’s northern boundary didn’t move while southern tree cover thinned due to climate change, wildfires and logging.

    By
  8. an aerial image of the Halaco Engineering Company site
    Environment

    Rising groundwater threatens to spread toxic pollution on U.S. coastlines

    Sea level rise is pushing groundwater into shallower layers of earth, threatening to spread hazardous chemicals from contaminated soils.

    By
  9. A photo of a snow fly standing on ice.
    Animals

    A grisly trick helps snow flies survive freezing: self-amputation

    When a snow fly’s leg begins to freeze, a quick amputation can prevent ice from spreading, keeping the cold-hardy insect alive.

    By
  10. A radar map of the North Atlantic ocean showing large areas of unusually high temperatures in orange and red, with some blue spots near the east coast of North America
    Climate

    Why is the North Atlantic breaking heat records?

    Record-breaking sea-surface temperatures off the coast of Africa may affect the 2023 hurricane season. What’s fueling the unusual heat is unclear.

    By
  11. Two black and white photos of a mysterious gecko specimen. The image on top show the underside of the gecko while the bottom image shows the top view of the gecko.
    Animals

    DNA has revealed the origin of this giant ‘mystery’ gecko

    A genetic analysis of a 19th century museum specimen, the only known example of the planet’s biggest gecko, has rewritten the animal’s backstory.

    By
  12. photo of bedrock in Canada
    Earth

    50 years ago, scientists thought they had found Earth’s oldest rocks

    Even older rocks and minerals continue fueling debates over Earth’s crust, plate tectonics and even when life arose.

    By