All Stories
- Physics
Energy may seem to disappear, but there’s a law against that
When a ball rolls to stop or a phone battery dies, it’s energy didn't vanish — it just morphed to another form. Energy is always conserved.
- Animals
Radioactive animals don’t glow — but do show the power of radiation
Wild species exposed to nuclear contamination help show how radiation affects living things — including its risks to people.
- Environment
Nuclear weapons tests many decades ago have left a radioactive legacy
Decades of aboveground nuclear weapons tests, starting in the 1950s, lightly littered the planet with toxic fallout, which appears to have sickened some people.
- Materials Science
‘Stenciling’ tiny gold particles gives them new properties
Decorating nanoparticles with other chemicals could give them useful properties for medicines, textiles and more.
- Fossils
Here’s why ammolite gems have a rainbow shimmer
The fossils’ fabulous colors arise from delicate assemblies of crystal plates.
- Health & Medicine
Recruits agreed to be buried face down in the snow, for science
A safety device helped maintain the buried person’s oxygen levels for a half hour or more, which might provide time for an avalanche rescue.
- Life
Scientists Say: Taxonomy
This field of study does more than just organize living things. It also reflects the history of life's evolution.
- Space
This cosmologist studies the invisible parts of the universe
Katie Mack started out building solar-powered LEGO cars as a kid. Now she studies dark matter to better understand how galaxies form and evolve.
- Science & Society
Linking science to dance, culture and more expands who can take part
Through movement, sound, culture and community, some researchers are expanding the ways we learn, think about and communicate science and engineering.
- Physics
Chopping an onion? Sharp knives can keep its juice out of your eyes
Slow and steady cuts with a sharp blade, video shows, can reduce the pain-inducing spray of tiny onion-juice droplets.
- Animals
Some Antarctic fish arrange their nests into odd shapes
Scientists found nests organized into curves, clusters and ovals on the Antarctic seabed. Such groupings may protect the fish eggs from predators.
- Life
Let’s learn about life forms that have survived in space
Moss spores, bacteria and tardigrades have all proved their hardiness outside the International Space Station.
