All Stories
- Brain
Father-son bond inspires sweets that model the shapes of molecules
These bite-sized gummy candies could spark interest in the world of chemistry, especially among students who can’t see.
- Animals
Urchin mobs can literally dis-arm a predator
Urchins are important herbivores — but not strict vegetarians. When hungry enough, they may even rip apart their predators for lunch.
- Humans
Tennessee site yields oldest known American tattoo tools
Native Americans may have used sharpened turkey leg bones as tattoo needles between 5,520 and 3,620 years ago.
- Physics
Light from space has record-breaking energy
Hundreds of newly detected gamma rays hint at environments in the cosmos that accelerate particles to energy extremes.
- Animals
Engineers surprised by the power of an elephant’s trunk
An elephant's trunk can suck air through it fast — at more than 335 miles per hour (150 meters per second)!
- Animals
Let’s learn about whales and dolphins
Whales, dolphins and porpoises are all cetaceans — mammals that live in water and have a streamlined body similar to a fish.
- Health & Medicine
Will we all need COVID-19 booster shots?
Experts say not yet, but booster vaccines may be coming as new SARS-CoV-2 virus variants keep emerging.
- Climate
‘Tree farts’ make up about a fifth of greenhouse gases from ghost forests
Heat-trapping gases from dead trees play an important role in the environmental impact of “ghost” forests.
- Animals
Common parasite may help mussels survive heat waves
By whitening shells, the organism helps the shellfish stay cool on sunny days, a new study suggests.
- Chemistry
Sleep-friendlier lighting is on the way
Chemists have created a new glowing material for LEDs. It should lessen how much near-bedtime lighting impairs your ability to nod off.
- Animals
Mantis shrimp inspires somersaults of new soft robot
Its rolling acrobatics allow this robot to move especially swiftly — much as a fictional new Disney character can.
- Materials Science
‘Smart’ pasta morphs into fun shapes as it cooks
The trick to this shape-shifting are grooves cut into the raw pasta. Those grooves affect how the noodles swell as they cook.
