All Stories
- Genetics
Orange cats get their ginger color from a single gene ‘cutout’
The variant gene is found on the X chromosome. This sex-linked trait for orange fur is found only in domesticated cats.
- Physics
Here’s why your blood vessels don’t burst under pressure
Cells lining the blood vessels reorganize their inner structures to handle stressful boosts in pressure.
- Space
A rogue black hole is on the loose in our galaxy
Astronomers now agree there’s a lone black hole wandering around the Milky Way — the first solitary black hole ever detected.
- Tech
Scientists Say: Prototype
These rough draft models help engineers test how a concept translates from theory to reality.
- Physics
Here’s how rainwater might one day power some of your lights
In tests, the electricity that water droplets made was small, but kept a dozen LEDs lit. This tech might one day power clean energy for wet or rainy places.
- Plants
Pollinators send out good vibrations — and plants respond sweetly
Snapdragon blooms can distinguish between the sounds of pollinators and thieves. They boost or drop the sugar in their nectar depending who’s arriving.
- Humans
After every soak, fingers wrinkle — and always the same way
Fingertip folds aren’t super swollen. Blood vessels constrict and pull skin inward, forming wrinkles.
- Animals
These fish yawn — and it’s contagious
Zebrafish are the first cold-blooded animals known to behave this way. Contagious yawning may affect other behaviors in these fish, too.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Heat dome
Typically, weather enters an area, storms through, then leaves. Here's what happens when steamy summer air gets stalled.
- Planets
Perseverance took the first picture of a visible aurora on Mars
A faint yet visible aurora has been spotted on Mars. It’s the first such light show seen from another planet's surface.
- Physics
Can you Manu? It’s the science-backed way to max your splash
Forget belly flops and cannonballs. Manu jumps — pioneered by New Zealand’s Māori and Pasifika communities — make the biggest blasts.
- Microbes
Experiment: Yeasty beasties
It’s hard to believe a packet of dry yeast is full of living things. But feed the yeast the right things, and presto! You’ve got bubbly, oozing mess of life.
