All Stories
- Math
Color-changing fibers help unravel a knotty problem
Experiments with colorful fibers helped scientists discover a few simple rules on why the strength of various types of knots differs.
- Health & Medicine
Your most urgent questions about the new coronavirus
Researchers have more questions than answers right now about 2019-nCoV. They’re racing to understand and stop the coronavirus and the health crisis it poses.
- Chemistry
Help for a world drowning in microplastics
Microplastic pollution in our oceans and lakes is a problem. Scientists are testing solutions — from more biodegradable recipes to nanotechnology.
- Materials Science
Here’s how to hide some objects from heat-sensing cameras
A special coating that conceals temperature information from heat-detecting cameras might someday be used as a privacy shield.
- Health & Medicine
The many challenges of corralling a coronavirus outbreak
The Chinese government has quarantined millions of people in hopes of limiting spread of a new coronavirus. But no one yet knows how much this will help.
- Animals
Healthy coral reef sounds attract fish searching for a home
Playing the sounds of a healthy reef can help attract fish to dying corals, helping rebuild their community.
- Earth
Newfound desert soil community lives on sips of fog
Lichens and other fungi and algae team up to form a 'grit-crust' on the parched soil of Chile’s Atacama Desert. Those species slake their thirst with moisture from coastal fog.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Estuary
This is where a freshwater river meets a salty sea. This environment has brackish water, a mix of saltwater and freshwater.
- Animals
Small T. rex ‘cousins’ may actually have been growing teens
Dinosaurs once thought to be mini cousins of Tyrannosaurus rex may have been merely adolescent members of the famous species, a new study suggests.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: What is a coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a diverse family of disease-causing agents. Some cause the common cold. Newer ones have emerged to pose more serious threats to people.
- Genetics
Serious virus emerges in China and is spreading globally
A new viral infection emerged in December 2019 among people in Wuhan, China. The mystery illness has already killed at least 17 people and sickened many hundreds.
- Science & Society
A first: Kids advise hospital researchers on their medical studies
When the Mayo Clinic realized it was missing key voices, the hospital recruited kids to advise doctors about their research.
