All Stories
- Archaeology
DNA reveals clues to the Siberian ancestors of the first Americans
Researchers discovered a previously unknown population of Ice Age people who crossed the Asia-North America land bridge.
- Health & Medicine
Gut bacteria may affect how well your medicines work
Gut bacteria can chemically change the drugs people swallow. ID-ing a patient’s microbes might one day help doctors prescribe the most effective drugs.
- Health & Medicine
By the numbers: How infectious measles and other diseases spread
A number called R0 measures how contagious an infectious disease is. It helps explain why measles is so dangerous.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Obesogens
The chemicals can change how the body stores fat or how often someone feels hungry — increasing the risk for obesity.
- Physics
This device turns the kilogram’s new definition into a real mass
A new suitcase-sized device will be able to measure small masses — around 10 grams — with surprising accuracy.
- Animals
Bats are now the primary source of U.S. rabies deaths
Although human rabies is not common in the United States, it still occurs. But here dogs are no longer the likely source of this oft-lethal infection: Bats are.
- Earth
Antibiotics pollute many of the world’s rivers
A survey of 165 rivers finds unsafe levels of antibiotics at one in six sites tested. Such pollution can leave germs resistant (unharmed) by the drugs.
- Health & Medicine
Fighting spider-fear with a little Spider-Man
Many people are afraid of spiders or ants. Watching a movie clip with the critters in it might help make people more comfortable with them, a new study shows.
- Climate
Scientists Say: Eyewall
The calm center of a hurricane or other tropical cyclone is called the eye. But the worst winds and rain are around it, in the eyewall.
- Earth
‘Biodegradable’ plastic bags often don’t break down
Biodegradable plastic bags are supposed to break down more quickly than ordinary plastics. But that may not happen, a study finds.
- Physics
Fireworks shower the skies with science
Filling the night sky with fireworks requires the help of chemists, electrical engineers and people who can choreograph theatrical shows.
- Climate
Holiday fireworks can bring extreme pollution, India finds
Fireworks bring sparkle and zing to a celebration, but they also can have a dark side — unhealthy levels of air pollution.
