All Stories
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: pH
pH is a scale used to measure the acidity or alkalinity of a solution. The scale ranges from zero to 14, with seven as the perfect neutral middle.
- Earth
Americans consume some 70,000 microplastic particles a year
The average American consumes more than 70,000 microplastic particles a year. Scientists hope this estimate will spur others to look at health risks.
- Health & Medicine
Cool Jobs: Soaking in sweat
These three scientists are using sweat to hunt killers, detect illness and find out just how our species became such hairless, perspiring apes.
- Chemistry
Explainer: The bacteria behind your B.O.
Special glands in our armpits give us our signature stink. But it’s not our sweat that’s to blame. It’s the bacteria that gobble it up.
- Space
The Milky Way is shaped like a curvy potato chip
Our galaxy’s got curves. You can see them in a chart of thousands of stars called Cepheids.
- Health & Medicine
Two Ebola treatments prove highly effective in a clinical trial
Preliminary data show that two treatments are highly effective at preventing death in Congo, where an Ebola epidemic is ongoing.
- Chemistry
A new electric surgery tool may someday fix nose, ear and eye problems
A new surgery tool uses electricity to reshape ear and nose tissue in minutes, without pain. Someday, it might even work on eyes to restore normal vision.
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Scientists Say: Mineral
Minerals are chemical elements or compounds that form repeating crystal structures. Quartz is a mineral. Table salt is, too.
- Genetics
Obesity in mice caused by defects in their immune system
Subtle defects in T cell function alter rodents’ microbiome and fat absorption, providing hints of what might also be going on in people.
- Agriculture
As infections ravage food crops, scientists fight back
Diseases threaten important food crops like cocoa beans, wheat and citrus. Scientists are working to understand these infections — and fight back.
- Animals
Giving cats a special food may one day help people with cat allergies
Research by pet-food maker Purina aims to disable the major allergen carried in cat saliva. It’s a protein called Fel d1.
- Animals
A flexible bone that aids mammals in chewing arose during the Jurassic
A flexible bony structure that helps with chewing may have helped give rise to the Age of Mammals, a new fossil suggests.
