All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Rise in suicides emphasizes need to help teens deal with despair
Suicides are on the rise among U.S. adolescents and young adults. These data emphasize why people should reach out to friends who might have trouble coping with intense stress.
- Physics
This idea would turn the Earth into a giant space telescope
One astronomer has a bold solution to getting around the high cost of building big telescopes.
- Health & Medicine
Vaping may have landed eight teens in the hospital
E-cigarette use can harm the lungs. Eight Wisconsin teens who developed severe lung injuries after vaping may be the latest victims.
- 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.
