All Stories
- Brain
The immune system has a say in how hard ‘teen’ rats play
“Teen” rats like to wrestle. A new study shows the brain’s immune system might trigger changes that morph this desire for rough-and-tumble play into the calm of adulthood.
- Health & Medicine
Many food supplements unlawfully contain drugs
The most common medicines tainting these products were usually ones that doctors prescribe for weight loss, for muscle building or to boost a man’s sex drive.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Quarantine
This is a restriction on where people or animals who are sick — or suspected of being sick — can go. Doctors use quarantine to try to prevent a disease from spreading.
- Brain
Less screentime linked to better memory, learning in kids
Kids ages eight to 11 spend an average of 3.6 hours a day on screens, a new study shows. But the best thinking scores come from kids who average fewer than two hours a day of screen time.
- Space
R.I.P. Kepler, the planet-hunting telescope
It’s lights out for this spacecraft, after finding more than 2,700 exoplanets throughout our galaxy.
- Earth
Designing tomorrow’s burger
Many people enjoy biting into a juicy hamburger. But getting it to the table can be hard on the environment. That's why scientists are at work developing new forms of beef and other meats, ones that don't require slaughtering animals.
- Animals
Here’s how cockroaches fight off zombie-makers
Stand tall. Kick, kick and kick some more. Scientists observed these successful tactics among some study subjects that avoided becoming true zombies.
- Archaeology
Ancient child’s ‘vampire burial’ suggests Romans feared the walking dead
A 10-year-old skeleton in a Roman cemetery had a stone placed in its mouth. It was to prevent this child from rising from the dead, a study reports.
- Health & Medicine
Bacteria and bugs will save us from the zombie apocalypse
Don’t fear the undead. Here’s how the body’s cells, microbes and insects will eat a zombie before it ever goes looking for brains.
- Earth
Microplastics take flight in the bellies of mosquitoes
In polluted water, mosquito larvae may eat microplastic — and it will stay in their bodies as they grow. That might pose risks to skeeter-eating birds.
- Climate
Eastern Pacific records its most energetic hurricane season
The eastern Pacific Ocean has been cranking out storms. Now it’s reached its most active season on record.
- Health & Medicine
Scientists Say: Parasite
Lots of organisms live in pairs, benefitting from each other. But when one organism benefits while the other suffers? That first organism is a parasite.
