All Stories
- Health & Medicine
Easing test anxiety boosts science grades in low-income students
Giving lower-income students mental tools to cope with test anxiety boosted their science grades.
- Chemistry
This houseplant can clean indoor air
Houseplants may be able to help clean up polluted indoor air. Scientists gave this one a boost by givng it a gene from a rabbit.
- Materials Science
A self-cleaning glass keeps itself spotless underwater
Microscopic pancake-like structures keep dirt and oil from sticking to the surface of this self-cleaning glass.
- Ecosystems
Scientists Say: Niche
An organism’s niche is the role it fills in the community it lives in.
- Health & Medicine
These researchers swallowed Legos for science
Parents rush to the hospital every day after their kids swallow toys. To calm their fears, six brave doctors swallowed Legos for science.
- Genetics
Explainer: What are genes?
Genes are DNA regions that tell cells how to build proteins. But we have many more proteins than genes. And much of our DNA controls when genes turn on and off.
- Ecosystems
Rare-plant hunters race against time to save at-risk species
One in five plants is at risk of extinction. Meet the rare plant hunters who rappel down cliffs and trek through forests to save them.
- Computing
This bionic mushroom makes electricity
What do you get when you combine fungi, graphene, 3-D printing and photosynthetic bacteria? A mushroom that makes electricity.
- Health & Medicine
Later school starts linked to better teen grades
A Seattle study confirms that later high school start times improve teens’ sleep and grades. Fitbit-like activity trackers provided the evidence.
- Animals
These fuzz-covered flying reptiles had catlike whiskers
New fossils are changing the look of ancient flying reptiles called pterosaurs.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Zirconium
Zirconium is a metal that knows the meaning of tough. It’s so heat resistant that it’s used for molds to shape melted metals, and so radiation resistant that it coats nuclear reactors.
- Materials Science
This bandage uses electrical zaps to heal wounds faster
Scientists have invented a bandage that helps wounds heal faster by zapping them with electricity. The patient’s own motions power this device.
