All Stories

  1. Climate

    Ancient Arctic ‘gas’ melt triggered enormous seafloor explosions

    Methane explosions 12,000 years ago left huge craters in bedrock on the Arctic seafloor. Scientists worry more could be on the way today as Earth’s ice sheets melt.

    By Beth Geiger
  2. Animals

    Analyze This: A massive annual insect migration

    A study of seasonal insect migration gave some surprising results.

    By Lillian Steenblik Hwang
  3. Animals

    How a flamingo balances on one leg

    Flamingos are so good at balancing on just one leg that they can snooze that way with little effort.

    By Susan Milius
  4. Animals

    Scientists Say: Extremophile

    Some species can survive high heat, freezing cold or other extreme environments. Scientists call these organisms extremophiles.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  5. Chemistry

    New rules point scientists toward next-gen germ-killers

    Shape and other features help germ-killing drugs make it through barriers to enter bacteria. Knowing how they do this could lead to more and better better antibiotics.

    By Aimee Cunningham
  6. Fossils

    Study claims to have found oldest human fossils

    Humans, as a species, may be much older than previously thought. They also may have evolved further North and West of the suspected cradle of human evolution.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. Genetics

    Cool Jobs: New tools to solve crimes

    Future investigators may identify criminals by the microbes they leave behind or by using DNA-like evidence from strands of their hair.

    By Kathryn Hulick
  8. Planets

    Jupiter gets surprisingly complex new portrait

    NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back unexpected details about Jupiter, giving scientists their first close-up of this gas giant.

    By Ashley Yeager
  9. Chemistry

    To test pill coatings, try a stomach in a flask

    Which pain reliever should you buy? The tablet, gel tab or compressed caplet? A teen did an experiment to find out.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  10. Environment

    Is your home chilly? This might just be healthy

    Feeling mildly cold (or a bit too warm) forces the body to adjust what it’s doing to maintain a healthy temperature. And that can do a body good, data now show.

    By Sharon Oosthoek
  11. Chemistry

    BPA-free plastic may host BPA-like chemical, teen finds

    Something has to replace the BPA in ‘BPA-free’ plastics. A teen has been probing what that is.

    By Bethany Brookshire
  12. Animals

    Underwater robot vacuums up lionfish

    Lionfish damage coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean. A new underwater robot hunts, stuns and captures the bullies with help from a human operator.

    By Kathryn Hulick