All Stories
- Space
How the solar system’s tail disappeared
A bubble envelops the planets and other material in the solar system. New data show it does not have a long tail but is round.
- Earth
Scientists Say: Continent
A continent is a large land mass. Geologists recognize six of them — Africa, Antarctica, Eurasia, Australia, North America and South America.
- Health & Medicine
Needle-free blood typing may be on the way
A teen in Kuwait presents data suggesting how, one day, it may be possible to figure out your blood type just by shining infrared light into your skin.
- Life
Weird mega-worm found to have odd diet
Giant shipworms have bacteria in their gills that produce food for them. This has made their digestive organs shrink from lack of use.
- Health & Medicine
A light-filled box could blast bacteria from lab coats
Doctors can pick up bacteria on their lab coats. A teen has designed a special light-filled box to keep those coats from infecting others with those germs.
- Chemistry
Cool Jobs: Counting calories
Do calories count? A nutrition label doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet three researchers working to shed light on the complex connections between food and health.
- Health & Medicine
Explainer: All about the calorie
Calories are a measure of how much energy is in a food. But when it comes to powering our bodies, not all calories are equally available to the body.
- Materials Science
Teen’s invention could help light up bikes at night
A teen researcher from Georgia has developed a light that could replace reflectors on bike wheels. Flexing tires provide all the power it needs.
- Animals
Toss and slap — how dolphins disarm a dangerous meal
Octopus can be a deadly meal, especially if you don’t have hands to cut it up. But dolphins in Australia have figured out how to eat octopus without choking to death.
- Brain
Analyze This: Sleep patterns vary widely across the world
Data on four very different groups of people show that sleep patterns vary based on the local environment, the culture and daily schedules.
- Health & Medicine
This mix turns pink when sunscreen wears thin
Many people know to put on sunscreen. Remembering to put more on is harder. A teen invented an indicator that glows pink when it’s time to reapply.
- Earth
Plastic trash rides ocean currents to the Arctic
Ocean currents can carry plastic trash far from the cities that shed it. Some plastic debris has made it all of the way to the Arctic Ocean, new data show.
