All Stories
- Plants
Cool Job: Rethinking how plants hunt for water
Studies probing the very beginnings of root development may have important implications for growing food in a world where the climate is changing.
- Brain
Could Zika become a cancer treatment?
The same virus that provoked fear over causing birth defects, last year, may have a beneficial alter ego. Scientists find it may kill cells destined to form deadly brain tumors.
- Computing
Scientists Say: Radar
This is a system used to detect objects large and small. It works by sending out radio waves and waiting for them to bounce back.
- Chemistry
Specially coated fabric could turn a shirt into a shield
Specially treated fabrics offer a new kind of defense against chemical attacks. It could protect troops — and people living in war-torn nations where chemical weapons may be used.
- Health & Medicine
Good germs lurk in gross places
What do poop, dog drool and snot have in common? Though disgusting, they all carry microbes that can help keep people healthy.
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Sage advice from scientists to students
Every scientist was a kid once. Here, they offer their advice to students on making their scientific careers a success.
- Chemistry
Super-chilled imaging technique brings its developers the Nobel Prize in chemistry
Three men who helped develop a super-high-resolution imaging technique for proteins, viruses and more received the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry.
- Earth
Air pollution takes a toll on solar energy
Air pollution can rob the light needed for solar panels to make electricity. In India and China, the percent solar energy losses can reach double digits.
- Physics
Trio wins physics Nobel for detecting gravity waves
The 2017 Nobel Prize in physics went to three physicists for helping figure out how to search for ripples in spacetime — which launched a new field of astronomy.
- Animals
To become Australians, these spiders crossed an ocean
The ancestors of a species of trapdoor spider must have survived a journey from Africa, a new genetic analysis finds.
- Brain
Understanding body clocks brings three a Nobel Prize
Three American men will share this year’s Nobel prize for physiology or medicine. The award recognizes their contributions to understanding the workings of the body’s biological clock.
- Chemistry
Why onions make us cry
Researchers add another piece to the molecular puzzle biochemists have tried to solve for decades — why onions can make our eyes tear up.
