All Stories
- Brain
Zombies are real!
Some parasites worm their way into other creatures’ brains and alter their victims’ behavior. Meet zombie ants, spiders, cockroaches, fish and more.
- Animals
Peacock spider’s radiant rump comes from teeny tiny structures
Male peacock spiders have highly colored hind ends that they shake to attract females. Scientists have now figured out the physics responsible for those hues.
- Climate
How fossil fuel use threatens kids’ health
A children’s health expert says kids suffer more than any other group from the many impacts of fossil fuel burning.
- Chemistry
New coating for metals could cut engine wear
Scientists have developed a new coating for engine parts that could reduce friction and engine wear. One big benefit: Cars may require fewer oil changes.
- Chemistry
Scientists Say: Fatty acid
Fats are important, especially fatty acids. These molecules serve many purposes, but they are all constructed the same way.
- Science & Society
Women in science are living life by the numbers
These women show that math, physics and technology are definitely a girl thing.
- Humans
Big Viking families got away with murder
The most deadly Vikings came from families that were big enough to discourage revenge.
- Planets
A trail of cosmic dust may lead to alien life
Liquid water can be found even in the cold reaches of the outer solar system. Some hidden oceans may harbor warm oases cozy for living things.
- Health & Medicine
Surprise! Most ‘color vision’ cells see only black or white
Cone cells in the eye’s retina can see black, white or color. The black and white ones may create sharp outlines and edges that color-sensing cones then fill in like parts of a coloring page.
- Climate
Globe’s non-Africans all descend from a single move out of Africa
Look back far enough and everybody’s ancestors were African no more than 72,000 years ago. Climate scientists would up that date to perhaps 100,000 years ago.
- Animals
Tasmanian devils begin to resist infectious cancer
A deadly contagious cancer is spreading among Tasmanian devils. But the animals are evolving resistance, a new study finds.
- Space
Scientists Say: Comet
Comets are small solar system objects. When they pass close to their sun, their melting gases and water give them a tail.
