All Stories
- Brain
Small region of brain recognizes facial expressions
Scientists identify the brain region responsible for recognizing facial expressions in others. It helps us know whether others are happy or sad.
- Health & Medicine
Control a computer with your tongue
Thousands of severely paralyzed people could venture into cyberspace with the use of this new tongue-controlled computer mouse. It was developed by a teen.
- Animals
Polar bears swim for days as sea ice retreats
Melting sea ice is forcing polar bears to swim long distances — up to nine days in one case. Such long treks may be more than the bears can handle.
- Physics
Scientists Say: Absolute zero
Even when we think it’s cold out, most molecules are moving. Only at absolute zero will all of their motions stop.
- Archaeology
Remains of long-ago child sacrifices found in Belize cave
Thousands of bones in Belize’s Midnight Terror Cave show that the Maya had a long tradition of human sacrifices. New data show that many had been children.
- Tech
Teens invent way to keep floodwaters out of subways
Two New York teens have designed an inexpensive subway grate to block floodwaters from getting into subway tunnels.
- Animals
Male peacocks twerk it to bring in the hens
Scientists recorded peacocks with high-speed video cameras to learn the basic mechanics behind the shows they put on for peahens.
- Earth
Common water pollutants hurt freshwater organisms
The germ killers we use and the drugs we take don’t just disappear. They can end up in the environment. There they can harm aquatic organisms, three teens showed.
- Earth
Dust creates deserts in the sky
Vast rivers of dust flow through the sky. This invisible force shapes our world in profound ways. And scientists are finally homing in on a major source.
- Animals
Snakes go dark to soak in the sun
Snakes are paler in the South and darker in the North. The darker species absorb heat more quickly, a teen showed.
- Chemistry
Nanowires could lead to super-long-lived battery
Scientists have long been looking for ways to make rechargeable batteries that last forever. They now may be close. Their solution: gel-dipped nanowires.
- Animals
Dragons sleep like mammals and birds
Lizards seem to alternate between two sleep states, just as mammals and birds do. This finding could change our understanding of how sleep evolved.
