All Stories
- Animals
Gene editing creates buff beagles
Scientists showed that a potentially useful new gene-editing tool can work in dogs. It created a pair of adorable, muscular puppies. But the goal is to use it for other research purposes.
- Ecosystems
Two SNS writers win big
Here’s a Cool Job: writing about science. Two people who regularly do that for SNS have just picked up awards for stories on the physics of lightning and how nature recycles the dead to feed the living.
- Physics
Explainer: Locating a gun with sound waves
Recording the sound of a gun from three microphones can help scientists pinpoint the weapon’s location.
- Physics
Boom! Sounding out the enemy
Armistice Day marked the end of the Great War. But what arguably won the war was acoustics — the science of sound. It allowed Allied troops to home in on and rout the enemy.
- Chemistry
Explainer: Temperature and electrical resistance
Higher temperatures mean more energy and more motion. In contrast, cold means slow moving molecules.
- Brain
Scientists discover itch-busting cells
A study in mice finds the body has a special way of dealing with an itch that’s caused by a light touch. The results could lead to treatments for chronic itch.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Neurotransmitters
When brain cells need to communicate, they use chemicals as messengers. These molecules have a special name.
- Earth
Plastic trash travels up to Arctic waters
Bags, fishing rope and other tiny bits of plastic are now polluting Arctic waters, posing threats to area wildlife.
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Float candy on a sea of salt
tir salt into water and make a candy bar float. Sure, it’s fun — but you can also make it research. You just need a big bag of candy and some measurements to turn this demo into an experiment with density.
- Health & Medicine
Light can control waves in heart tissue
Researchers have used light to trigger and control electrical waves in the heart. The technique might one day provide new ways to treat heart disease.
- Health & Medicine
Some air pollutants seep through skin
The skin is the body’s largest organ. And it can let in as much or more of certain air pollutants than enter through the lungs, a new study finds.
- Physics
Einstein taught us: It’s all ‘relative’
One hundred years ago, a German physicist shared some math he had been working on. In short order, his theory of relativity would revise forever how people viewed the universe.
