All Stories
- Physics
News Brief: Brrrrr — that’s really cold!
These atoms approached — and got oh so very close — to absolute zero.
- Chemistry
News Brief: Wash removes nano germ-killers
Manufacturers coat many fabrics with silver nanoparticles to kill bacteria. But when those items get laundered it can be bye-bye germ killers.
- Microbes
Making a microbe subway map
We are surrounded by bacteria, fungi and other tiny organisms. Now, high school scientists have contributed to the first map of microbes in the New York subway system.
- Planets
Mini-sats: The trick to spying Earth-bound asteroids?
NASA is supposed to begin nonstop screening by 2020 for all asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. Some astronomers now think the only way to affordably meet that deadline is by using mini-satellites
- Earth
Scientists Say: Microplastic
Bits of plastic smaller than five millimeters are called microplastics. They can end up in the ocean, where corals might mistake them for food.
- Earth
What sent Hawaii’s mountain chain east?
A single shaft of spewing hot rock created an enormously long chain of mostly undersea mountains in the western Pacific. That chain takes an unexpected eastern curve. The reason, scientists now think, may be a gobbled-up tectonic plate.
- Fossils
There really was a Brontosaurus, study claims
A new analysis finds evidence that the Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus were separate groups of animals, which deserve their own names and places on the dino family tree.
- Earth
Tiny plastic, big problem
Unsightly plastic bottles, bags and other trash give just a hint of the largely unseen problem of plastic pollution. Scientists have found tiny bits of it throughout the ocean. The bad news: Sea life can’t tell the difference between plastic and food.
- Health & Medicine
New virus may have given kids polio-like symptoms
More than 100 U.S. children developed a paralyzing illness in 2014. Genetic evidence now suggests that the most likely culprit is a new form of a virus in the polio family.
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National festival calling all math lovers
Math is important to everything from our computers to the magic in movies. Now there’s a national festival to show the fun side of numbers.
- Animals
News Brief: Tiny songbird is mega-flier
With no pit stops for refueling, this tiny bird wings it from Canada to South America.
- Climate
Mornings become electric
Lightning packs a wallop in the morning. The most powerful lightning strikes in the continental United States usually peak before noon.
