All Stories

  1. Animals

    Elephant all-wheel drive

    An elephant strides more like humans than like other quadrupeds.

    By Stephen Ornes
  2. Planets

    Cool as a Jupiter

    New-found, far-out planet could be similar to local gas giants.

    By Stephen Ornes
  3. Microbes

    The tell-tale bacteria

    What germs populate the hands may be as unique as fingerprints.

    By Stephen Ornes

  4. Scientist Profile: Wally Gilbert

    Wally Gilbert is interested in just about everything. He began by studying physics and then switched to biology, eventually winning an Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award in 1979 and then a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980.

    By Roberta Kwok
  5. Chemistry

    The memory of a material

    A popular polymer can remember what shape it was in.

    By Stephen Ornes
  6. Animals

    Half rooster, half hen

    Study of special chickens suggests new thinking on hormones and gender.

    By Stephen Ornes
  7. Environment

    When frog gender flips

    With weed killer in the water, some males acquire female traits.

    By Stephen Ornes
  8. Earth

    Earthquake shortens the day

    The recent South American quake sent Earth spinning just a big faster.

    By Stephen Ornes
  9. Health & Medicine

    What the appendix is good for

    Some body parts seem pointless but in fact have purpose.

    By Emily Sohn
  10. Chemistry

    Heaviest named element is official

    Superheavy copernicium takes its place in the Periodic Table.

    By Stephen Ornes
  11. Humans

    Writing on eggshells

    Etchings on artifacts suggest that really ancient people used symbols.

    By Stephen Ornes
  12. Animals

    Whales may round up squid for dinner

    Tracking sperm whale movements suggests groups herd to hunt.

    By Stephen Ornes