All Stories

Climate

Explainer: Global warming and the greenhouse effect

Like the glass-walled greenhouses used to grow out-of-season plants, certain gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the sun’s energy near the planet’s surface. This keeps Earth warm enough for life to flourish.

Space

Planning for Mars

Obama outlines space program that would take crew beyond the moon.

Humans

A louse-y start for clothing

A date for appearance of body lice suggests time of first clothes.

Physics

New waves for safe flying

Scientists are perfecting a new generation of airport scanning machines.

Animals

Animals without oxygen, underwater

Three species found possibly living where they should not.

Planets

Wrong-way planets do gymnastics

A group of planets that orbit the wrong way may have flipped over their stars.

Physics

The newest superheavy in town

Superheavy element forged in lab is a first.

Animals

Fruit flies taste water

A protein helps tell the brain, 'Got water.'

Planets

Mercury’s magnetic twisters

The planet's strange atmosphere may have a lot to do with the sun.

Environment

Indoor ozone stopper

Oils from human skin fight off this harmful chemical, but at a cost.

Animals

Elephant all-wheel drive

An elephant strides more like humans than like other quadrupeds.

Planets

Cool as a Jupiter

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