All Stories
- Planets
Analyze This: Neptune’s cloud cover syncs up with the solar cycle
Telescope observations hint how sunlight-driven chemistry may boost cloud cover on our solar system’s farthest planet.
- Climate
Some tree leaves are finding it too hot for photosynthesis
Earth’s ongoing fever threatens to push entire forests toward this heat limit — and possible death.
- Plants
Young corn leaves can ‘smell’ danger
As they mature, these leaves lose their ability to detect threatening scents.
- Plants
Scientists Say: Fertilize
This word describes both a stage of sexual reproduction and the agricultural practice of adding nutrients to soil.
- Environment
This ecologist is looking at the Amazon’s past to save its future
Carolina Levis researches how local communities influence the Amazon. She’s interested in how Indigenous knowledge can help protect the rainforest.
- Animals
Let’s learn about why turkeys are dinosaurs
Modern birds are the only dinosaurs that survived an apocalyptic extinction event 66 million years ago.
- Math
A twisty mystery about Möbius strips has been solved at last
Turning to paper and scissors helped one mathematician finally figure out just how short the twisted loops can be.
- Brain
Scientists Say: Deep brain stimulation
Through wires implanted in a person’s brain, this medical treatment can help treat various conditions.
- Planets
In a first, astronomers spot the aftermath of an exoplanet smashup
Infrared light from a distant star appears to be leftovers of an impact between a pair of Neptune-sized worlds.
- Animals
Invertebrates are pretty clever, but are they conscious?
Scientists are designing experiments to test whether these animals have self-aware experiences as we do.
- Humans
Senses help the brain interpret our world — and our own bodies
Most people are familiar with sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch –– but there are others. Learn about them here.
- Tech
How to prevent the robot replication apocalypse
Today’s bot-building robots aren’t set on world domination. But scientists and philosophers want to keep future tech in check.
