All Stories by Stephen Ornes
- Planets
Asteroids: A stepping stone to Mars?
NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission, designed to capture and move an asteroid, may be a step toward getting to Mars. But not everyone agrees it's the right step.
- Chemistry
New nano-cages snag and hold gases
Molecular traps have been developed to snag and hold noble gases, such as krypton, xenon and radon. These atoms tend to resist arrest. But the new traps might grab onto polluting gases so that they can be recycled for later beneficial uses.
- Planets
Asteroids: Avoiding an Earthly smashup
Any of nearly 1,500 asteroids could hit Earth. Experts want to learn more about the space rocks — and maybe even bump them off course.
- Planets
Explainer: What are asteroids?
Leftovers from the creation of the solar system, asteroids are space rocks that orbit the sun. Let’s hope the big ones never become meteorites.
- Fossils
Feathers: What every dino wore?
A dino discovery in Siberia suggests feathers were common among the ancient ‘lizards.’
- Animals
How termites ‘hear‘ about trouble
When danger comes too close, termites bang their heads against the walls of their homes. This action sends out a warning vibration that others ‘hear’ with their legs.
- Fossils
Dinos ‘quickly’ shrunk into birds
Scientists had long known birds descended from dinosaurs. A study now shows that the morphing from dinos into birds went along with a quick and steady shrinking of their body sizes.
- Physics
Bracing sand sculptures with gravity
Natural sculptures of sandstone withstand strong winds and rains. The reason, a new study concludes: Gravity holds the sand grains together.
- Environment
Bug-killer linked to decline in birds
One of the most popular chemicals used to protect crops from bugs may also take a toll on birds, a Dutch study finds. U.S. farmers also rely on these insecticides, a second study finds.
- Microbes
The Bahamas’ African roots
Ocean bacteria may have built the Bahama islands, fed by dust blown across the Atlantic from the Sahara Desert.
- Genetics
High-altitude help from extinct ancestors
The Tibetan plateau is high in altitude but low in oxygen. An unusual version of one gene in Tibetans' DNA helps them survive this environment. And that gene appears to have been passed along from Denisovans, a Neandertal-like ancestor.
- Brain
Choosing shocks over contemplation
Some people think being alone is unpleasant. In one new study, some found choosing to get a painful shock helped them endure being alone for 15 minutes.
