Humans

  1. Tech

    Lasers can eavesdrop on microbes, including viruses

    They can sometimes identify not only the types, but also how many there are. One day, lasers might be able to keep track of what germs are around us.

    By Anna Rogers
  2. Humans

    Vacation could provide teens time to practice independence

    A poll shows U.S. parents are reluctant to let teens go places alone on vacation. Giving teens more independence may help their mental health.

    By Sujata Gupta
  3. Health & Medicine

    TikTok skincare routines may cause more harm than good

    Many videos used lots of costly skincare products full of potential irritants. And most left out the most important way to care for your skin: sun protection.

    By Andrea Tamayo
  4. Health & Medicine

    Multiple-snake antivenom comes from blood of man bitten 202 times

    Tim Friede built immunity to snake venoms through bites and venom injections. His blood proteins now offer antivenom protection against 13 types of snakes.

    By Meghan Rosen
  5. Science & Society

    Analyze This: Do bad childhoods make movie villains?

    In DC and Marvel movies, a rough childhood doesn’t always mean that characters become villains.

    By Carolyn Wilke
  6. Animals

    Loss inspired this biologist to study aging

    Juan Manuel Vazquez studies the anti-aging genes that have allowed some animals to evolve to live remarkably long lives.

    By Aaron Tremper
  7. Health & Medicine

    This medicine could help teens quit vaping

    The drug varenicline, paired with counseling and text messaging support, helped young people stop vaping in a new study.

    By Aimee Cunningham
  8. Physics

    Here’s why your blood vessels don’t burst under pressure

    Cells lining the blood vessels reorganize their inner structures to handle stressful boosts in pressure.

    By Larissa G. Capella
  9. Humans

    After every soak, fingers wrinkle — and always the same way

    Fingertip folds aren’t super swollen. Blood vessels constrict and pull skin inward, forming wrinkles.

    By McKenzie Prillaman
  10. Physics

    Can you Manu? It’s the science-backed way to max your splash

    Forget belly flops and cannonballs. Manu jumps — pioneered by New Zealand’s Māori and Pasifika communities — make the biggest blasts.

    By Elie Dolgin
  11. Brain

    Mice show us why food poisoning is so hard to forget

    Working with mice, scientists have mapped a brain pathway that links an unfamiliar flavor with later food poisoning symptoms.

    By Elise Cutts
  12. Genetics

    DNA confirmed a Pueblo tribe’s ties to Chaco Canyon

    DNA supports Picuris Pueblo stories of their ancestry going back more than 1,000 years — to the famous Chaco Canyon site.

    By Bruce Bower