All Stories
- Animals
Infected caterpillars become zombies that climb to their deaths
By tampering with genes involved in vision, a virus can send caterpillars on a doomed quest for sunlight.
- Psychology
Lying won’t stretch your nose, but it will steal some brainpower
The science of lying shows that most people don’t lie often. But when they do, it takes a surprising toll on their brains.
- Planets
Mercury’s surface may be studded with diamonds
Billions of years of meteorite impacts may have transformed much of Mercury's graphite crust into precious gemstones.
- Environment
Ponds made to control floods can spew climate-warming gases, study finds
Younger stormwater ponds can release more carbon in gases than they absorb, a study finds. That could aggravate global warming.
- Environment
Analyze This: Corals stash microplastics in their skeletons
Scientists have wondered where the ocean’s microplastic pollution ends up. Corals may trap about 1 percent of particles in tropical waters each year.
- Materials Science
New cloth cools you when you’re hot, warms you when you’re cold
Scientists 3-D printed the new fabric, which has even more tricks up its sleeve — such as conducting electricity and resisting radio waves.
- Animals
Scientists Say: Migration
Migration involves the movement of animals or people from one place to another.
- Animals
The scent of queen ‘murder hornets’ can lure males into traps
Traps baited with compounds found in the mating pheromone of hornet queens attracted thousands of males.
- Earth
A bold plan to save the planet turns carbon dioxide into stone
Scientists hope that capturing carbon dioxide this way will limit both further warming of our planet and an escalation of extreme weather events.
- Health & Medicine
In an emergency, you may want to see Dr. Dog
Emergency room visits by therapy dogs can reduce pain, anxiety and depression in patients waiting for care, a new study finds.
- Planets
Let’s learn about Pluto
Once known as a pipsqueak planet, Pluto is now the solar system’s best known dwarf planet.
- Microbes
Kitchen sponges are bacteria’s dream home
Sponges are favorite spots for bacteria, partly because of the mixed-housing environment that the cleaner-uppers offer microbes.
