Hearty bacteria in a lab survived pressures comparable to an asteroid strike on the red planet, suggesting a hypothetical scenario in which our planet was seeded with life.
Research shows that a phenomenon called St. Elmo’s Fire, which occurs during thunderstorms, may be much more common than previously understood.
El fenómeno podrá observarse la madrugada del martes en Norteamérica y Centroamérica, así como en la costa occidental de América del Sur.
Earth’s shadow will temporarily drape the moon in a copper hue before sunrise on Tuesday.
Jared Isaacman, the agency’s administrator, said the Artemis III mission would move to 2027 and would no longer attempt a lunar landing.
“A World Appears” explores what makes you you.
His work with his colleague Richard Ryan changed how psychologists understand human motivation and what people require to flourish.
Does NASA have files on aliens? Jared Isaacman says no, and tells Ross Douthat on “Interesting Times” that extraterrestrials would pick a more exciting locale to visit than America’s naval bases.
The NASA administrator Jared Isaacman tells Ross Douthat how his trips to space shaped his perspective on space travel.
Most people alive today carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA in their genome. Now scientists are gaining a more intimate understanding of the ancient encounters that put it there.
Elon Musk wants to launch a million satellites, but researchers say global warming is changing the upper atmosphere in ways that makes space junk linger.
The Trump administration is creative when it comes to basic math.
Thirty seals, primarily weaned pups, have died since late last week, scientists said.
Some butterfly species can’t grow unless they trick ants into taking them home with a complex rhythmic signal.
La región norte del país ha liderado la búsqueda científica para comprender la aurora boreal. Este verano, se espera que un radar con 10.000 antenas inaugure la siguiente fase de exploración.
New findings about the anatomy of the dinosaur age’s fiercest predator suggest it chased prey “like an oversized bird.”
In an era of overt sexism in the sciences, she made two major discoveries, including identifying a neuropeptide later linked to chronic pain syndromes and migraines.
The nation’s northern region has led the scientific quest to understand the aurora borealis. This summer, a 10,000-antenna radar is expected to begin the next phase of exploration.
Horses, with their high-pitched whinnies, seemed to buck the trend of larger animals producing lower sounds, but a new study explains the mechanics behind the noises a horse makes.
Even Charles Darwin was puzzled by the evolution of the vertebrate eye. New research suggests that it traces back to a cyclopean invertebrate with a single eye atop the head.
Living in urban China may have given the insects the traits they needed to thrive in the United States, a new study suggests.
The rocket will be removed from the launchpad in order for technicians to investigate and fix a malfunctioning helium system.
NASA successfully completed a rehearsal to launch the Artemis II rocket on Thursday. The mission would send astronauts around the Moon’s orbit for the first time in more than 50 years.
The next moon mission, carrying four astronauts, could launch as soon as early March.
Michael Silevitch leads a research center dedicated to protecting busy public spaces. Last April, he was instructed to “end all work” immediately.
President Trump had lashed out at former President Barack Obama earlier Thursday for telling a podcaster that aliens were real.
Technical and oversight problems left two astronauts aboard the International Space Station for months longer than had been expected.
¿Por qué los influentes de la salud están obsesionados con las mitocondrias?
Why health influencers are obsessed with mitochondria.
In the oceans and on land, scientists are discovering rare, transitional organisms that bridge the gap between Earth’s simplest cells and today’s complex ones.
Officials are designing new ways to protect the shorelines from sudden flooding and longer storm seasons.
Future Olympic prospects are testing a device that can give them corrective advice in real time as they hurtle into the air.
Researchers developed aluminum structures that trap air bubbles, making them able to float perpetually in even the harshest environments.
An engineer by training, he used systems theory and quantitative analysis to examine criminal behavior, revealing the systemic patterns of crime.
A top arms diplomat at the State Department recently laid out what might come next as Washington upends decades of federal policies on nuclear proliferation.
On a remote island in North Macedonia, male Hermann’s tortoises outnumber females 19 to 1, an imbalance driving the population to extinction.
Archaeologists say a 2,200-year-old specimen is the first direct evidence of how the Carthaginian war machine used the giant mammals in the Punic Wars.
There are about 1,000 tiny hairs on an elephant’s rugged trunk, all designed to help the animal feel, a new study found.
Videos aimed at pets are drawing millions of views. But who’s actually watching?
The unusual event, never seen before, might be a way small comets are “blown to bits” in the solar system.
In a meeting with employees at his company xAI, Mr. Musk revealed a vision for a facility that includes a giant catapult to launch his satellites into space.
Young primates in a southern African nature park were observed to constantly interfere when their mother was giving attention to a younger brother or sister.
Two research teams have identified possible landing sites for Luna 9, the first human-made object to safely reach the lunar surface. “One of them is wrong,” an expert said.
Researchers and volunteers in Texas documented birds of different species preening one another. Experts say the behavior may be more common than documented.
Six subpopulations of mountain lions in California face mounting threats, including habitat fragmentation from highways, urban sprawl, and wildfires, as well as widespread rodenticide poisoning. Loren Elliott, a photojournalist for The New York Times, shows how he documents these elusive animals.
Researchers discovered surprising changes to former pets along the front line of combat with Russia.
Large language models struggle to solve research-level math questions. It takes a human to measure just how poorly they perform.
The billionaire’s decision to merge his A.I. start-up with his rocket company will test investors’ interest in giant combinations of unalike businesses.
An ancient skyscraper considered the seventh wonder of the world crumbled to ruin centuries ago. Now an ambitious archaeological project aims to reassemble it in 3-D.
In a playtime experiment, scientists found that apes, our closest living relatives, have the capacity for make-believe, too.
Scientists had a rare encounter with a giant phantom jelly during a dive off of Argentina in the Atlantic Ocean.
During a dive off Argentina, scientists documented a rare jellyfish discovered a little over a century ago and seldom seen since, as well as the fish that keep it company.
Joseph Yracheta was in charge of a repository that compiled and protected tribal health data. Then its funding was cut.
San Ramon, Calif., has been rattled by dozens of small earthquakes in recent months. Even in a region used to regular shaking, it’s been a lot.
The theories laid out by the aerospace engineer Gentry Lee in this new documentary may blow your mind.
NASA delayed the Artemis II mission on Tuesday after detecting hydrogen leaks. The mission was scheduled to circle the moon with four astronauts.
The agency did not complete a practice countdown for a mission that would be the first to send people around the moon in more than 50 years.
El acuerdo entremezcla aún más las empresas de Musk y crea la empresa privada con mayor valoración del planeta.
The deal further intermingles Mr. Musk’s companies and creates the most valuable private company on earth.
For ecologists, the Covid-19 pandemic has presented a remarkable natural experiment in what can happen to wild animals when humans stay home.
Giving up on mRNA is a dangerous decision.
The agency narrowed who can get the shot and added new study requirements that could cost the company tens of millions.
As China and the United States trade charges of a lab leak, researchers contend in a new paper that the Covid pandemic got its start, like a previous one, in the wildlife trade.
The White House has thrown its weight behind the lab leak theory, an idea that has divided intelligence agencies.
With little post-pandemic recovery, experts wonder if screen time and school absence are among the causes.
On the test, American fourth and eighth graders posted results similar to scores from 1995. It was a sign of notable stagnation, even as other countries saw improvements.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other candidates for top health posts are at odds with the drug industry, setting the stage for tense battles over regulatory changes.
Covid learning loss and chronic absenteeism aren’t going to fix themselves
Dr. Fauci testified before a House panel investigating Covid’s origins. The panel found emails suggesting that his aides were skirting public records laws.
A scientist finds beauty in the “visual synonyms” that exist in images seen through microscopes and telescopes.
A long-awaited new policy broadens the type of regulated viruses, bacteria, fungi and toxins, including those that could threaten crops and livestock.
A heated hearing produced no new evidence that Peter Daszak or his nonprofit, EcoHealth Alliance, were implicated in the Covid outbreak.
Prosecutors said Keith Berman falsely claimed he had invented a blood test that could detect Covid-19 in 15 seconds. His lawyer said he had put “genuine effort” into developing such a test.
Los científicos que estudian la evolución continua del virus y las respuestas inmunitarias del organismo esperan evitar un rebrote y comprender mejor la covid prolongada.
Scientists studying the virus’s continuing evolution, and the body’s immune responses, hope to head off a resurgence and to better understand long Covid.
A new study of camera-trap images complicates the idea that all wildlife thrived during the Covid lockdowns.
In the Panamanian rainforest, scientists found the first known plant species to transform decaying tissue into a new source of nutrients.
Newly released documents indicate that a U.S. genetic database had received the sequence of the coronavirus two weeks before it was made public by others.
The dominant variant of the coronavirus has proved to be not only staggeringly infectious, but an evolutionary marvel.
Scientists doing “gain-of-function” research said that heightened fears of lab leaks are stalling studies that could thwart the next pandemic virus.
High-security labs, like this one at Penn State, are at the center of a debate over research that alters viruses to make them more dangerous.
Schools run by the Defense Department educate 66,000 children of civilian employees and service members.
Let’s bring back an era of accountability.
Despite billions in federal aid, students are not making up ground in reading and math: “We are actually seeing evidence of backsliding.”
The results are the federal government’s last major data release on the academic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Strict pandemic lockdowns may have allowed animals to range more widely and spend time closer to roads, a new study suggests.
Pandemic aid was supposed to help students recover from learning loss, but results have been mixed.
Tokophobia, as it’s called, is not often studied in the United States. But a new survey finds that it may be very common, particularly among Black women and in disadvantaged communities.
Lab safety doesn’t need to torpedo scientific progress.
The latest test results continue a nearly decade-long decline. Try a sample quiz to test your knowledge.
After analyzing genetic data swabbed from a Wuhan market in early 2020, a virologist said it was unclear if animals for sale there had been infected.
Leaders on the continent have vowed that if there is another pandemic, they won’t be shut out of the vaccine market.
Scientists from the Chinese C.D.C. confirmed that DNA from raccoon dogs and other animals susceptible to the coronavirus was found at the market in early 2020.
In a much-anticipated study, experts described a swab that was positive for the coronavirus and contained loads of genetic material from raccoon dogs.
Genetic samples from the market were recently uploaded to an international database and then removed after scientists asked China about them.
Some medications, like Ritalin and Vicodin, would require an in-person doctor’s visit under the new rules, a reaction to the pandemic-era rise of telemedicine.
Moderna has paid $400 million to the government for a chemical technique key to its vaccine. But the parties are still locked in a high-stakes dispute over a different patent.
Kizzmekia Corbett helped lead a team of scientists contributing to one of the most stunning achievements in the history of immunizations: a highly effective, easily manufactured vaccine against Covid-19.
Readers discuss experimentation on lab animals. Also: Racism in America; preparing for the next pandemic; maternal deaths; Amazon’s donations.
The White House will decide whether to adopt the panel’s recommendations on so-called gain of function experiments.
An internal federal watchdog said that the health agency had not given adequate oversight to EcoHealth Alliance, which had been awarded $8 million in grants.
A young version of the coronavirus makes up one-quarter of Covid cases across the United States and over 70 percent of new cases in the Northeast.
Plus China’s vaccination pivot and the year’s most stylish “people.”
Plus, China’s sluggish economy and the arrest of the Lockerbie bombing suspect.
Al cumplirse el aniversario del descubrimiento de la variante, los expertos en virología siguen intentando ponerse al día con la rápida transformación de ómicron.
One year after the variant’s discovery, virologists are still scrambling to keep up with Omicron’s rapid evolution.
Students missed a lot of high school instruction. Now many are behind, especially in math, and getting that degree could be harder.
In a vacuum, test score declines look like bad news. But none of this happened in a vacuum.
The report, signed by Senator Richard Burr, foreshadows a new wave of political wrangling over Covid’s origins if Republicans gain control of the House or Senate.
The results, from what is known as the nation’s report card, offer the most definitive picture yet of the pandemic’s devastating impact on students.
Mouse experiments at Boston University have spotlighted an ambiguous U.S. policy for research on potentially dangerous pathogens.
Benjamin Franklin Elementary in Connecticut overhauled the way it taught — and the way it ran the classroom. Every minute counted.
Readers respond to the latest Russian attacks in Ukraine. Also: The wonders of math; pandemic spending; Republicans and crime.
Maitland Jones, un profesor respetado, defendió sus estándares. Pero los estudiantes hicieron un reclamo y la universidad lo despidió.
Maitland Jones Jr., a respected professor, defended his standards. But students started a petition, and the university dismissed him.
The first standardized test results that capture how most city schoolchildren did during the pandemic offered a mixed picture.
La decimotercera variante con nombre del coronavirus parece tener una capacidad sorprendente para evolucionar con nuevas particularidades.
Omicron, the 13th named variant of the coronavirus, seems to have a remarkable capacity to evolve new tricks.
Many employees reduce their hours or stop working to help ailing family members. But it may be years before they fully return to the work force, studies indicate.
The results of a national test showed just how devastating the last two years have been for 9-year-old schoolchildren, especially the most vulnerable.
Urgently needed: teachers in struggling districts, certified in math or special education. Perks: maybe a pay raise, or how about a four-day week?
Here’s how a scrappy team of scientists, public health experts and plumbers is embracing wastewater surveillance as the future of disease tracking.
El coronavirus, como muchos otros virus, evoluciona deprisa. ¿Los seres humanos y su ingenio podrían adaptarse más rápido a él?
Human ingenuity must keep up with the coronavirus.
The papers, which have not yet been published in scientific journals, suggest that testing just a single type of sample is likely to miss a large share of infections.
A new report estimates that it may take students at least three to five years to recover from the pandemic. Federal relief money will most likely have run out by then.
Covid precautions created a global slowdown in human activity — and an opportunity to learn more about the complex ways we affect other species.
Working in a laboratory in Paris, scientists gave a close relative of the Covid virus the chance to evolve to be more like its cousin.
Pandemic shutdowns and restrictions led to a 20 percent drop in average daily physical activity among children and adolescents, a new analysis shows.
The vaccine has not yet been authorized but is expected to be soon.
The myxoma virus, fatal to millions of Australian rabbits, is a textbook example of the unexpected twists in the evolution of viruses and their hosts.
Officials have also been trying to determine whether the cases represent a new phenomenon or are simply a new recognition of one that has long existed; there have always been a subset of pediatric hepatitis cases with no clear cause.
“The lack of political cooperation from China continues to stifle any meaningful progress,” one expert said.
In his essay collection “Virology,” Joseph Osmundson examines the myriad ways we coexist with viruses.
The spread of the subvariants adds more uncertainty to the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States.
Ravindra Gupta, who led the efforts that resulted in the second case of a patient being cured of H.I.V., was drawn into pandemic research.
Readers discuss the Florida Department of Education’s objections to some of the topics in math textbooks. Also: The Ukraine war; mask mandates.
