
The Electric Worm Gets the Fly
By studying how worms use electric charge to jump onto flies, scientists are showing even physical strategies are embedded in evolution.
By studying how worms use electric charge to jump onto flies, scientists are showing even physical strategies are embedded in evolution.
Cards Against Humanity had accused Elon Musk’s company of squatting on land that it owns near the southern border in Texas.
Researchers found more than a hundred lizards of nearly 60 species that survived losing a limb, with some even seeming to thrive.
Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, and Lockheed Martin are among the contractors that may compete with Elon Musk’s company in the race back to the lunar surface.
The shower is produced by Halley’s comet’s debris, and could offer strong viewing opportunities because the moon is new this week.
He led a team of scientists who helped confirm that a Big Bang was the source of the universe. The discovery earned him a Nobel Prize.
If Oktoberfest brings links to your plate, there’s more to know about the meat- and vegetable-based casings they’re stuffed into.
Two years after Otter 841 menaced wave riders near Santa Cruz, there have been new encounters between the furry marine mammals and surfers.
He and a colleague, Tsung-Dao Lee, created a sensation in 1956 by proposing that one of the four forces of nature might violate a law of physics.
Two distantly related groups of mushrooms take radically different routes to producing psilocybin, a mind-bending molecule.
Conservation biologists propose a daunting task: protecting Earth’s diversity of bacteria and other microbes.
Starfront Observatories allows amateur astronomers to rent a spot for their telescopes and photograph the cosmos over a high-speed data connection.
His willingness to bring scientific rigor to Sasquatch studies earned him the gratitude of enthusiasts and the withering scorn of debunkers.
Joshua Plotnik worked to prevent deadly encounters between people and elephants. Then the funding froze.
Jim Sanborn planned to auction off the solution to Kryptos, the puzzle he sculpted for the intelligence agency’s headquarters. Two fans of the work then discovered the solution.
Photos taken by blackwater divers offered a new glimpse into the early life stages of marine fishes and their interactions with other animals.
A new exhibition at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Conn., gives visitors a whiff, from “chocolate-y” to stinky blue cheese.
A statistical analysis of an infamous indentation in a sidewalk suggested a 99 percent likelihood that another rodent made the mark.
The disaster caused by a predicted large earthquake in the Pacific Northwest could be compounded by shaking along the San Andreas fault in California, scientists warned.
Once a meme, free-ranging swine have become a real problem — one that has given rise to a wide array of potential solutions.
At the annual Bridges conference, mathematical creativity was on dazzling display.
The scientific Nobels announced this week — in Physiology or Medicine, Physics and Chemistry — honored achievements rooted in fundamental research from decades ago.
For the first time, scientists documented direct evidence of a bat preying on a bird at high altitude.
The cheesemakers didn’t mind that their prized product was changing color, but they were curious about the cause.
Mason Peck, an aerospace engineer at Cornell, was trying to test innovative designs in spacecraft when a stop-work order hit.
Kim Ballare was a research ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service until her federal grant “got snatched away.”
It took nearly 50 years to work out the identity of a caribou-like fossil first discovered by construction workers.
El galardón fue otorgado el miércoles a Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson y Omar Yaghi por el desarrollo de un nuevo tipo de arquitectura molecular.
The prize was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar Yaghi for the development of a new type of molecular architecture.
Data centers squander vast amounts of electricity, most of it as heat. The physical properties of diamond offer a potential solution, researchers say.
Se llama 3I/ATLAS y es apenas el tercer objeto fuera de nuestro sistema solar que ha sido avistado desde la Tierra.
His work in the manipulation of cells laid the foundation for stem cell biology and regenerative medicine and led to the first cloned large mammal, a sheep named Dolly.
3I/ATLAS, only the third object from beyond our solar system ever spotted from Earth, was viewed from Mars by an orbiting European spacecraft.
John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for showing that two properties of quantum mechanics, the physical laws that rule the subatomic realm, could be observed in a system large enough to see with the naked eye.
John Clarke, Michel Devoret y John Martinis recibieron el premio.
The prize was awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis.
Wildfire smoke, lead paint and other environmental toxins are health hazards for animals, too.
Existe un conjunto de premios prestigiosos para honrar el trabajo en campos que los Nobel no cubren.
Invite students to uncover how a centuries-old math puzzle helped us see inside the human brain.
The writer Tristan Gooley describes how a pair of familiar constellations can help a person navigate in darkness when other methods fail.
The explorer’s journey to Antarctica was likely doomed before it began.
They feast on bubbles of methane seeping out of the ocean floor. Could their appetites be harnessed to slow climate change?
Hailed as one of the 50 most important women in science, she found ways to study rare radioactive isotopes and advanced the understanding of nuclear fission.
Nobels are awarded in only three scientific categories, but other awards honor researchers across different fields.
A pharmacologist, she was certain Elizabeth Holmes’s blood-testing idea would fail, and spoke up about it. At first, few listened.
Los cometas A6 (Lemmon) y R2 (SWAN) son visitantes de los fríos confines de nuestro sistema solar, e incluso podrían ser visibles al mismo tiempo.
Scientists recreated a formula involving ants and milk that is used in Bulgarian villages to yield yogurt with an herbaceous flavor.
The comets A6 (Lemmon) and R2 (SWAN) are visitors from the chilly fringes of our solar system, and could even be visible at the same time.
As our diagnostic categories expand to include ever milder versions of disease, researchers propose that the act of naming a malady can itself bring relief.
The detection of the molecule phosphine in a brown dwarf’s atmosphere may help astronomers in their search for life elsewhere in the Milky Way.
Researchers found that the predatory canines were far more likely to flee recordings of human voices than they were to run away from other sounds.
Scientists reflect on the life and work of a researcher whose discoveries made them rethink what it means to be human.
The primatologist gained scientific acclaim for her work with chimpanzees and then later used her fame to champion conservation.
He was the first to use PCR testing on crime-scene DNA, inspiring a practice that has freed thousands of wrongfully convicted people.
A 437-million-year-old fossil from a deposit in Wisconsin could be the oldest species of leech ever found.
The discovery of huge petroglyphs of camels and donkeys, as well as hundreds of engraving tools, hints at complex early settlement in the region following the Ice Age.
Invite students to explore how bees, soda cans and big data all solve the same problem: not enough space.
As many as 30,000 Romans fled the ruined region in A.D. 79. But some returned, a new study reveals, and the city limped on as a fragile, ashen shantytown.
Big companies like Novartis say new tariffs won’t hit them. “A win for Pharma,” Wall Street analysts said.
In a preview of their flight, the crew of Artemis II, three Americans and a Canadian, struck a tone that veered away from the political currents of the moment.
U.S. employers and colleges are contending with more young people who are behind academically. Some are trying to make up where schools have failed.
Physicists have devised a new model to account for the discomfort that airline passengers know all too well.
A virtual tour of the architecture in a city where mathematics and exploration meet.
Investigadores españoles afirman que a Maria Branyas Morera le tocó la lotería genética. Pero los expertos advierten que unos genes y microbiomas sanos no explican la longevidad por sí solos.
Spanish researchers say Maria Branyas Morera won a genetic lottery. But experts caution that healthy genes and microbiomes don’t explain longevity on their own.
Two of the spacecraft are for NASA and one is for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The flesh-eating parasite was detected in northern Mexico. It is the northernmost case of the livestock infection, which was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s.
A NASA mission, IMAP, and two more spacecraft are heading to space atop a single SpaceX rocket.
Top U.S. health officials urged pregnant women not to use acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, claiming it could cause autism, though studies have been inconclusive. Azeen Ghorayshi, a science reporter for The New York Times, explains.
A fossil of the 23-foot-tall predator could help unlock secrets of an order of dinosaurs that remain poorly understood.
What do an apple, a pentagram and a belly button have in common? They all invite students to investigate a famous geometric proportion.
Plus, America’s new astronauts.
Nesting often high in the redwoods’ canopy, the marbled murrelet faces new and longstanding risks.
NASA announced 10 new candidates to begin training as astronauts as part of a plan to send more astronauts to new space stations, the moon and maybe Mars.
The 10 astronaut candidates, six of them women, will begin two years of training before becoming eligible for missions to low-Earth orbit and perhaps one day to the moon and Mars.
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.