T/science

July 1: The Euclid telescope could launch to space.

Cosmic Luck: NASA’s Apollo 11 Moon Quarantine Broke Down

A review of archives suggests that efforts to protect Earth from contamination by any organism brought back from the lunar surface were mostly for show.

Wild Mammals Roamed When Covid Kept Humans Home

Strict pandemic lockdowns may have allowed animals to range more widely and spend time closer to roads, a new study suggests.

Why the wildfire smoke makes the sky turn wild colors.

It has to do with the way light scatters.

Our Local Black Hole Serves Up an ‘Awe Moment’

Filaments of radio energy from Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, are turning astronomers’ heads.

The Man Who Turned the World on to the Genius of Fungi

A vast fungal web braids together life on Earth. Merlin Sheldrake wants to help us see it.

How Solar Wind Flows From the Sun Like Water From a Shower Head

The Parker Solar Probe is providing NASA researchers with insights into how the sun accelerates particles to a million miles per hour.

Aug. 11: Russia could launch the Luna-25 mission to the moon.

Birds With a Taste for Flesh Threaten Whale Calves

In Argentina, kelp gulls are attacking the backs of southern right whales, imperiling the recovery of an endangered species.

Scientists Discover a Virgin Birth in a Crocodile

The act of reptile reproduction suggests that dinosaurs and pterosaurs may have been capable of parthenogenesis, too, much like the creatures in “Jurassic Park.”

Ronnie Cummins, Scourge of Genetically Modified Food, Dies at 76

A lifelong protester, he became a leading promoter of organic food and a forceful critic of a food industry that genetically engineers what it produces and sells.

Gene Therapy May Offer Birth Control for Cats

A small study uses genetic engineering with the goal of curbing vast stray feline populations.

Seven Underappreciated Birding Spots in New York

Sure, you know about Central Park and Flushing Meadows. But here are a few more birding locations worth checking out.

It Rocks in the Tree Tops, but Is That Bird Making Music?

Scientists are finding more evidence that birdsong parallels human-made music.

Ancient Human Relatives Buried Their Dead in Caves, New Theory Claims

Homo naledi, despite having tiny brains, may have lit fires and decorated walls around the graves of their dead, according to controversial new research.

This Famous ‘Spy’ Whale Likes People. That Could Be a Problem.

A beluga whale named Hvaldimir was first spotted in 2019 wearing what looked like a camera harness. He has recently been moving toward busier waters, prompting fears for his safety.

How Did Birds First Take Off?

It took 150 million years for feathered dinosaurs to master flight and become the birds we see overhead today.

How to Start Birding

Alli Smith, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, offers beginner tips for exploring the wide world of birds.

Boeing and NASA Delay Launch of Starliner Astronaut Spacecraft Again

The Starliner capsule was poised to fly people to orbit in July for the first time. But reviews found problems with its parachutes and its wiring.

With a New, Improved ‘Einstein,’ Puzzlers Settle a Math Problem

Earlier this spring, tiling aficionados thought maybe they’d found the shape of their dreams. Now they’re certain.

X-Ray Vision Brings New Life to a Fossil Flattened by Time

Scientists were able to unlock the identity of an ichthyosaur that had been reduced to a two-dimension jumble of bones.

Mississippi Is Offering Lessons for America on Education

The state shows that poverty is no excuse for failing to teach kids to read.

The Best Space Images From May

Scenes of the cosmos released this month by astronomers, spacecraft and photographers.

Honoring the Body Donors Who Are a Medical Student’s ‘First Patient’

Gratitude ceremonies give students and faculty members a chance to recognize the sacrifice of those who gave their bodies for medical research and education, and the loved ones they left behind.

The Race to Make A.I. Smaller (and Smarter)

Teaching fewer words to large language models might help them sound more human.

Your Tuesday Briefing: Uganda Enacts an Anti-Gay Law

Also, a rare daytime assault on Kyiv.

China Announces Plan to Land Astronauts on Moon by 2030

The announcement formalized a timeline that Chinese scientists have set out before, as the United States and China ramp up competition in space.

The United Arab Emirates Is Heading for the Asteroid Belt

After a successful mission to Mars, the Emirati space agency is planning a tour of the debris field between Mars and Jupiter, with a focus on one of its most intriguing objects.

Ian Hacking, Eminent Philosopher of Science and Much Else, Dies at 87

Never limited by categories, his free-ranging intellect delved into physics, probability and anthropology, establishing him as a major thinker.

How to Open a National Park for the Summer Season

Anticipating a swell of visitors as peak season begins, workers at Bryce Canyon National Park are clearing trails, training rangers and conserving wildlife.

Japanese Moon Lander Crashed Because It Was Still Three Miles Up, Not on the Ground

Ispace was aiming to become the first private company to land on the surface of the moon, but lost contact with its robotic spacecraft in late April.

From Subatomic Particles to the Cosmos, and Every Bird in Between

Five new audiobooks to download this summer include a breakdown of quantum computing and a tribute to Mary Oliver.

Is This Octopus Having a Nightmare?

In a study that has yet to be peer-reviewed, scientists documented behavior in a captive cephalopod that they say looks very similar to a bad dream.

Ultrasound Pulses to Brain Send Mice Into a Hibernation-Like State

Experiments offer an intriguing hint at technology that could induce torpor in humans in the future.

Robert J. Zimmer, Who Promoted Free Speech on Campus, Dies at 75

A mathematician, he was for many years the president of the University of Chicago, where he argued that civility was not a reason to silence discussion.

Brain Implants Allow Paralyzed Man to Walk Using His Thoughts

In a new study, researchers describe a device that connects the intentions of a paralyzed patient to his physical movements.

Quite a Tail: A Mouse Has Been Hiding Its Armor All This Time

Researchers just discovered that the spiny mouse was concealing bony plates beneath the skin over its tail.

This Is Not an Extraterrestrial Signal. This Is Just a Test.

You too could be Jodie Foster as astronomers organize a practice run in communicating with aliens.

A Hospital Visit Reveals Medieval Secrets Hidden in Books

Using CT scanning on 16th-century books, researchers uncovered bits of parchment salvaged from handwritten manuscripts.

Sought Out by Science, and Then Forgotten

Four decades ago, medical researchers reached out to ailing families in Colombia for insights into Huntington’s disease. Scientists are just now following up, hoping it’s not too late.

A Saber-Toothed Predator From Long Before Evolution Came Up With Cats

As an extinction crisis wiped out species at the end of the Permian Period, a predatory species emerged that dominated Southern Africa’s domain.

What Number Comes Next? The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences Knows.

The “mathematical equivalent to the FBI’s voluminous fingerprint files” turns 50 this year, with 362,765 entries (and counting).

Cheetah Deaths in India Mar Reintroduction Efforts

The animals had been extinct for more than 70 years in the country, which has just begun a program that brought 20 cheetahs from Africa to a wildlife sanctuary.

NASA Picks Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Lander for Artemis V Mission

After losing out to SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ rocket company will get a chance to carry astronauts to the moon’s surface on a mission scheduled for 2029.

These Spiders Look Frightening, but They May Be Scaredy-Cats

Joro spiders are spreading around the United States and may turn up in New York soon. Recent experiments suggest that they may be shyer than other arachnids.

The Reason People Listen to Sad Songs

It’s not because they make us sad but because they help us feel connected, a new study suggests.

Where birds are not is as important as where they are.

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Go Birding With The Times

Shifts in bird populations can be a sign of a changing climate. This summer, help scientists learn about the birds in your area.

Scientists Create Detailed Digital Replica of the Titanic Shipwreck

A team of scientists scanned the historic Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Canada and created a 3-D model of the site.

Desert Monoliths Reveal World’s Oldest Architectural Plans

Engravings found in Jordan and Saudi Arabia appeared to match nearby ancient megastructures known as desert kites as seen from above.

This Spider Is Imperfect, and That May Be the Secret of Its Survival

A colorful jumping spider mimics multiple species of ants, and its repertoire of impressions seems to help it scare off one of its fiercest predators.

Study Offers New Twist in How the First Humans Evolved

A new genetic analysis of 290 people suggests that humans emerged at various times and places in Africa.

Many Women Have an Intense Fear of Childbirth, Survey Suggests

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.

Bird Flu Vaccine Authorized for Emergency Use in California Condors

More than 20 of the birds, which are critically endangered, have died in recent months.

In Search of an Antidote for Poisonous Mushrooms

Researchers are finding clues to a potential remedy for consumption of the death cap species, a potentially lethal mushroom.

How a High-Tech Egg Could Help the Endangered California Condor

Scientists are working to improve the breeding success of the condor. Their secret assistant: a plastic, 3-D printed, sensor-laden “smart egg.”

In Ancient Egypt, Severed Hands Were Spoils of War

Archaeologists offer a new explanation for one of the century’s grislier finds, “a carefully gathered collection of hands” in a 3,500-year-old temple.

Your DNA Can Now Be Pulled From Thin Air. Privacy Experts Are Worried.

Environmental DNA research has aided conservation, but scientists say its ability to glean information about human populations and individuals poses dangers.

Bernadine Strik, Whose Insights Helped Blueberries Thrive, Dies at 60

A horticulturist, she discovered farming methods that increased yields of the fruit as its health benefits became widely understood and demand for it grew.

The Biggest Explosion in the Cosmos Just Keeps Going

For three years, telescopes have monitored “one of the most luminous” events ever: a supermassive black hole consuming a gigantic cloud of interstellar gas.

With 62 Newly Discovered Moons, Saturn Knocks Jupiter Off Its Pedestal

If all the objects are recognized by scientific authorities, the ringed giant world will have 145 moons in its orbit.

‘A Bit Spooky’: The New Shark Species With Bright, White Eyes

A newly discovered species of demon catshark is found in the deep waters off Australia.

How Deep-Diving Sharks Stay Warm Will Take Your Breath Away

To survive as they seek food in freezing parts of the ocean, hammerhead sharks use a trick that hasn’t been observed in other fish.

Can You Pick a ‘Murder Hornet’ Out of a Lineup?

As spring gives way to summer, you're sure to notice wasps and hornets buzzing around you. Test your identification skills.

Before Smartphones and the National Weather Service, There Was Grandma’s Knee

Humans have long depended on weather forecasts for survival. While observations of the sky can make for reliable predictions, experts say, those of animal activity can lead weather-watchers astray.

We Could Easily Make Risky Virological Research Safer

Lab safety doesn’t need to torpedo scientific progress.

It’s Not Just Math and Reading: U.S. History Scores for 8th Graders Plunge

The latest test results continue a nearly decade-long decline. Try a sample quiz to test your knowledge.

Scientist Revisits Data on Raccoon Dogs and Covid, Stressing the Unknowns

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.

Can Africa Get Close to Vaccine Independence? Here’s What It Will Take.

Leaders on the continent have vowed that if there is another pandemic, they won’t be shut out of the vaccine market.

China Publishes Data Showing Raccoon Dog DNA at Wuhan 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.

Wuhan Market Samples Contained Covid and Animal Mixtures, Report Says

In a much-anticipated study, experts described a swab that was positive for the coronavirus and contained loads of genetic material from raccoon dogs.

New Data Links Pandemic’s Origins to Raccoon Dogs at Wuhan Market

Genetic samples from the market were recently uploaded to an international database and then removed after scientists asked China about them.

Biden Proposal Would Ban Online Prescribing of Certain Drugs

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.

After Long Delay, Moderna Pays N.I.H. for Covid Vaccine Technique

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.

She Helped Unlock the Science of the Covid Vaccine

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.

When Animals Are Used in Research

Readers discuss experimentation on lab animals. Also: Racism in America; preparing for the next pandemic; maternal deaths; Amazon’s donations.

Expert Panel Votes for Stricter Rules on Risky Virus Research

The White House will decide whether to adopt the panel’s recommendations on so-called gain of function experiments.

N.I.H. Did Not Properly Track a Group Studying Coronaviruses, Report Finds

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.

Health Experts Warily Eye XBB.1.5, the Latest Omicron Subvariant

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.

Your Tuesday Briefing: China’s Space Push

Plus China’s vaccination pivot and the year’s most stylish “people.”

Your Monday Briefing: The World Cup Semifinals Loom

Plus, China’s sluggish economy and the arrest of the Lockerbie bombing suspect.

Ómicron cumple un año. Así ha evolucionado

Al cumplirse el aniversario del descubrimiento de la variante, los expertos en virología siguen intentando ponerse al día con la rápida transformación de ómicron.

Happy Birthday, Omicron

One year after the variant’s discovery, virologists are still scrambling to keep up with Omicron’s rapid evolution.

The Pandemic Generation Goes to College. It Has Not Been Easy.

Students missed a lot of high school instruction. Now many are behind, especially in math, and getting that degree could be harder.

Pandemic Learning Loss Is Not an Emergency

In a vacuum, test score declines look like bad news. But none of this happened in a vacuum.

G.O.P. Senator’s Report on Covid Origins Suggests Lab Leak, but Offers Little New Evidence

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.

Math Scores Fell in Nearly Every State, and Reading Dipped on National Exam

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.

Lab Manipulations of Covid Virus Fall Under Murky Government Rules

Mouse experiments at Boston University have spotlighted an ambiguous U.S. policy for research on potentially dangerous pathogens.

How One School Is Beating the Odds in Math, the Pandemic’s Hardest-Hit Subject

Benjamin Franklin Elementary in Connecticut overhauled the way it taught — and the way it ran the classroom. Every minute counted.

Russia’s New Onslaught Against Ukraine

Readers respond to the latest Russian attacks in Ukraine. Also: The wonders of math; pandemic spending; Republicans and crime.

¿Quién tenía la culpa de que los alumnos de la Universidad de Nueva York estuvieran reprobando química orgánica?

Maitland Jones, un profesor respetado, defendió sus estándares. Pero los estudiantes hicieron un reclamo y la universidad lo despidió.

At N.Y.U., Students Were Failing Organic Chemistry. Who Was to Blame?

Maitland Jones Jr., a respected professor, defended his standards. But students started a petition, and the university dismissed him.

N.Y.C. Children Held Ground in Reading, but Lagged in Math, Tests Show

The first standardized test results that capture how most city schoolchildren did during the pandemic offered a mixed picture.

¿La variante ómicron llegó para quedarse?

La decimotercera variante con nombre del coronavirus parece tener una capacidad sorprendente para evolucionar con nuevas particularidades.

Why Omicron Might Stick Around

Omicron, the 13th named variant of the coronavirus, seems to have a remarkable capacity to evolve new tricks.

The Quiet Cost of Family Caregiving

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 Pandemic Erased Two Decades of Progress in Math and Reading

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.

How Bad Is the Teacher Shortage? Depends Where You Live.

Urgently needed: teachers in struggling districts, certified in math or special education. Perks: maybe a pay raise, or how about a four-day week?

Wastewater Disease Tracking: A Photographic Journey From the Sewer to the Lab

Here’s how a scrappy team of scientists, public health experts and plumbers is embracing wastewater surveillance as the future of disease tracking.

El viaje evolutivo de la COVID-19 ha sido funesto e impresionante

El coronavirus, como muchos otros virus, evoluciona deprisa. ¿Los seres humanos y su ingenio podrían adaptarse más rápido a él?

We Are Still in a Race Against the Coronavirus

Human ingenuity must keep up with the coronavirus.

Combined nasal and throat testing swabs would detect more Omicron infections, two papers suggest.

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.

Students Are Learning Well Again. But Full Recovery? That’s a Long Way Off.

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.

Did Nature Heal During the Pandemic ‘Anthropause’?

Covid precautions created a global slowdown in human activity — and an opportunity to learn more about the complex ways we affect other species.

Bat Virus Studies Raise Questions About Laboratory Tinkering

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.

The pandemic kept many children less active around the world, researchers find.

Pandemic shutdowns and restrictions led to a 20 percent drop in average daily physical activity among children and adolescents, a new analysis shows.

The U.S. government will buy 3.2 million doses of Novavax’s Covid vaccine.

The vaccine has not yet been authorized but is expected to be soon.

Think All Viruses Get Milder With Time? Not This Rabbit-Killer.

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.

Unexplained hepatitis is not more common in U.S. children than before the pandemic, a C.D.C. study suggests.

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.

Mysteries Linger About Covid’s Origins, W.H.O. Report Says

“The lack of political cooperation from China continues to stifle any meaningful progress,” one expert said.

Reckoning With a Pandemic, as a Doctor and a Human

In his essay collection “Virology,” Joseph Osmundson examines the myriad ways we coexist with viruses.

Two new versions of Omicron are gaining ground in the U.S., according to C.D.C. estimates.

The spread of the subvariants adds more uncertainty to the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States.

He Helped Cure the ‘London Patient’ of H.I.V. Then He Turned to Covid.

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.

In Florida, Social-Emotional Learning + Math = Rejection

Readers discuss the Florida Department of Education’s objections to some of the topics in math textbooks. Also: The Ukraine war; mask mandates.