All Stories

Agriculture

Can scientists make fruits and veggies resilient to climate change?

Combining traditional plant breeding with new genomics tools is allowing scientists to grow plants that are better adapted to a warming climate.

Climate

Zapping sand to create rock could help curb coastal erosion

Low voltages generated minerals that help bind the sand into erosion-resistant rock, offering hope for shorelines ravaged by waves.

Health & Medicine

Expanding antibiotic treatment in sub-Saharan Africa could save kids’ lives

Current guidelines limit treatment to infants. Giving antibiotics to at-risk kids under 5, too, has an indirect effect on infant survival, a new trial shows.

Physics

The world’s fastest microscope makes its debut

Using a laser and an electron beam, the microscope can snap images of moving electrons every 625 quintillionths of a second.

Earth

‘Turning to Stone’ paints rocks as storytellers and mentors

Part memoir, part geology explainer, Marcia Bjornerud’s latest book explores the hidden wisdom of Earth’s rocks.

Space

The historic ‘Wow!’ signal may finally have a source. Sorry, it’s not aliens

One of the best possible signs of extraterrestrial communication may have an astrophysical explanation — albeit a weird one.

Astronomy

The nearest midsized black hole might instead be a horde of lightweights

Astronomers recently reported that the Milky Way star cluster Omega Centauri hosts an elusive type of black hole. A new study says it does not.

Animals

This spider makes its home in the burrows of extinct giant ground sloths

Caves made by extinct giant ground sloths make the perfect home for a newly discovered type of long-spinneret ground spider from Brazil.

Animals

This spider uses trapped fireflies to lure in more prey

Male fireflies trapped in the spider’s web flash femalelike lights, possibly luring in other flying males and allowing the arachnid to stock up on food.

Climate

The world’s record-breaking hot streak has lasted 14 months. When will it end?

Science News spoke with NOAA climatologist Karin Gleason about the ongoing record-breaking streak of record-high global temperatures.

Chemistry

Old books can have unsafe levels of chromium, but readers’ risk is low

An analysis of a university collection found that the vibrant pigments coating some Victorian-era tomes exceed exposure limits for the heavy metal.

Paleontology

This spiky fossil shows what early mollusks looked like

The fossil, plus 17 others from more than 500 million years ago, reveal that early mollusks were slug-like creatures with prickly armor.