Science

a colorful image of a human embryo at Day 11 under a microscope

Model human embryo, created from stem cells, survives past two weeks

A model human embryo capable of developing past day 14 could revolutionize our understanding of human development.

How years of fighting every wildfire helped fuel the Western megafires of today

The current approach to fire management poses unnecessarily high stakes for forests. Here’s why fighting every fire does more harm than good.

Paul Hessburg and Keala Hagmann and Susan J. Prichard

rows of black rock with the gloved hands of a scientist in the background

Planet Earth

Record-breaking amount of Earth’s mantle drilled out of ocean floor

Scientists aboard the JOIDES Resolution have retrieved “a staggering” amount of mantle rock from below the ocean floor.

Kristin Houser

Aerospace

The paper plane world record has been shattered

Boeing engineers who grew up folding paper planes at family days have broken the distance flight record.

B. David Zarley

A drone in the air with a missile-shaped capsule hanging from its underside

Drones

Watch a startup drop science experiments from 2,000 feet up

To help scientists conduct microgravity experiments, UK startup Gravitilab has developed a drone that drops them from high above the Earth.

Kristin Houser

Climate Crisis

Killing this toxic invasive species could help fix the climate

A robot from Seaweed Generation will drag chunks of sargassum 200 meters deep until they burst and die.

Mike Wehner

Animals

Scientists figure out why tardigrades are nearly indestructible

Tardigrades have been frozen, boiled, exposed to extreme doses of radiation, and remarkably still survive. How?

Philip Perry

Brain

Study finds CPR patients may frequently have near-death experiences

In a study of CPR patients across the US and UK, researchers found new evidence about near-death experiences.

B. David Zarley

Oceans

In the turbulent Drake Passage, scientists find a rare window where carbon sinks quickly into the deep ocean

The Drake Passage is one of the most turbulent ocean regions on Earth, but exploring it could help scientists understand how carbon sinks.

Lilian (Lily) Dove

Animals

Macaque monkeys shrink their social networks as they age — just like elderly people

Macaque monkeys reduce their social networks as they get older – research suggests evolutionary roots of the same pattern in elderly people.

Noah Snyder-Mackler and Erin Siracusa

Planet Earth

Why Earth is the only planet with plate tectonics

Here in our Solar System, of all the known planets, only Earth — not Mercury, not Venus, and not Mars — possesses plate tectonics.

Ethan Siegel

Oceans

Drone discovers weird underwater volcano off California

An un-crewed sailing drone has discovered an unusually shaped underwater volcano, called a seamount, off California.

B. David Zarley

Genetics

Harvard geneticists create an organism that is immune to all viruses

Researchers at the Harvard lab of George Church have genetically engineered E. coli resistant to viral infection.

B. David Zarley

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