Technology

A glacial outburst has sent floodwaters rushing through the town of Juneau, Alaska, forcing residents to evacuate parts of the state capital. The unusual event, called a glacial lake outburst flood, or GLOF, happened as water…

The knotted, intricately braided string was like no other anthropologist Sabine Hyland had ever seen. Called a khipu, such devices were typically made and used by Inca elite to record astronomical events, take the census and maybe…

Sun-powered fliers could use photophoretic forces to hover in the mesosphere, gathering data from a region off limits to planes and balloons.

Toastier fall weather might cause migrating monarch butterflies to wing it and change their flight plans, starting the countdown toward death.  Eastern monarchs captured during their autumn migration and exposed to warm…

Women who have just stopped menopausal hormone therapy might have a small increased risk of bone fractures compared with those who never took these medications. A review of women’s health records revealed an association…

Patients with certain types of cancers who consume sucralose, found in the artificial sweetener Splenda, respond worse to immunotherapy compared with those who don’t, researchers report July 30 in Cancer Discovery. But…

Shimmering like spun gold, sea silk fabric is so lustrous that some believe it inspired the Greek legends of Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece. For centuries, artisans in the Mediterranean have passed down the art of spinning…

Some dinosaurs were fussy eaters. Certain herbivorous dinosaurs preferred specific parts of plants, challenging long-standing assumptions about their diets, a study of fossilized dino teeth shows. The analysis of calcium…

A beautiful menace is on the move in the United States. Polka-dotted, red-and-gray-winged insects are gliding along sidewalks, climbing on plants and crawling up buildings. Spotted youngsters are leaping away to avoid a sticky end…

The sky abounds with aerosols, tiny particles with large sway over Earth’s temperature. A new NASA visualization reveals how these airborne particles swirl through the atmosphere. The agency’s Goddard Earth Observing System…

Bioengineer Rohan Ingrole needed to floss a mouse’s teeth. The intent wasn’t to help mice get a clean bill of health at the dentist. Each bit of store-bought floss was coated with dead influenza viruses, or lab-made bits and…

The first space race was driven by symbolism—planting flags and making footprints. Today, lunar landings are routine. The modern competition isn't just about arriving; it's about staying and building. And the key to staying is energy. In…

Some tattoos do age well. More than two millennia ago, a woman sat down for a couple of inking sessions. After, she rocked some sick sleeves — her arms etched with intense hunting scenes of prowling leopards, lanky stags and…

Severe allergic reactions can be swift and deadly. Two new studies of mice, published August 7 in Science, reveal a key step in this terrifying cascade. What’s more, these findings hint at a drug to prevent it. Anaphylaxis is a…

Alpha Centauri A, four light-years from Earth, may host a gas giant. If confirmed, no Earthlike planets orbit in the star’s habitable zone.

Stone tools unearthed on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi suggest that ancient human relatives arrived there between about 1 million and 1.5 million years ago — far earlier than previously known. The discovery, described…

Mosses may appear simple, but they’re far from fragile. They thrive in some of the harshest places on Earth — Antarctica, arid deserts, high mountain peaks and more. “We’ve long wondered about the molecular mechanisms that…

When we think about alien life, we usually imagine Earth-like planets basking in just the right amount of sunlight, a place where water can stay liquid and life can thrive. But what if we’ve been looking in the wrong places all along? A…

A snail may hold the key to restoring vision for people with some eye diseases. Golden apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata) are freshwater snails from South America. Alice Accorsi became familiar with the species as a graduate…

Under a newly released action plan for artificial intelligence, the technology will be integrated into U.S. government functions. The plan, announced July 23, is another step in the Trump administration’s push for an “AI-first…

Call them nature’s own luxury high-rise condo rentals. Squamellaria plants, from the same family as coffee and quinine, are fat aerial tubers perched high in tropical trees. In Fiji, one of the traditional names translates as…

High-intensity yoga for less than 30 minutes, twice a week, may be the best workout routine for catching high-quality shut-eye, a new study shows. But before people jump on the yoga trend, researchers say more experiments are…

Critics accuse President Trump of politicizing the National Science Foundation, warning that the administration poses a lethal threat to what one called “American science expertise as we know it.” At first, these assertions were…

A mysterious disease has been turning sea stars into goo since 2013. Now, there’s a leading suspect behind the killings — a bacterium called Vibrio pectenicida, researchers report August 4 in Nature Ecology & Evolution.…

A recent uptick in new colorectal cancer cases in the United States among a key age group appears to be due to catching them early with screening. From 2004 to 2019, there was a steady annual rise in new colorectal cancers…

The superclouds probably produce star-forming clouds of gas, since most nearby stellar nurseries are located within the giants.

Social media posts recently have claimed that a total solar eclipse is set to happen on August 2, 2025, during which the world will go dark. These claims have confused skywatchers around the world, with many looking forward to the solar…

More than half of U.S. newborns diagnosed with HIV in their first year of life had not been given a treatment known to prevent postnatal transmission from mother to child. That suggests that some maternal infections have been…

Probiotics aren’t universally gut-friendly, a study in mice suggests. At least one type of usually beneficial gut bacteria may invite an unwanted guest. A single dose of Lactobacillus acidophilus bacteria, a popular probiotic…

These star-shredding black holes sit within dusty galaxies that block many telescopes’ views. That’s not an issue for JWST.