ARE WE THERE YET? After 5 years of travel, Juno will soon reach Jupiter and begin its up close investigations of the giant planet.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Science News
News
Warming alters mountain plant’s sex ratios
Global warming has different effects on male and female plants. Tracking sex ratio shifts could be a fast signal of climate change, researchers say.
News
Letting parasites fight could help battle drug resistance, too
Helping one strain of malaria trounce another in lab mice demonstrates a way of avoiding the evolution of drug resistance.
Sponsor Message
News
Frigate birds fly nonstop for months
The great frigate bird can fly for up to two months without landing, thanks to a boost from wind and clouds.
Feature
Juno is closing in on Jupiter
After 5 years of travel, Juno will soon reach Jupiter and begin its up close investigations of the giant planet.
News in Brief
Despite volcanic setback, Antarctic ozone hole healing
The September extent of the Antarctic ozone hole has shrunk by about 4.5 million square kilometers since 2000, thanks in large part to the Montreal Protocol.
Feature
Vaccines could counter addictive opioids
Scientists turn to vaccines to curb the growing opioid epidemic.
News in Brief
World will struggle to keep warming to 2 degrees by 2100
Current plans to curb climate change aren’t ambitious enough to limit global warming below 2 degrees Celsius by 2100, new research shows.
Feature
New studies explore why ordinary people turn terrorist
New studies are examining the "will to fight" in ISIS soldiers and their opponents.
The Science Life
Sounds from gunshots may help solve crimes
Sound wave analysis may help forensic scientists figure out what types of guns were fired at a crime scene.
News
Falling through the Earth would be a drag
Scientists study how friction affects a hypothetical jump through the center of the Earth.
News
Parasites wormed way into dino’s gut
Tiny slimed tunnels in the guts of a 77-million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur fossil offer the first hard evidence that dinosaurs may have been infected by parasitic worms, paleontologists say.
News in Brief
Winning helium hunt lifts hopes element not running out
A volcanic region of Tanzania contains more than a trillion liters of helium gas, enough to fill 1.2 million medical MRI scanners — or hundreds of billions of balloons, researchers report.
Introducing
Two newly identified dinosaurs donned weird horns
Two newly discovered relatives of Triceratops had unusual head adornments — even for horned dinosaurs.
News
Tight spaces cause spreading cancer cells to divide improperly
Researchers are using rolled-up transparent nanomembranes to mimic tiny blood vessels and study how cancer cells divide in these tight spaces.
News
Quantum fragility may help birds navigate
Birds’ internal compasses may rely on the delicate nature of the quantum world.
Reviews & Previews
‘Lab Girl’ invites readers into hidden world of plants
In Lab Girl, geobiologist Hope Jahren reveals secret lives of plants — and scientists.
News
Cities create accidental experiments in plant, animal evolution
To look for evolution in human-scale time, pick a city and watch a lizard. Or some clover.
News
Reptile scales share evolutionary origin with hair, feathers
Hair, scales and feathers arose from same ancestral appendage.
News in Brief
Hints of new particle rumored to fade, but data analysis continues
It’s still too early to know whether hints of a new particle are real, CERN scientists say.