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Conceptual illustration of a woman looking at her reflection.
The Mind

Brain, think on thyself

By Tim Vernimmen

What the science of self-awareness can tell us about confident decision-making

A curled-up dormouse sleeping in a nest of grass
Living World

The strange animals that control their body heat

By Hannah Thomasy

Some creatures can dramatically alter their internal temperature — a strategy called heterothermy — and outlast storms, floods and predators

A graphic shows a diverse selection of foods with just one protein source, a single shrimp.
Living World

The curious case of low-protein diets

By Amber Dance

In the lab, animals live longer on less of the stuff. How could this be, and what does it mean for human aging?

Illustration of a guide pulling back a veil of trees, showing the path ahead, as another person walks through a forest.
The Mind

Looking for an ADHD coach? Choose carefully

By Katherine Ellison

As diagnoses surge, so does an unregulated coaching industry

Two yellow-colored bodies on the side of an image send out branches that join in the middle.
Living World

Tales of a very clever slime mold

By Tim Vernimmen

In its quest to feed, avoid nasty substances and just generally live its life, the brainless, one-celled Physarum polycephalum performs some impressive tricks of learning and memory

Knobby pillars of salt in a mountain cavern
Physical World

The cataclysmic flood that wasn’t

Researchers have long believed that a sudden, massive deluge filled a dry, salt-filled Mediterranean some 5 million years ago. Turns out that probably didn't happen, but there was still drama aplenty.

By Dana Mackenzie
Several white foxes sit in rows of small cages on a fur farm.
Health & Disease

Why disease outbreaks on Chinese fur farms are a serious risk to public health

Farming animals for fur is not only cruel but also provides an ideal environment for viruses to mix and cross over into humans

By Jane Qiu
Conceptual illustration shows a woman standing by a wall adorned with an optimistic green graph of sales going up, while behind the wall is a man in a shadowy scene with a big dollar sign sneaking out a back door.
Society

Corporate crime persists in the shadows

By Elise Hansen

Unlike violent crimes, there are no comprehensive national statistics on the serious misconduct of companies. Some see a need for change.

A face in profile against a background of books, sarcophagi and scent molecules.
Society

Recreating the smells of history

By Kaja Šeruga

Using chemistry, archival records and AI, scientists are reviving the aromas of old libraries, mummies and battlefields

Image of the Earth de-stacked, like a Russian doll, showing its different layers: crust, mantle and outer and inner cores.
Physical World

Meet the mysterious electrides

By Rachel Brazil

These chemical oddities may explain why Earth seems to be deficient in certain elements — and could prove useful in catalysts and more

Cartoon microbes on a winner’s podium are surrounded by others participating in various winter sports.
Living World

Microbial Olympics: Super-duper one-celled athletes

By Amber Dance

They race, they leap, they spin, they shoot. Meet the organisms for whom physical prowess is more than sport — it’s a matter of life and death.

Eight horses of identical appearance, lined up side by side.
Technology

Field of clones: How horse replicas came to dominate polo

By Maximiliano Fernández

In Argentina, equine cloning in polo is no longer a rarity. It’s now a mature industry — although ethical dilemmas surrounding it persist.

Multimedia

Photograph shows a close-up of an Aedes aegypti mosquito perched on a leaf.
Health & Disease

Beating back the Aedes aegypti mosquito

By Katarina Zimmer

Scientists are taking a multipronged approach to tackle this dangerous carrier of dengue, yellow fever and other noxious viruses

Fanciful drawing of scientific-looking apparatus, highlighting a variety of research that made the news this year.
Society

Top science stories of 2025

By Nicola Jones

In a year of funding chaos, ongoing climate change and pollution perils, we also saw the most powerful telescope yet, personalized gene therapy, and the next-best-thing to an HIV vaccine — not to mention a brand-new color

Collage of the back of a woman’s head, molecular structures, names of compounds in hair products, a flower and leaf.
Food & Environment

The science of green hair care

By Carolyn Wilke

A push to move away from petroleum products — plus the perception that natural is gentler — has scientists lathering up new ingredients, from wood and fungus extracts to engineered proteins

Photograph of several large clouds clumped together.
Physical World

When clouds flock together

By Clare Watson

Scientists are discovering that clumping clouds supercharge storms in surprising ways — driving heavy, deadly rainfall and flooding

A diagram shows a pancreas with a tumor within the larger digestive system.
Health & Disease

Progress fighting pancreatic cancer — one of the deadliest malignancies

By Amber Dance

Better outcomes may come from new drugs, strategies to rev up the immune system and learning to identify the disease sooner in its course

Illustration shows multiple sperm cells swimming into the cloud of sticky cells that surround the egg before fertilization.
Living World

Journey to the egg: How sperm navigate the path to fertilization

COMIC: Male cells must survive twisty passages, strong currents and immune attacks; millions enter, but only one can finish

By Amber Dance   Illustrated by Maki Naro
A humanoid robot stands in front of a window, folding a large T shirt.
Technology

Need laundry folded? Don’t ask a robot

For this chore, the human touch still beats machines. But maybe not for long.

By Kaia Glickman
Collage shows chemical structure of amino acids surrounding an image of various animals — including pandas, sheep, cows and an insect.
Food & Environment

How plant-eaters snag their essential amino acids

By Katarina Zimmer

Early in evolution, we animals lost the ability to manufacture nine of the 20 building blocks needed to make proteins. Herbivores evolved an impressive array of tricks to ensure their dietary needs are met.

A scanning electron micrograph that is colored green shows stomata, with the look of small donuts, surrounded by other more irregularly shaped plant cells.
Food & Environment

Can tinkering with plant pores protect crops against drought?

By Tim Vernimmen

It’s not an open-and-shut case. But researchers are finding out plenty by genetically altering the numbers of these openings, as well as simulating future atmospheres, and more.

Digital illustration shows a yellow, crinkly cell with many red-orange particles emanating from it.
Health & Disease

Achieving lasting remission for HIV

By Andrea Teagle

People infected with HIV must take antiretroviral drugs for life. But promising trials using engineered antibodies suggest that ‘functional cures’ may be in reach.

A drone hovers over two blue whales, a mother and baby, as they swim side by side.
Technology

Flying with whales: Drones are remaking marine mammal research

By Gennaro Tomma

From collecting whale snot to capturing surprising behaviors, aerial drones are giving scientists a new view of life at sea

Conceptual illustration depicts the industrial revolution and a robotic computerized future. We see a giant finger pointing from the past to the future and a silhouette of a human being looking as though he is trying to find his place in the future.
Society

What happens to the weavers? Lessons for AI from the Industrial Revolution

By Andrew Singer

Handled right, AI has potential to bring back middle-skill jobs lost to the rise of computers, economists argue. Or, like the mechanized mills of the past, it could toss whole sectors out of work.

Illustration shows skinny plant wearing sunglasses and posing for photographs while animals, plants and a person cluster around it.
Living World

How a humble weed became a superstar of biology

Arabidopsis thaliana was always an unlikely candidate for the limelight. But 25 years ago, the diminutive thale cress launched the botanical world into the molecular era.

By Rachel Ehrenberg
Rows of yellow rubber ducks, some blurred with blocky pixels.
Technology

Computers are getting much better at learning to “see”

The machine-learning programs that underpin image-recognition still have blind spots, but will they for much longer?

By Kaia Glickman

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