Science & Environment
The Best Genetic Risk Tools Don’t Work Equally for Everyone
Genetic prediction models are poised to revolutionize medicine. But because they have been trained on European DNA,...
The New York Times · Science
Science & Environment
The Sewer Knows What You Ate
During the Covid-19 pandemic, wastewater testing became a virus warning system. Now, scientists are using the...
Science & Environment
Taylor Farms Expands Iceberg Lettuce Recall to 27 States Amid Cyclospora Outbreak
The F.D.A. said that a new sample from the company’s Mexico facility had tested positive for cyclospora and that the...
Science & Environment
A Mathematical Tribute to the Soccer Ball
As the World Cup final approaches, take a moment to appreciate the beautiful symmetries of humanity’s favorite...
Science & Environment
Rudolph Marcus, Who Illuminated Electrochemical Processes, Dies at 102
He received a 1992 Nobel Prize for developing a theory that explained fundamental processes behind photosynthesis,...
Science & Environment
Rare Pair of Improbably Light ‘Super-Puff’ Planets Is Discovered
They’re less dense than cotton candy, and they will help astrophysicists better understand the most unusual ways...
Science & Environment
Will SpaceX’s 13th Test Flight of Starship Be Lucky?
The 33 engines of the rocket’s booster stage had begun to ignite during Thursday’s launch attempt, but were then shut...
Science & Environment
Why Does Wildfire Smoke Turn the Sky Orange?
It’s about how light scatters in our atmosphere.
Science & Environment
The F.D.A. Approves a New Pill to Slash Cholesterol Levels
The new pills can lower cholesterol levels far below what can be achieved with statins, clinical trials have shown.
Science & Environment
Meet Earth’s Newest Monkey. (And Check Out Its Orange Lips.)
It is only the fifth new African monkey identified as a new species in the past 75 years.
Science & Environment
Traffic Deaths Spike After Deadly Mass Shootings, Study Suggests
Some gun violence experts are skeptical. But the research raises questions of whether there’s a cause-and-effect...
Science & Environment
Researchers Claim to Have Solved the Perplexing ‘Reverse Sprinkler’ Problem That Stumped Feynman
Physicists have debated which way a submerged sprinkler sucking in water would spin. Careful experiments provide an...
Science & Environment
Appeals Court Revives Lawsuits Tying Tylenol Use in Pregnancy to Autism and A.D.H.D.
A federal appeals court overruled a district court judge who dismissed the lawsuits, citing unreliable scientific...
Science & Environment
A Sweet Surprise: Scientists Find Sugar Deep in Our Galaxy
It’s the first time a sugar molecule has been detected in interstellar space. The discovery provides tantalizing new...
Science & Environment
Years After He Quit Smoking, a Lung Cancer Scan Saved His Life
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States and older adults are at higher risk. But...
Science & Environment
F.C.C. Approves Test of Space Mirror to Light Night Sky Despite Outcry
A start-up company has permission to try its plan to bounce solar rays onto the dark side of Earth, turning night to...
Science & Environment
Your Cat Is Being Nice? Think Again.
A new study finds that sometimes cats groom each other specifically to be annoying.
Science & Environment
U.S. Department of Energy Underestimated Potential Los Alamos Plutonium Leak Danger, Study Finds
An accident at the lab that produces America’s nuclear bomb cores could lead to more fatalities than previously...
Science & Environment
She Studied Ways to Make People Smarter. Then Her Grant Was Cut.
Jessica Cantlon had a grant with the U.S. Navy to explore whether people could improve spatial problem-solving skills...
Science & Environment
Nobel-Winning U.S. Chemist Omar Yaghi Will Move to China to Lead A.I. Institute
Omar Yaghi of the University of California, Berkeley, will head an initiative to apply artificial intelligence to the...
Science & Environment
Joseph Fraumeni, 93, Dies; Helped Discover Genetic Link to Cancer
Considered the founder of molecular epidemiology, he worked with Frederick P. Li to identify a hereditary disorder...
Science & Environment
Wally Funk, Who Set an Age Record for Space Travel, Dies at 87
As a young woman in the 1960s, she wasn’t allowed to become a NASA astronaut. She finally realized her long-held...
Science & Environment
These Fossils May Be the Earliest Evidence of Handedness in Animals
Scientists propose that recently uncovered fossils may be the earliest evidence of behavioral “handedness” in animals.
Science & Environment
This Kind of Obsessive Attraction Isn’t Love. But It Has a Name.
Limerence is more than a crush, psychologists say, and it can persist for months or years.
Science & Environment
Our Bacteria Are Talking. We’ve Just Begun to Understand What They’re Saying.
The human microbiome is essential to our health, but scientists still know very little about it. Two researchers set...
Science & Environment
Chernobyl’s Wildlife Cameras Reveal How War Affects Wild Animals
A rare camera-trap study logged the effects of armed conflict on wild animals in real time.
Science & Environment
Nation’s 250th Celebration Fireworks Sent D.C. Air Pollution Spiking
The president promised a record display of some 850,000 pyrotechnics for the country’s 250th birthday. The Park...
Science & Environment
I Wanted an Ecologically Responsible Garden. It Was Harder Than I Thought.
The native plant movement gets a lot right, but there’s so much more to consider.
Science & Environment
Cosmic Conjoined Twins, Caught on Camera
A Japanese spacecraft flew by an asteroid and snapped a picture. It turned out to be a “contact binary”: two space...
Science & Environment
As Ice Melts in the Arctic, Some Deep-Sea Creatures Are Thriving
A new study suggests that deep-sea life reaps the benefits of icebergs’ castoffs — a rare silver lining as a warming...
Science & Environment
Mysterious Spheres Found in Australia Are Likely Space Debris
The discovery bemused residents of a small town in northeastern Australia. The objects appear to be junk from a space...
Science & Environment
Stanley M. Gartler, Pioneer in Cancer Research, Dies at 102
He provided the first convincing evidence that cancerous tumors develop from a single mutated cell and later helped...
Science & Environment
A Mission to Save NASA’s Swift Telescope Launches to Orbit
A refrigerator-size spacecraft will try to grab onto Swift and nudge it to a higher orbit, enabling it to continue...
Science & Environment
Cheating Chickadees Are Seduced by Smarts
Female mountain chickadees are loyal to their mates, unless a smarter suitor comes along.
Science & Environment
NASA Aims to Catch a Falling Space Telescope and Push It Back Up
Without a rescue mission, NASA’s Swift Observatory, which studies some of the most powerful explosions in the...
Science & Environment
Scientists React to the Lab-Made, Yet Lifelike, SpudCell
This cell-like structure can grow, feed, divide and compete. Researchers ponder what it means for the future of...
Science & Environment
How to Make a Time Capsule That Will Last 250 Years
The America250 time capsule will hold dozens of historical treasures. Avoiding dampness and other dangers requires...
Science & Environment
SpudCell: Scientists Made a Cell With Most of the Hallmarks of Life. Here’s What to Know.
From why it was created to whether it’s alive, here’s what to know about SpudCell, the latest advance in synthetic...
Science & Environment
Curiosity, Perseverance and Now Promise? NASA May Send a Mars Rover to the Moon.
As part of plans to establish a lunar base, the space agency may send to the moon a spare test version of the rover —...
Science & Environment
The Vera Rubin Telescope Begins Surveying Our Cosmos
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is beginning the widest, deepest survey yet of the southern sky.
Science & Environment
States Sue Trump Administration Over Medicaid Work Requirements
The lawsuit argues that new federal rules went beyond what Congress enacted and broke from guidance that the federal...
Science & Environment
N.I.H. Announces World’s Largest Integrated Health Database
It contains more than half a million people’s genomes, paired with clinical records and wearable tech data. That...
Science & Environment
Turtles Are Really Weird Animals. Where Did They Come From?
The origin of turtles has puzzled scientists. A new study provides more evidence that these shelled reptiles share a...
Science & Environment
This Trap Wants Ants to Take a Bite
Named for an ancient Roman crossbow-like weapon, the newly found “ballista” spider uses a springy snare to catch prey.
Science & Environment
Richard Scolyer, Cancer Expert Who ‘Became His Own Subject,’ Dies at 59
His lifesaving melanoma research in Australia illuminated the treatment he underwent for his own brain tumor, an...