Why we sometimes choose not to know. ...read more

Thank our wobbly planet for our seasons, which have led to remarkable adaptations in animals ranging from honeybees to lungfish. ...read more

Our unique adaptability may explain why we’re the last humans on Earth. ...read more

More than a dozen top scientists from seven countries are calling for world governments to adopt a moratorium on what scientists call heritable genome editing. They’re on a mission to make sure the world doesn’t see any more gene-edited babies -- not till we’re good and ready -- and they’ve got a plan to stop it. The group penned a commentary published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The effort was led by Eric Lander, director of the Broad Institute and a professor at b ...read more

As I'm writing this at 11:30 a.m. on March 13, 2019, winds are gusting above 45 miles per hour, snow is blowing horizontally outside my patio window, and the lights in my home are flickering. I hope manage to get this story posted before the electricity goes out... Winter Storm Ulmer is intensifying over the High Plains and going through a process known as "bombogenesis." You can see its evolution today in the animation above, consisting of infrared imagery from the GOES-16 weather sa ...read more

Some things, it appears, never change. Death and taxes are certainties, the poor we will always have with us, and of course war… war never changes. But, according to a study today in the open-access journal Science Advances, similarly untouchable is the status of Stonehenge and its ilk as tourist destinations — and our love for partying it up with pork. The study, by a team of British archaeologists and geologists, analyzed the chemical components of pig remains at sites near the f ...read more

When your doctor prescribes a medication, they take care not to give you something that might cause harm. But, many drugs have a hidden danger for people with allergies or other sensitivities. The inactive ingredients, non-drug components of a medication, can contain compounds that cause harm. And, says a new study, many doctors don't even know what those ingredients are. It's not really a doctor's job to know the exact formulation of every medication they give out, of course, especially ...read more

The universe is getting messy. Like a glass shattering to pieces or a single wave crashing onto the shore, the universe’s messiness can only move in one direction – toward more chaos and disorder. But scientists think that, at least for a single electron or the simplest quantum computer, they may be able to turn back time, and restore order to chaos. This doesn't mean we'll be visiting with dinosaurs or Napoleon any time soon, but for physicists, the idea that time can run backward a ...read more

It has been nearly 11 years since the surprise eruption of Chaitén in Chile, one of the largest explosive eruptions in the 21st century. The volcano remained active for a full 3 years and the volcanic ash and debris would be washed down the river valleys during heavy rains. In the end, parts of the town of Chaitén would need to be abandoned due to the influx of debris from the eruption. Yet, only a decade later, the areas that were abandoned during the eruption are being rebuilt -- ...read more

Long considered science fiction, leaving the solar system and speeding amid the stars may soon be within reach. ...read more