All Science
- Rocketing toward history: Why spaceflight still captivates America
If successful, Wednesday’s crewed SpaceX test launch will mark the beginning of a new era for NASA and American spaceflight.
- First LookSpaceX and NASA unite to return Americans to space
On Wednesday, collaboration between SpaceX and NASA will send two astronauts to the International Space Station, and it will be the first time that a private company operates a mission to space.
- The ExplainerTracing the origins of COVID-19: Three questions
Scientists are working to trace the origins of the novel coronavirus. They have a few ideas.
- What day is it? Why the pandemic warps your sense of time (audio)
As the global coronavirus pandemic wears on, are the days and weeks blurring together for you? If so, you’re not alone.
- At home with Galileo: Simple science for cooped-up kids
In this simple experiment, kid scientists can test for themselves the idea that the heavier something is, the faster it falls.
- ‘Psst! The poachers are coming.’ How tiny birds tip off rhinos.
Even some mighty creatures get by better with a little help from their friends. In Africa, tiny birds are helping black rhinos avoid poachers.
- First LookApollo 13 turns 50: The space mission that gripped the world
Astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise reminisce about NASA's "most successful failure" as their mission launch turns 50 on April 11. With calm, ingenuity, and "some divine help," its safe return to Earth after an explosion in space is still considered Mission Control's finest hour.
- COVID-19 models vary widely. What that means for leaders under pressure.
Projections of COVID-19 fatality rates have varied dramatically. Understanding the underlying assumptions that led to those conclusions can help.
- Heads up, maple leaf. Canada’s eyeing another national icon.
In Canada, a contest for a national lichen has shone a new light on ecology at a time when many residents are finding a renewed embrace of nature.
- Hypersonic missiles may be unstoppable. Is society ready?
Hypersonic missiles raise ethical questions about how the military could use machine learning, as the U.S., Russia, and China develop new weapons.
- Freezing point: An icy pick-me-up
Water and ice are many children’s first introduction to chemical phase changes. But sometimes even familiar substances behave in unexpected ways.
- 66-million-year-old ‘wonderchicken’ offers lesson in resilience
A 66-million-year-old fossil could help explain why some species survived the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.
- Science says rats can be kind. Here’s why that matters.
Far from merciless, rats, it seems, will go out of their way to avoid harming each other. The animal kingdom may be more empathetic than people think.
- Why your next lithium battery might come from the US
Several energy companies are focusing on the vast underground geothermal reservoir at California’s Salton Sea as a domestic source of lithium.
- Coronavirus puts health officials on messaging tightrope
Is it already a “pandemic” or not? Such questions of messaging have new importance as social networks amplify or distort science-based news.
- Katherine Johnson: Remembering a brilliant mathematician, role model
Katherine Johnson blazed a trail into STEM for women and minorities through a three-decades long career at NASA.
- First LookKatherine Johnson: NASA math whiz and pioneer for black women
"Katherine Johnson's courage ... and her grace continue to inspire the world," wrote NASA's chief. She was a mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits. Her work for NASA partly inspired the film "Hidden Figures."
- Cave diving, microbes, and slime: A love story
Most of life on Earth goes unseen. So scientists like Jennifer Macalady work to bring it to light, sometimes deep below the surface of the planet.
- The ExplainerA dimming Betelgeuse has stargazers bursting. Three questions.
Betelgeuse has been one of the sky’s brightest stars. But its unexpected dimming has raised speculation that it could be nearing supernova.
- What do babies and warring groups have in common? Altruism.
Humans have long been considered inherently selfish. But that may be changing, as researchers observe kindness in babies and among warring groups.