Stone Age culture bloomed inland, not just along Africa’s coasts
Africa’s southern Kalahari Desert is not typically regarded as a hotbed of Stone Age innovations. And yet human culture blossomed there around 105,000 years...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Physicists’ devotion to symmetry has led them astray before
Second of two parts Physicists have a lot in common with Ponce de León and U2’s Bono. After decades of searching, they aren’t getting...
Weather radar shows 30 metric tons of grasshoppers swarmed Las Vegas one night
The dazzling lights of Las Vegas are meant to attract. And on one summer night, they did just that, luring millions of grasshoppers— a...
Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines may block infection as well as disease
Vaccines against COVID-19 are about 90 percent effective at blocking coronavirus infections, real-world studies of health care workers, firefighters, police, teachers and other essential...
Dazzling underwater photos capture new views and scientific detail of fish larvae
The open ocean is a veritable soup of tiny critters, including newborn fishes. It’s hard to learn about them, though, because they are mere...
Uranium ‘snowflakes’ could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars
Tiny crystals of uranium could set off massive explosions within a dead star, physicists propose, making for a cosmic version of a thermonuclear bomb....
Here’s why humans chose particular groups of stars as constellations
The Big Dipper’s stars make up a conspicuous landmark in the sky of the Northern Hemisphere. Even novice stargazers can easily pick out the...
How kelp forests off California are responding to an urchin takeover
Joshua Smith has been diving in kelp forests in Monterey Bay along the central coast of California since 2012. Back then, he says, things...
Parents in Western countries report the highest levels of burnout
The ongoing pandemic has hammered parents. For many, work shifted to home. Schools closed or went partially remote in many places. Grandparents at high...
The ‘USS Jellyfish’ emits strange radio waves from a distant galaxy cluster
Something’s fishy in the southern constellation Phoenix. Strange radio emissions from a distant galaxy cluster take the shape of a gigantic jellyfish, complete with...
A new treatment could restore some mobility in people paralyzed by strokes 
What has Perseverance found in two years on Mars? 
This robot automatically tucks its limbs to squeeze through spaces 
Greta Thunberg’s new book urges the world to take climate action now