These are Science News’ favorite books of 2021
Many of the Science News staff’s favorite books of the year challenge how we understand the world, from rethinking human history to reimagining the...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Gut bacteria let vulture bees eat rotting flesh without getting sick
Mention foraging bees and most people will picture insects flitting from flower to flower in search of nectar. But in the jungles of Central...
Physicists have coaxed ultracold atoms into an elusive form of quantum matter
An elusive form of matter called a quantum spin liquid isn’t a liquid, and it doesn’t spin — but it sure is quantum. Predicted...
A massive 8-year effort finds that much cancer research can’t be replicated
After eight years, a project that tried to reproduce the results of key cancer biology studies has finally concluded. And its findings suggest that...
Light-colored feathers may help migrating birds stay cool on long flights
From teeny hummingbirds to giant whooping cranes, roughly half of the world’s more than 10,000 bird species migrate. Longer wings and beefed-up flying muscles...
Invasive grasses are taking over the American West’s sea of sagebrush
No one likes a cheater, especially one that prospers as easily as the grass Bromus tectorum does in the American West. This invasive species...
Climate change could make Virginia’s Tangier Island uninhabitable by 2051
Virginia’s Tangier Island is rapidly disappearing. Rising sea levels are exacerbating erosion and flooding, and could make the speck of land in the Chesapeake...
Tiny living machines called xenobots can create copies of themselves
Tiny “living machines” made of frog cells can replicate themselves, making copies that can then go on to do the same. This newly described...
Can psychedelics meet their potential for treating mental health disorders?
Kanu Caplash was lying on a futon in a medical center in Connecticut, wearing an eye mask and listening to music. But his mind...
Merck’s COVID-19 pill may soon be here. How well will it work?
Hopes for an easy pill that could combat COVID-19 before people land in the hospital have dimmed a bit. New data about an antiviral...
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