Sunlight helps clean up oil spills in the ocean more than previously thought
Sunlight may have helped remove as much as 17 percent of the oil slicking the surface of the Gulf of Mexico following the 2010...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Imagine removing a branch of the U.S. government, say the Supreme Court. What are the myriad ways that such an upheaval might reshape people’s...
‘From Data to Quanta’ defends Niels Bohr’s view of quantum mechanics
From Data to QuantaSlobodan PerovićUniv. of Chicago, $45 Ever since Max Planck introduced the idea of the quantum to the world, physicists have argued...
Chewing sugar-free gum reduced preterm births in a large study
Chewing a sugar-free gum daily reduced preterm births in a large study in Malawi. The oral intervention was inspired by past research linking poor...
How ‘hot Jupiters’ may get their weirdly tight orbits
Strange giant planets known as hot Jupiters, which orbit close to their suns, got kicked onto their peculiar paths by nearby planets and stars,...
Freshwater ice can melt into scallops and spikes
Water’s wacky density leads to strange effects that researchers are still uncovering. Typically, liquids become denser the more they cool. But freshwater is densest...
These are the first visible-light images of Venus’ surface captured from space
By serendipity, scientists have photographed Venus’ surface from space for the first time. Though the planet’s rocky body is concealed beneath a thick veil...
50 years ago, Arecibo got an unprecedented view of Venus’ surface
Probing Venus’ mountains — Science News, February 12, 1972 Venus’ perpetually cloud-shrouded surface remains penetrable only by radio waves. A planetary radar group now...
Gene therapies for sickle cell disease come with hope and challenges
Today, it’s clear that our genes not only cause many diseases, but also hold potential cures. But that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t...
A diamondlike structure gives some starfish skeletons their strength
Some starfish made of a brittle material fortify themselves with architectural antics. Beneath a starfish’s skin lies a skeleton made of pebbly growths, called...
People Who Choose to End Their Lives 
A quantum computing feat brings the ‘megaquops’ era a step closer 
AI can give you your voice back 
As El Niño Returns, East Africa’s Urban Poor Brace for Heavy Rains