Giant ground sloths may have been meat-eating scavengers
Modern sloths may be dedicated vegetarians, but at least one of their massive Ice Age cousins chowed down on meat when it had the...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
An easier, greener way to build molecules wins the chemistry Nobel Prize
Making molecules is hard work. Atoms must be stitched together into specific arrangements through a series of chemical reactions that are often slow, convoluted...
When James Webb launches, it will have a bigger to-do list than 1980s researchers suspected
The James Webb Space Telescope has been a long time coming. When it launches later this year, the observatory will be the largest and...
Space rocks may have bounced off baby Earth, but slammed into Venus
Squabbling sibling planets may have hurled space rocks when they were young. Simulations suggest that space rocks struck both the newborn Earth and Venus,...
Work on complex systems, including Earth’s climate, wins the physics Nobel Prize
Earth’s climate is a vastly complex system on a grand scale. On a microscopic level, so is the complicated physics of atoms and molecules...
Radiometric dating puts pieces of the past in context. Here’s how
When a researcher picks up an object — whether it’s a scrap of leather from a dig site, a fossil from a museum drawer...
A custom brain implant lifted a woman’s severe depression
A personalized brain implant eased the crushing symptoms of a woman’s severe depression, allowing her to once again see the beauty of the world....
Scientists are one step closer to error-correcting quantum computers
Mistakes happen — especially in quantum computers. The fragile quantum bits, or qubits, that make up the machines are notoriously error-prone, but now scientists...
Discovering how we sense temperature and touch wins the 2021 medicine Nobel Prize
Some touching research took the 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. David Julius of the University of California, San Francisco and Ardem Patapoutian...
A new antiviral pill cuts COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates
An at-home pill against coronavirus halves the chance that people newly diagnosed with COVID-19 will land in the hospital or die, early results released...
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