50 years ago, scientists found a virus lurking in human cancer cells
A virus from human cancer — Science News, July 10, 1971 [Researchers] cultured and isolated the … virus from tissue of a child patient...
SCIENTIFIC NEWS
The gap in parenting time between middle- and working-class moms has shrunk
Time is a finite resource. So it’s not entirely surprising that after decades of ramping up time spent on parenting, some well-educated mothers appear...
Why planting tons of trees isn’t enough to solve climate change
Trees are symbols of hope, life and transformation. They’re also increasingly touted as a straightforward, relatively inexpensive, ready-for-prime-time solution to climate change. When it...
How Romanesco cauliflower forms its spiraling fractals
The swirling green cones that make up the head of Romanesco cauliflower also form a fractal pattern — one that repeats itself on multiple...
Sea otters stay warm thanks to leaky mitochondria in their muscles
Sea otters’ secret to staying warm isn’t in thick stores of blubber. It’s in their muscles. Leaks in the energy-generating parts of muscle cells...
These weird, thin ice crystals are springy and bendy
Try to bend an icicle and it’ll snap in two. With its tendency to crack into shards, ice’s reputation for being stiff and brittle...
How your DNA may affect whether you get COVID-19 or become gravely ill
Some people can blame their DNA for making them more likely to get COVID-19 or becoming severely ill if they get infected. A study...
Human-driven climate change sent Pacific Northwest temperatures soaring
The deadly heat wave that baked the Pacific Northwest in late June would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change, an international team...
Souped-up supernovas may produce much of the universe’s heavy elements
Violent explosions of massive, magnetized stars may forge most of the universe’s heavy elements, such as silver and uranium. These r-process elements, which include...
A tweaked yeast can make ethanol from cornstalks and a harvest’s other leftovers
When corn farmers harvest their crop, they often leave the stalks, leaves and spent cobs to rot in the fields. Now, engineers have fashioned...
Newborn screening for cancer risk could save lives. Should it be done? 
World marks second warmest July on record 
Ebola deaths top 2,000 as scientists race to develop vaccine 
South Sudan: UN mission decries deadly attacks, works to calm tensions after ‘nothing but devastation’