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Mining the deep ocean

Renewable technologies need a multitude of critical minerals. The seabed could supply these riches. But at what cost?

A light in the dark: Finding the good in the natural world

OPINION: Is it absurd to think that science can inform our values? Not at all, says writer KC Cole.

What is wisdom, and can it be taught?

Scientists are trying to name the qualities that make someone wise and figure out how to cultivate them

Looking for an ADHD coach? Choose carefully

As diagnoses surge, so does an unregulated coaching industry

The cataclysmic flood that wasn’t

Researchers have long believed that a sudden, massive deluge filled a dry, salt-filled Mediterranean some 5 million years ago. Turns out that probably didn't happen, but there was still drama aplenty.

Why disease outbreaks on Chinese fur farms are a serious risk to public health

Farming animals for fur is not only cruel but also provides an ideal environment for viruses to mix and cross over into humans

Corporate crime persists in the shadows

Unlike violent crimes, there are no comprehensive national statistics on the serious misconduct of companies. Some see a need for change.

Recreating the smells of history

Using chemistry, archival records and AI, scientists are reviving the aromas of old libraries, mummies and battlefields

Microbial Olympics: Super-duper one-celled athletes

They race, they leap, they spin, they shoot. Meet the organisms for whom physical prowess is more than sport — it’s a matter of life and death.

Beating back the Aedes aegypti mosquito

Scientists are taking a multipronged approach to tackle this dangerous carrier of dengue, yellow fever and other noxious viruses

Top science stories of 2025

In a year of funding chaos, ongoing climate change and pollution perils, we also saw the most powerful telescope yet, personalized gene therapy, and the next-best-thing to an HIV vaccine — not to mention a brand-new color

The science of green hair care

A push to move away from petroleum products — plus the perception that natural is gentler — has scientists lathering up new ingredients, from wood and fungus extracts to engineered proteins

When clouds flock together

Scientists are discovering that clumping clouds supercharge storms in surprising ways — driving heavy, deadly rainfall and flooding

Need laundry folded? Don’t ask a robot

For this chore, the human touch still beats machines. But maybe not for long.

Achieving lasting remission for HIV

People infected with HIV must take antiretroviral drugs for life. But promising trials using engineered antibodies suggest that ‘functional cures’ may be in reach.

What happens to the weavers? Lessons for AI from the Industrial Revolution

Handled right, AI has potential to bring back middle-skill jobs lost to the rise of computers, economists argue. Or, like the mechanized mills of the past, it could toss whole sectors out of work.

Computers are getting much better at learning to “see”

The machine-learning programs that underpin image-recognition still have blind spots, but will they for much longer?

Property crime and violent crime have different solutions — here’s why

Addressing poverty helps to curb thefts and burglaries, but offenses like assaults and shootings need more innovative approaches

The pernicious infections infiltrating Ukraine’s front lines

Doctors and scientists are waging a shadow war in the besieged nation: bacteria that are resistant to multiple antibiotics. The deadly bugs are now knocking on western Europe’s door.

Corruption: When norms upstage the law

People with good motives may engage in bribery and worse depending on what society expects of them. A political scientist explains.

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