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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.
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 Big Bang should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which would have annihilated each other in a spectacular burst of pure energy. But it didn’t. New experiments focused on understanding the enigmatic neutrino may offer insights.
Some scientists propose that in the beginning, geochemistry gave way to biochemistry — with no genetic material necessary. Only later did RNA and DNA appear.
A celebration of 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Mechanics and Science would be remiss without a look at how the carrier of electricity finally yielded its secrets — paving the way to the quantum era
With many collisions and much crumpling of rock, down the ages. The story holds lessons for how the edges of continents are built and change over time.
The revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope and next-gen radio telescopes are probing what’s known as the epoch of reionization. It holds clues to the first stars and galaxies, and perhaps the nature of dark matter.
This record-setting year for heat saw stunning auroras, a map of a brain, a Dengue epidemic, the first look at rocks from the far side of the Moon, an AI energy scramble and more
Getting our homes and workplaces to be energy efficient has major benefits — but not when it is done one window at a time. Here’s why deep retrofits and biomaterials are key to more sustainable living.
Miles away from the ocean, projects are afoot to clean up salty groundwater and use it to grow crops. Some say it’s a costly pipe dream, others say it’s part of the future.
COMIC: Using tools from fields like fluid dynamics to better understand how groups of people move around can improve flow and make large gatherings safer
Automakers are tweaking production processes to create a slew of new steels with just the right properties, allowing them to build cars that are both safer and more fuel-efficient
We need new fuels to transport people and goods around the globe as society moves away from coal, natural gas and oil. Here’s how things are shaping up.
As the world warms, trees in forests such as those in Minnesota will no longer be adapted to their local climates. That’s where assisted migration comes in.
A rift in thinking about who should control powerful new technologies sent the brothers on diverging paths. For one, the story ended with a mission to bring science to the public.
The bloc aims to become the first carbon-neutral continent. A new policy called CBAM will assist its ambitions — and may persuade other countries to follow in its footsteps.
The South American country, where the biodiversity of the Andes meets that of the Amazon, is losing the great natural wealth of some 1,500 square kilometers of forest each year, mainly in areas formerly under guerrilla control
Along 1,100 kilometers, from Mexico to Costa Rica, lies the Central American volcanic arc, where the variety of magma types make for a geological paradise
As glacial cliffs break off and destabilize frozen landscapes, glaciologist Richard Alley focuses on the fractures. The work could improve predictions about future sea-level rise.
Scientists have been chasing the dream of harnessing the reactions that power the Sun since the dawn of the atomic era. Interest, and investment, in the carbon-free energy source is heating up.
Measurements of the acceleration of the universe don’t agree, stumping physicists working to understand the cosmic past and future. A new proposal seeks to better align these estimates — and is likely testable.
Astronomers have long debated what kind of chemistry might serve as a bona fide alien biosignature. With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, those ideas may be put to the test.
OPINION: Recent CDC guidelines for indoor air quality disregard the benefits of humidity. But research shows it can kill viruses and help thwart infections.
PODCAST: From Einstein’s initial disbelief and Bell’s test to the 2022 Nobel Prizes, quantum entanglement has matured into a pillar of physics. Physicist Nicolas Gisin explains why it took so many decades.
Ultracold gases in the lab could help scientists to better understand the universe
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