Category science

Earth’s tundra is warming about four times faster than the rest of the planet. The rising fever in this Arctic ecosystem is boosting the production of carbon dioxide (CO2) by underground microbes, a new study suggests. If true, it could…

It was a drizzly day, last year, when two researchers first took on the Wall of Death. This amusement park attraction near Parma, Italy, looks something like a giant wooden barrel with the top sawed off. But on this dreary…

Kids like Tola Martins in Disney’s Iwájú don’t drive to school, they fly. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley pulled a similar stunt when they missed the train to Hogwarts. As did Flint Lockwood when he had to stop a giant…

Superconductor (noun, “SOOP-er-con-DUCK-tor”) A superconductor is a material that conducts electricity without resistance. Many materials conduct electricity. That is, they allow electric currents to flow through them. Such materials are called conductors. For instance, metal wires conduct electricity that powers…

Ivory is so popular that poachers regularly kill elephants for their tusks. To stop the slaughter of these animals, most nations banned the international sale of elephant ivory in 1989. Those laws have not totally stopped poachers. But lasers might,…

For a long time, scientists thought Venus was geologically dead. But newfound evidence suggests active volcanoes may be common on this second planet from the sun. The finding emerged during a careful review of photos taken more than 30 years…

For the first time, an orangutan has been seen doctoring a wound. Scientists describe it as the first evidence of a wild animal caring for a wound using a natural substance that’s known to aid healing. Researchers shared their discovery…

Sounds like trouble Exposing zebra finch eggs and hatchlings to traffic noise can lead to lifelong reductions in health and reproduction, Jonathan Lambert reported in “Traffic noise harms bird eggs” (SN: 6/1/24, p. 9). Reader Gary Wilson asked how noise…

DNA is capable of encoding all sorts of data. Storing it in an amberlike material may keep that information safe for nearly forever.

Radiocarbon from bomb tests reveals that plants store more carbon than previously estimated in leaves and stems, which are vulnerable to degradation.