SCIENCE

Cloth face masks can help slow the spread of coronavirus. But do they need filters, too?

Do Carbon Filters in Face Masks Offer More Protection Against Coronavirus?

A growing number of cloth face masks for sale online are offering a carbon or other type of filter. Do they help?

Researcher samples cave sediments for DNA.

Humans First Arrived in North America 30,000 Years Ago, New Studies Suggest

New archeological evidence pushes back the arrival of the first North Americans 15,000 years and suggests they occupied the Americas during the Last Glacial Maximum, 26,000 to 19,000 years ago.

Two sturddlefish siblings from the experiment.

Oops! Scientists Accidentally Created a New Hybrid Fish

The bouncing baby hybrid fish have their sturgeon mother’s mouth—and her penchant for meat-eating, too.

Why Do Cats 'Slow Blink' at People?

Attempting to decode cat behavior can lead to madness. But we do have some idea of why cats like blinking at us.

A pile of genetically-related Argentine ants

10 Facts About Argentine Ants

Invasive Argentine ants have built a 560-mile-long supercolony underneath California, making them virtually impossible to eradicate.

This woman is going to make a quick stop at Whole Foods' bakery section before book club.

Why Does Altitude Affect Baking?

Don’t blame yourself for those bone-dry brownies you made in Aspen—blame the air pressure (or lack thereof).

Compost is delicious trash salad for your soil.

Vermont Just Banned Residents From Throwing Food Scraps in the Trash

The state has expanded its trash pick-up services to accommodate the new policy, but many residents are already composting pros.

NASA's Curiosity rover captured this sunset at Mars' Gale crater in 2015.

NASA Scientist Simulates What Sunsets Would Look Like on Venus, Mars, and Beyond

NASA scientist Geronimo Villanueva built a tool that models the colorful, alien sunsets of planets like Mars, Uranus, and Venus.

Gene editing techniques like CRISPR are upending thousands of years of wine-making tradition.

How Gene Editing is Changing the Future of Wine—and Making it Less Likely to Give You a Hangover

Scientists are making ancient French grape vines less susceptible to diseases—and less likely to cause hangovers—through gene editing.

Meet Ice Cream Scientist Dr. Maya Warren

Dr. Maya Warren spoke with us about how she turned her passion for ice cream and food science into one of the coolest jobs ever.

This man had too many dry martinis at a business lunch.

How the Scientist Who Invented Ibuprofen Accidentally Discovered It Was Great for Hangovers

It all started when Dr. Stewart Adams took too many vodka shots the night before speaking at a Moscow conference.

Team members climb up a slope during the expedition to find Sandy Irvine's remains on Mount Everest.

Expeditions Gather Climate Change Clues on Mount Everest in Two New Documentaries

‘Lost on Everest’ chronicles a mission to find one of Mount Everest’s first missing bodies, while ‘Expedition Everest’ studies climate change on the mountain.

Cats can ruin a relationship before it even gets started, according to science.

Study: Women Are Less Attracted to Men Who Have Cats In Their Dating Profile Pics

A survey of hundreds of women demonstrated that dating profiles showing men holding cats are perceived as less desirable.

NASA Names Washington, D.C., Headquarters After ‘Hidden Figure’ Mary Jackson

Mary W. Jackson, NASA’s first Black female engineer, was an unsung hero of the Space Race in the 1960s.

A Massive Volcanic Eruption in Alaska May Have Doomed the Roman Republic

Research shows that a volcanic eruption in Alaska triggered a two-year cooling period in the Mediterranean—possibly destabilizing an already volatile Roman Republic.

Flushing a Toilet Could Create a Cloud of Coronavirus-Contaminated Droplets

Toilets have always sent contaminants into the air, but the coronavirus pandemic is giving new urgency to the practice of closing the lid whenever possible.

An artist’s interpretation of the birth of a baby mosasaur.

This Football-Sized Fossil Egg is the First Found in Antarctica, and It May Have Belonged to a Mosasaur

The 68-million-year-old fossil egg’s mystery mother may have been one of the fiercest marine predators from the Late Cretaceous period.

Dexamethasone is showing promise as an inexpensive treatment for coronavirus.

Oxford University Trial Finds Dexamethasone, a Widely Available Drug, Reduces Deaths in Critically Ill Coronavirus Patients

Oxford University researchers showed that dexamethasone, a widely available steroid medication, can cut coronavirus-related deaths for patients on ventilators by one-third.

This dad wanted to learn about dinosaurs, too.

The American Museum of Natural History Just Launched OLogy, an iPad App Version of Its Science Website for Kids

Kids can learn about archaeology, marine biology, and other “-ologies” through games, interactive lessons, and more.

Dogs have been trained to sniff out the new coronavirus.

7 Unusual Things That Dogs Can Detect by Smell

Dogs' sense of smell is at least 10,000 times as acute as ours, and they're being trained to sniff out a wide range of objects—from bombs to viruses.

Sir Isaac Newton Recommended an Innovative Cure for the Plague: Toad Puke

Sir Isaac Newton didn’t get the idea from a creepy old witch in the forest—he got it from a respected physician.

This dog would like to turn off Netflix's autoplay feature.

What Do Pets See When They Watch Television?

Dogs and cats can sometimes seem very intrigued by your latest binge-watch. But are they seeing what we're seeing?

Tear Gas vs. Pepper Spray: What’s the Difference?

For one thing, tear gas grenades are usually used for crowd control—pepper spray is more for personal safety.

It's Black Birders Week—Here's Why Celebrating Black Scientists and Naturalists Matters

From May 31 to June 5, follow along as Black Birders Week highlights the experiences and expertise of Black scientists and naturalists.

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