Science
Robo Reborn
The Atlas Robot Is Dead. Long Live the Atlas Robot
Before the dear old model could even power down, Boston Dynamics unleashed a stronger new Atlas robot that can move in ways us puny humans never can.
Carlton Reid
Bird Flu Is Spreading in Alarming New Ways
H5N1 has infected cattle across the US and jumped from a mammal to a human for the first time. Experts fear it may someday evolve to spread among humans.
David Cox
This Woman Will Decide Which Babies Are Born
Noor Siddiqui founded Orchid so people could “have healthy babies.” Now she’s using the company’s gene technology on herself—and talking about it for the first time.
Jason Kehe
‘In 24 Hours, You’ll Have Your Pills’: American Women Are Traveling to Mexico for Abortions
Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more women have been crossing the border to Mexico for abortion medications and procedures.
Carmen Valeria Escobar
Screen Time for Kids Is Fine! Unless It's Not
Two new books offer radically different approaches to how people should think about smartphones and social media.
Matt Reynolds
Space Force Is Planning a Military Exercise in Orbit
Two satellites will engage in a “realistic threat response scenario” when Victus Haze gets underway.
Stephen Clark, Ars Technica
Elon Musk’s Latest Mars Pitch Has Potential
SpaceX has made significant progress toward what once seemed an unattainable goal.
Eric Berger, Ars Technica
The Best Total Solar Eclipse Photos
Whether you’re in the path of the totality or keeping track from afar, these are the best total solar eclipse photos we’ve found.
Karen Williams and Brian Barrett
How Will the Solar Eclipse Affect Animals? NASA Needs Your Help to Find Out
NASA’s Eclipse Soundscapes project will collect observations and soundscapes recorded by the public during the April 8 total solar eclipse.
Geraldine Castro
Mexico City’s Metro System Is Sinking Fast. Yours Could Be Next
Subsidence is causing parts of Mexico City to sink, and it’s happening at an uneven rate. That’s bad news for its sprawling public transportation system.
Matt Simon
The Honeybees Versus the Murder Hornets
Under threat from murder hornets, climate change, and habitat loss, UK honeybees are getting help from AI-enabled apiculturists tracking everything from foraging patterns to foreign invaders.
Frankie Adkins
Why the East Coast Earthquake Covered So Much Ground
Friday morning's earthquake was felt from New York City all the way to Washington, DC. Blame ancient fault lines and bedrock for the jolt.
Matt Simon
The Earth Will Feast on Dead Cicadas
Two cicada broods, XIX and XIII, are emerging in sync for the first time in 221 years. Birds, trees, and dirt are about to get the banquet of a lifetime.
Celia Ford
The Paradox That's Supercharging Climate Change
Humanity needs to burn less fossil fuels. But that means fewer aerosols to help cool the planet—and a potential acceleration of global warming.
Matt Simon
Toronto Wants to Manage Storms and Floods—With a Rain Tax
Outcry reached such a crescendo last week that the city canceled public hearings on the tax, which is intended to help offset the hundreds of millions spent managing stormwater and basement flooding.
Europe Rules That Insufficient Climate Change Action Is a Human Rights Violation
In a landmark ruling, the European Court of Human Rights found that Switzerland had not done enough to protect its citizens from climate change—blowing open the door for further cases against governments.
Chris Baraniuk
Searching for 'Forever Chemicals' From an Endless Landfill Fire
Alabama residents are considering blood or urine tests to see if “forever chemicals” have resulted from a nearby landfill fire that has burned since 2022.
Lee Hedgepeth
It Takes Guts, Not College, to Fix Wind Turbines for a Living
Want one of the fastest-growing jobs in the US? Get used to being high.
Caitlin Kelly
One Couple's Quest to Ditch Natural Gas
Two climate journalists decided to decarbonize their home. Here's what happened.
Tik Root
The Next Heat Pump Frontier? NYC Apartment Windows
New heat pumps easily fit over window sills, meaning they could replace clunky apartment air-conditioning units.
Matt Simon
The Feds Are Trying to Get Plants to Mine Metal Through Their Roots
Some species can absorb extreme amounts of nickel from soils. Such “phytomining” could help provide batteries essential for the renewable revolution.
Matt Simon
The Quest to Map the Inside of the Proton
Long-anticipated experiments that use light to mimic gravity are revealing the distribution of energies, forces, and pressures inside a subatomic particle for the first time.
Charlie Wood
Can You Really Run on Top of a Train, Like in the Movies?
To pull off this classic Hollywood stunt, you gotta know your physics!
Rhett Allain
A Popular Alien-Hunting Technique Is Increasingly in Doubt
Recent controversies bode ill for the effort to detect life on other planets by analyzing the gases in their atmospheres.
Elise Cutts
Can You View a Round Solar Eclipse Through a Square Hole?
Here’s a cool way to watch the eclipse on Monday—and learn about the weird physics of light while you’re at it.
Rhett Allain
They Experimented on Themselves in Secret. What They Discovered Helped Win a War
The untold, top-secret story of the British researchers who found the key to keeping humans alive underwater—and helped make D-Day a success.
Rachel Lance
The Next Frontier for Brain Implants Is Artificial Vision
Elon Musk’s Neuralink and others are developing devices that could provide blind people with a crude sense of sight.
Emily Mullin
He Got a Pig Kidney Transplant. Now Doctors Need to Keep It Working
Researchers think a combination of genetic edits and an experimental immunosuppressive drug could make the first pig kidney transplant a long-term success.
Emily Mullin
This Bag of Cells Could Grow New Livers Inside of People
Donor livers are in short supply for transplants. A startup is attempting to grow new ones in people instead.
Emily Mullin
Meet the Next Generation of Doctors—and Their Surgical Robots
Don't worry, your next surgeon will definitely be a human. But just as medical students are training to use a scalpel, they're also training to use robots designed to make surgeries easier.
Neha Mukherjee
AI Is Building Highly Effective Antibodies That Humans Can’t Even Imagine
Robots, computers, and algorithms are hunting for potential new therapies in ways humans can’t—by processing huge volumes of data and building previously unimagined molecules.
Amit Katwala
This Artificial Muscle Moves Stuff on Its Own
Actuators inspired by cucumber plants could make robots move more naturally in response to their environments, or be used for devices in inhospitable places.
Max G. Levy
Get Ready for 3D-Printed Organs and a Knife That ‘Smells’ Tumors
Hospitals are evolving at warp speed, and autonomous surgical robots are just the beginning.
João Medeiros
Scientists Are Unlocking the Secrets of Your ‘Little Brain’
The cerebellum is responsible for far more than coordinating movement. New techniques reveal that it is, in fact, a hub of sensory and emotional processing in the brain.
R Douglas Fields
Meet the Designer Behind Neuralink’s Surgical Robot
Afshin Mehin has helped design some of the most futuristic neurotech devices.
Emily Mullin
Are You Noise Sensitive? Here's How to Tell
Every person has a different idea of what makes noise “loud,” but there are some things we all can do to turn the volume down a little.
Amy Paturel
Why You Hear Voices in Your White Noise Machine
If you've ever heard music, voices, or other sounds while trying to sleep with a white noise machine running, you're not losing your mind. Here's what's going on.
Jennifer Billock
Latest
Tip of the Iceberg
These Women Came to Antarctica for Science. Then the Predators Emerged
David Kushner
trashosphere
International Space Station Trash May Have Hit This Florida House
Stephen Clark, Ars Technica
Xenotransplantation
A Gene-Edited Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Person for the First Time
Emily Mullin
Europe Is Struggling to Coexist With Wild Bears
Tristan Kennedy
vaccine scene
There Are Already More Measles Cases in the US This Year Than All of 2023
Beth Mole, Ars Technica