Science

Now that Novo Nordisk is the world’s weight-loss juggernaut, will it have to betray its first patients—type 1 diabetics?

Exposure to smoke is dangerous regardless of your health status, so follow these steps to limit the risk.

Cartilage cells that contain fat explain why some skeletal tissues are less rigid than others, and could one day be grown in labs to produce better materials for performing reconstructive surgeries and rhinoplasties.

A Louisiana patient is the first person in the United States to die as a result of H5N1 infection. One expert likens what happens next to Russian roulette.

In early January, soil moisture in much of Southern California was in the bottom 2 percent of historical records.

The state’s insurance industry was reformed in late 2024 to promote coverage in disaster-prone areas. Tens of billions in fire damage will stress-test the new regime.

Microbes found in green spaces can transfer into your body, increasing bacterial diversity and potentially boosting the strength of the immune system.

Oropouche virus has posed little threat outside South America in the past, but land-use change, the climate crisis, and international travel all appear to be spreading this insect-borne disease to new places.

The arrival of La Niña is starving California of rain, and more high Santa Ana winds could be on the way.

As he prepares to leave the White House, Ali Zaidi is sober about what’s coming—but says too much has already been built and invested for Donald Trump to undo it.

In 2024, natural disasters related to variations in the water cycle caused more than 8,700 deaths and at least $550 billion of economic loss.

With wind speeds falling, firefighting reinforcements arriving from out of state, and more water sources online, authorities now have a critical window to take control of the situation.

He thought he’d make millions of dollars selling solar panels door-to-door. The reality was much darker.

The lack of cheap EVs and the reliance on combustion engines is putting Europe’s plan to ban new petrol cars by 2035 at risk.

From childhood malaria vaccines to record-breaking solar panels to the discovery of a lost ancient city, this tumultuous year still had plenty of high points.

The incoming Trump administration has signaled its hostility toward EVs. Will the red-state/blue-state divide come for public charging?

The 1,100-pound mystery object landed in Kenya at the end of December. Experts are still baffled.

On January 13, Atlas C/2024 G3 will reach its closest point to the sun.

Research and development is underway to create robots that can hunt for signs of life in the vast oceans that exist under the thick ice shells of bodies like Europa.

NASA has plans to return humans to the moon with the Artemis mission—but Elon Musk’s preference for Mars could have influence in the Trump administration.

Three exotic new species of superconductivity were spotted last year, illustrating the myriad ways electrons can join together to form a frictionless quantum soup.

The reference frames from which observers view quantum events can themselves have multiple possible locations at once—an insight with potentially major ramifications.

There’s no such thing as black-colored light. So how can we see Darth Vader on a screen?

Yes, the weight distribution on an aircraft really does affect how well it flies. Our physics guy explains.

The first medical treatment to use Crispr gene editing has been on the market for a year. Its complexity means few patients in the US have received it yet.

A 53-year-old woman was the third to undergo the transplant procedure. Researchers are hoping to monitor the long-term effects.

Startup Phantom Neuro is building an implant that sits under the skin and promises to give amputees more accurate control of electronic prosthetics.

The genome-editing technology can be supercharged by artificial intelligence—and the results are already being felt.

The Advanced Research and Invention Agency—ARIA—is the UK's answer to Darpa. But can it put the country back on the scientific map?

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.

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.

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.

Reacquaint yourself with the good things in life by taking the time to appreciate them—and yes, it’s OK to rush through the bad stuff.

With big cash prizes at stake—and AI supercharging research—interspecies translation is closer than ever. But what, if anything, would animals want to tell us?

Forecasting is both art and science, reliant on both rigor and luck—but you can develop a mindset that anticipates and plans ahead.

Driving represented an interesting way for neuroscientists to study how rodents acquire new skills, and unexpectedly, rats had an intense motivation for their driving training.