Ed Yong
The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?
The epidemics of the early 21st century revealed a world unprepared, even as the risks continue to multiply. Much worse is coming.
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Denise Applewhite The Viruses That Eavesdrop on Their Hosts
By listening to signals exchanged by the bacteria they target, they can bide their time until they have enough fresh targets to infect.
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Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune / Getty The Recurring Dread of a Paralyzing Illness
The 2018 spike in acute flaccid myelitis has peaked, but the quest to understand this debilitating illness continues.
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Adam Dunn City Frogs Are the Sexiest Frogs
Two new studies show how certain animals can adapt to the din of human activity in surprising ways.
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Reuters The CRISPR Baby Scandal Gets Worse by the Day
The alleged creation of the world's first gene-edited infants was full of technical errors and ethical blunders. Here are the 15 most damning details.
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Marlon Lopez MMG1 Design / Vandame / Shutterstock ... There’s a Spider That Makes Milk
It feeds its young a white, nutritious fluid secreted from its underside.
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Mohamed Sahnouni 2.4-Million-Year-Old Stone Tools Turn Up in an Unexpected Place
Artifacts found in Algeria complicate the story of early-human evolution.
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Mark Schiefelbein / AP A Reckless and Needless Use of Gene Editing on Human Embryos
A researcher’s claim that two CRISPR-edited baby girls have been born has been met with widespread condemnation from scientists and ethicists alike.
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Miguel Medina / Getty The History of the Oceans Is Locked in Whale Earwax
The massive plugs contain spikes and dips of stress hormones that perfectly match the history of modern whaling.
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Jason Lee / Reuters Psychology’s Replication Crisis Is Running Out of Excuses
Another big project has found that only half of studies can be repeated. And this time, the usual explanations fall flat.
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Roy Funch For 4,000 Years, Termites Have Been Building Something Incredible in Brazil
Their huge mounds cover an area the size of Britain, and are visible from space.
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Reuters A Bold New Strategy for Stopping the Rise of Superbugs
Scientists have pinpointed a molecule that accelerates the evolution of drug-resistant microbes. Now they’re trying to find a way to block it.
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Nikola Solic / Reuters The Myth Of the Traumatized Neanderthal
Contrary to popular belief, they weren’t exceptionally prone to head injuries, and certainly no more so than early humans.
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Natural History Museum of Denmark The Extremely Fast Peopling of the Americas
Two genetic studies show how the first Native Americans spread through their new continent with incredible speed.
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Fabian Bimmer / Reuters The Problem Behind a Viral Video of a Persistent Baby Bear
What appears to be a life-affirming triumph is really a cautionary tale about drones and wildlife.
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James Di Loreto / Smithsonian Institution Why the Long Face, Extinct Dolphin?
A changing climate could have driven the evolution of bizarre species with snouts five times longer than the rest of their skulls.
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Cameron Spencer / Getty Wait, Have We Really Wiped Out 60 Percent of Animals?
The findings of a major new report have been widely mischaracterized—although the actual news is still grim.
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Kenneth Catania / Vanderbilt University How to Not Become a Zombie, Using Martial Arts
Reader beware: These techniques may work only if you're a cockroach.
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Graham Montgomery / University of Connecticut Animals Are Riding an Escalator to Extinction
Ain’t no mountain high enough to escape climate change.
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Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology The Fight for Corals Loses Its Great Champion
Ruth Gates dedicated her life to saving the world’s reefs and training the next generation of reef scientists.
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Petarg / Shutterstock / The Atlantic The Main Suspect Behind an Ominous Spike in a Polio-like Illness
A common virus seems to be behind a puzzling condition that’s paralyzing children, but uncertainties remain.
