76 percent of well-known insects fall outside protected areas

The existing boundaries of national parks and other habitat preserves aren’t enough to protect more than three-quarters of the world’s well-studied insects. The finding, reported February 1 in One Earth,…

The deadly VEXAS syndrome is more common than doctors thought

A mysterious new disease may be to blame for severe, unexplained inflammation in older men. Now, researchers have their first good look at who the disease strikes, and how often.…

Prairie voles can find partners just fine without the ‘love hormone’ oxytocin

Prairie voles have long been heralded as models of monogamy. Now, a study suggests that the “love hormone” once thought essential for their bonding — oxytocin — might not be…

Mysterious marks on Ice Age cave art may have been a form of record keeping

As far back as roughly 25,000 years ago, Ice Age hunter-gatherers may have jotted down markings to communicate information about the behavior of their prey, a new study finds. These…

It’s possible to reach net-zero carbon emissions. Here’s how

Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez saw the future of energy on a broiling-hot day last September. An email alert hit her inbox from the San Diego Gas & Electric Company. “Extreme heat straining the…

Birds that dive may be at greater risk of extinction

Birds that dive underwater — such as penguins, loons and grebes — may be more likely to go extinct than their nondiving kin, a new study finds. Many water birds…

Fossils suggest early primates lived in a once-swampy Arctic

The Arctic today is a hostile place for most primates. But a series of fossils found since the 1970s suggest that wasn’t always the case. Dozens of fossilized teeth and…

These shape-shifting devices melt and re-form thanks to magnetic fields

Shape-shifting liquid metal robots might not be limited to science fiction anymore. Miniature machines can switch from solid to liquid and back again to squeeze into tight spaces and perform…

Procrastination may harm your health. Here’s what you can do

The worst procrastinators probably won’t be able to read this story. It’ll remind them of what they’re trying to avoid, psychologist Piers Steel says. Maybe they’re dragging their feet going…

Lots of Tatooine-like planets around binary stars may be habitable

SEATTLE — Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars is the stuff of science fiction. But Tatooine-like planets in orbit around pairs of stars might be our best bet in…