The first planet ever spotted by the Kepler space telescope is falling into its star. Kepler launched in 2009 on a mission to find exoplanets by watching them cross in…
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These science discoveries from 2022 could be game changers
These reported discoveries from 2022 could be game changers, if only we were sure of the findings. News reports this year left us wondering … Is new physics around the…
The last vital ingredient for life has been discovered on Enceladus
CHICAGO — The last key ingredient for life has been discovered on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. Phosphorus is a vital building block of life, used to construct DNA and RNA.…
Adult mouse brains are teeming with ‘silent synapses’
Learning lots of new information as a baby requires a pool of ready-to-go, immature connections between nerve cells to form memories quickly. Called silent synapses, these connections are inactive until…
How the James Webb telescope’s glances back in time are reshaping cosmology
BALTIMORE — The James Webb Space Telescope is living up to its promise as a wayback machine. The spectacularly sensitive observatory is finding and confirming galaxies more distant, and therefore…
2022 was the year long COVID couldn’t be ignored
This year, the world had to face the growing burden of long COVID. A tidal wave of people with lingering symptoms — some mild, some profoundly disabling — commanded attention.…
Some common medical terms may be more confusing than doctors think
Medical language can sometimes stump patients. And some common sayings are straight-up head-scratchers. Calling a patient’s neurological exam “grossly intact,” for example, might not sound so great, says Michael Pitt,…
2022’s biggest climate change bill pushes clean energy
The world needed bold climate action this year, and we got it. California and other states announced plans to phase out gas-powered cars after 2035. The United States ratified an…
Scientists thought snakes didn’t have clitorises. They were wrong
Female snakes have clitorises too, a new study finds. The research raises the possibility that the sex lives of snakes are more complicated and diverse than previously understood, researchers report…
NASA’s Perseverance rover captured the sound of a dust devil on Mars
Thanks to a bit of good luck, the Mars rover Perseverance has captured the first-ever sound of a Martian dust devil. The NASA rover has witnessed dusty whirlwinds before. But…
