This time last year, Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s health emergencies program, was strenuously urging the world to try to contain the new virus that was spreading in and from China.

Scientists still debate whether millions of cheap, fast diagnostic kits will help control the pandemic. Here’s why.

Clear information about the emerging variants and their locations.

Five strategies to increase the chances of getting a free shot for yourself or someone you care about

Open up any social media app on your phone and you'll likely see links to COVID-19 information from trustworthy sources.

Color is an inherent part of visual experience, as fundamental as gravity. So how could anyone see color differently than you do?

Math and reading scores for 12th graders in the U.S. were at a historic low even before the COVID-19 pandemic forced a massive shift to remote learning.

What may be an overlooked fossil in a well-known cultural site in India could offer clues to the age of its underlying rocks.

The tetrahedron is the simplest three-dimensional shape with flat sides. Its basic properties have beguiled curious minds as far back as Plato and Aristotle.

Sending astronauts will present many challenges that will need to be addressed in advance, many of which have to do with simply getting them there in one piece!

Recent results from a pulsar timing array, which uses dead stars to hunt for gravitational waves, has scientists speculating about cosmic strings and primordial black holes

The planet densities and orbits at TRAPPIST-1 and TOI-178 buck astronomers’ expectations

Phys.Org, February 05, 2021

The NASA Mars rover Perseverance touches down on the surface of Mars on February 18. The mission will take the next leap in space science by searching for signs of past (microbial) life on the red planet.

Mars and Earth lined up neatly last summer, and three separate space agencies seized their opportunity.

Google is weaning itself off user-tracking "cookies" which allow the web giant to deliver personalized ads but which also have raised the hackles of privacy defenders.

It is a story that began three decades ago, with a little-known scientist who refused to quit.

Significant progress will need to be made for the concept to escape Makani’s shadow.

Experiments scientists on this highly radioactive element reveal some unexpected properties

A project to build a giant island providing enough energy for three million households has been given the green light by Denmark's politicians.

An analysis of three large, well-known heart disease studies found drinking one or more cups of caffeinated coffee was associated with decreased heart failure risk.

Pollen released by plants is also more intense than in 1990 in bad news for those with allergies, research in US and Canada finds.

Americans have shorter lives than international peers. Some researchers now say conservative policies may be to blame.

The profound difference between sitting and ‘active resting’

Separate fact from fiction with these fun sneezing science facts.

What exactly is the polar vortex?

Scientists share the findings that helped them pinpoint key moments in the rise of our species

A new simulation offers a different view of how the continents we live on drifted into their current configuration.

Neonicotinoids are already accused of contributing to widespread insect declines. But there’s evidence they can also harm rabbits, birds, and deer.

Vicious circle of cheap but damaging food is biggest destroyer of nature, says UN-backed report.

Parts of China, India, Europe and the northeastern United States are among the hardest-hit areas, suffering a disproportionately high share of 8.7 million annual deaths attributed to fossil fuels.

"The solutions will not only save consumers money, but also create jobs and provide energy and more international security, while substantially reducing air pollution and climate damage from energy."

It’s called coastal darkening, and scientists are just beginning to explore it.

You may have learned that natural foods decompose in nature; Glacier National Park reminds us why it's a bad idea.

America’s coastal saltwater wetlands are on a course toward functional extinction in the coming decades.

Anxiety over the climate crisis is spreading like wildfire. Psychologists are just starting to figure out how to help

Trump slowed, but did not stop, America’s grappling with the climate crisis. Under Biden, can the nation catch up with the rest of the developed world?

As the world grapples with an emergency that is as complex as it is terrifying, we have a moral obligation to act.

Shrinking and thinning of glaciers is one of the most documented signs of global warming caused by rising levels of greenhouse gases.

The case raises difficult issues about free speech in an era of online misinformation and disinformation.