A vial of blood is put into a tube rack, with medical images of a brain in the background.
Environment

Alzheimer’s blood tests are getting better, but still have a ways to go

Alzheimer’s disease is hard to diagnose. But proteins in the blood might provide clarity. A series of recent findings, presented at the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Philadelphia and in research papers, raise the possibility of a simple blood draw to help doctors figure out if a person’s cognitive problems are caused by Alzheimer’s […]

An illustration of the Earth sliced in half to expose a glowing inner core
Physics

Something weird is happening to Earth’s inner core

Something strange is happening at Earth’s center. Decades of earthquake data show that Earth’s inner core has been rotating slower than its mantle and surface since around 2010, researchers report June 12 in Nature. The study appears to confirm a controversial finding from last year that the inner core may have reversed its rotation relative […]

digital art of an unexplained anomalous phenomena (UAP)
Space

Scientists are getting serious about UFOs. Here’s why

For millennia, humans have seen inexplicable things in the sky. Some have been beautiful, some have been terrifying, and some — like auroras and solar eclipses before they were understood scientifically — have been both. Today’s aircraft, balloons, drones, satellites and more only increase the chances of spotting something confounding overhead. In the United States, […]

Laboratory equipment used to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium.
Physics

4 questions about the uranium needed for next-generation nuclear reactors

Nuclear power of the future is going to need fuel. That has governments, energy companies and nuclear engineers clamoring to get their hands on HALEU: high-assay low-enriched uranium. HALEU (pronounced like “Hey, Lou”) was previously a niche material, used mainly in nuclear reactors conducting scientific research. But now, multiple companies in the United States have […]

An illustration of an asteroid slamming into the ocean near Mexico.
Genetics

The asteroid that may have killed the dinosaurs came from beyond Jupiter

Earth’s most famous killer asteroid came from the outer reaches of the solar system, researchers report in the Aug. 16 Science. About 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the sea just off Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, forming the Chicxulub crater. That powerful impact may have triggered a mass extinction event on Earth, killing off […]