Science & Society
- Archaeology
Stone Age dentists treated cavities with tar
Is Italy the home of dentistry? That’s where treated tooth decay has been found, dating back 14 millennia. Cavities appear picked clean with sharp tools. Ouch!
- Health & Medicine
Analyze This: Real data on lead levels in school drinking water
The metallic element lead can be toxic if ingested. To keep students safe, many schools now test their water. Some have found dangerously high levels.
- Physics
Eclipses come in many forms
Eclipses are one of nature’s most awesome spectacles, and scientists have learned a lot by observing them and related celestial alignments — occultations and transits.
- Psychology
Noticing mistakes boosts learning
People who pay attention to their mistakes are more likely to do better the next time, data show.
- Science & Society
Legalizing pot may confuse teens into thinking it’s safe
A growing number of teens think marijuana is no big deal, a new study finds. And that may encourage many to experiment with its use.
- Fossils
Fossils offer new candidate for earliest life
Rock unearthed in Canada appears to hold fossils from seafloor microbes that would have lived around 4 billion years ago, when Earth was very young.
- Microbes
Will we know alien life when we see it?
The hunt is on for extraterrestrials. But recognizing them may require some wiggle room in what we define as being alive.
- Science & Society
Fossils point to Neandertal diets — and medicine use
Whether Neandertals were largely meat-eaters or vegans depended on their environment, fossils now suggest. Their teeth also indicate they used natural medicines.
- Science & Society
Cool Jobs: Reaching out to E.T. is a numbers game
From figuring out if we’re alone in the universe, to writing messages to aliens, scientists use math in many ways in their search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
- Science & Society
Should we call out to space aliens?
Scientists have been listening to space for decades, hoping to pick up alien signals. Now some have proposed we try broadcasting a welcome call.
- Science & Society
For minority students to succeed, teachers need to earn trust
Minority middle-school students begin to lose trust in their teachers when they see peers treated unfairly.
- Animals
Explainer: How brief can hibernation be?
Many animals frequently slow body functions and drop their temperatures — sometimes for just a day. Is that hibernation, or just torpor? Are the two even related? Scientists disagree.
