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Neutrinos Linked With Cosmic Source for the First Time
High-energy neutrinos have been traced back to a flaring supermassive black hole known as a blazar. The long-sought link opens the door to an entirely new way to study the universe.
The Hunt for Earth’s Deep Hidden Oceans
Water-bearing minerals reveal that Earth’s mantle could hold more water than all its oceans. Researchers now ask: Where did it all come from?
To Make Sense of the Present, Brains May Predict the Future
A controversial theory suggests that perception, motor control, memory and other brain functions all depend on comparisons between ongoing actual experiences and the brain’s modeled expectations.
Slime Molds Remember — but Do They Learn?
Evidence mounts that organisms without nervous systems can in some sense learn and solve problems, but researchers disagree about whether this is “primitive cognition.”
What Is the Sun Made Of and When Will It Die?
If and when physicists are able to pin down the metal content of the sun, that number could upend much of what we thought we knew about the evolution and life span of stars.
Why Can’t We Find Planet Nine?
Astronomers suspect that there’s a large planet hiding out in the distant fringes of the solar system. At a recent workshop, they brainstormed ways to coax it into view.
Salamander’s Genome Guards Secrets of Limb Regrowth
With a fully sequenced genome in hand, scientists hope they are finally poised to learn how axolotls regenerate lost body parts.
Solution: ‘The Slippery Math of Causation’
The all-too-intuitive picture of a straight arrow going from cause to effect is far too simplistic to describe the real world.
The Young Milky Way Collided With a Dwarf Galaxy
Astronomers have found stars dating from a long-ago collision between the Milky Way and another galaxy. The crash helps to explain why the Milky Way looks the way it does.