Meghan Rosen is a senior writer who reports on the life sciences for Science News. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology with an emphasis in biotechnology from the University of
I have long puzzled over something in Andy Weir’s 2021 book Project Hail Mary: Why did two of the three fictional astronauts die during an interstellar trip? It might be because Weir put
Data centers are being built at a frantic pace all over the world, driven by the AI boom. These facilities consume staggering amounts of electricity. By 2028, AI servers alone may use as
The Antarctic Peninsula is an early warning system for the southernmost continent when it comes to climate change. And the prognostications are grim — but it’s not yet too late to avoid irreversible
Making high-performance proteins for medicines or consumer products can take trial after trial of tweaks, experiments and fine-tuning. A new machine learning framework squeezes all that into a single round of testing. The
Over 600 million years ago, most of Earth completely froze over, becoming “Snowball Earth.” But even during this frigid period, the climate still behaved in familiar ways, earth scientist Chloe Griffin and colleagues
About 150 million years ago, in a coastal lagoon in what is now southern Germany, the oldest known bird gobbled up food with a beak built for efficient eating. It’s finely tuned mouth
These days, many people can skip the dreaded Pap smear in favor of a far less invasive and more private way to screen for cervical cancer: disposable, DIY swabs that can be used
Many people find their flattened faces cute, but among dogs bred with a squished visage, 11 percent or less of some breeds can breathe easily. The findings, published February 18 in PLOS One,
In the 2012 movie The Amazing Spider-Man, a key character regrows his missing arm by imbibing reptilian DNA — but then turns into a monster lizard that Spider-Man must foil. While humans outside the
