Forty-nine years ago, on July 20, 1969, American astronauts planted a US flag on the moon. A space lawyer explains the implications, who owns the moon, and what it means for lunar mining.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Analysis and Comment
Oomycete spores hack into plants to get what they need, causing agricultural disease. Can researchers figure out how to close plants' security loopholes and create more resilient crops?
The strengths of blockchain technologies could help address the weaknesses of health care systems to store and secure medical records.
As the microchip industry celebrates the 50th anniversary of chipmaker Intel's founding, engineers and researchers call for a complete rethinking of computer architecture.
A new study found the Cas9 gene editing scissors don't stop cutting after we tell them to.
Did you recently hear news that Earth's oldest pigments were hot pink? That's not quite right. When they were in living bacteria a billion years ago, they were performing photosynthesis – and green.
New research discovered how people use emoji to express their concern and support during tragedies and disasters.
In this professor's class, there are no calculators. Instead, students learn advanced math by talking, drawing pictures, playing with beach balls – and knitting.
There are several reasons people might find smart devices equipped with an always-on microphone both attractive and unsettling.
Russian government agents allegedly penetrated US state and county election databases. Scholars of election security offer insight and recommendations about what to do now.
Tracking wild animals can provide lots of valuable data. New research suggests audio recordings of wild wolves can replace the typical radio collars, which can be expensive and intrusive.
President Trump's global trade wars may indeed drive manufacturing back to the U.S. – just not in the way he predicted.
Novichok are a set of molecules that are some of the most deadly nerve agents ever developed. They are almost impossible to detect and clean up.
A detector buried under more than a mile of ice in Antarctica has detected a high-energy subatomic neutrino and traced it to its origin, a blazar – a gargantuan black hole more than a billion times more massive than the sun.
Facebook and privacy
For years, watchdogs have warned of the potential problems of sharing data with online companies. The Facebook data crisis has made these concerns much more real. What should be done now?
Influenza 1918–2018
Don't believe these 10 common myths about the 1918 Spanish flu.
Doing science
Four scientists talk through the ways they now build outreach into their work as a way to spread their research's impact – something that wasn't the norm for past generations of academics.
Research and Expert Database
Editors’ Picks
Linguistic clues show how people around the world first developed mathematical thought.
This Speed Read makes the case why you should be nice to spiders you encounter in your home and consider a live-and-let-live policy.
When people see their bodies in 3D, they feel worse about themselves and more negative in general. That might not put shoppers in a buying mood even for clothes that fit better.
Data and privacy issues are tangled up in the DNA reports consumers get from big genetic testing companies – and the third-party sites they turn to in order to glean more from their raw DNA.
Were foreign diplomats and tourists attacked with a 'sonic weapon' – or was it something else? Ultrasound researchers demonstrate a rational, evidence-based explanation.
The FBI and police officials say they need to decrypt secure communications to fight crime. But they have other options, and modern threats make clear the importance of strong encryption.
Victorian attitudes influenced what scientists thought they were observing about sexual behaviors in the animal world. But modern techniques reveal the myth for what it is.
Today's news can often involve mind-bogglingly large numbers. A math professor shares some tricks for understanding it all.
Mathematics and art are generally viewed as very different. But a trip through history – from an Islamic palace to Pollock's paintings – proves the parallels between the two can be uncanny.
Twitter recently blew up with posts wondering about the feline fascination with taped squares on the ground. An animal behavior expert explains it's not magic that draws Fluffy to the #CatSquare.
Let's say you want the perfect mix of friends and strangers at your next party. Mathematicians have been working on a version of this problem for nearly a century, and the answer is complicated.
People who think like hackers have some really good ideas about how to protect digital privacy during turbulent times. We can learn from them.
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