Science

Survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster have long lived with a lingering fear: Did radiation exposure mutate their sperm and eggs, possibly dooming their children to genetic diseases? “Many people think if you have been irradiated, you must have effects in the next generation,” says immunologist Dimitry Bazyka, director-general of […]

Like members of a street gang, male dolphins summon their buddies when it comes time to raid and pillage—or, in their case, to capture and defend females in heat. A new study reveals they do this by learning the “names,” or signature whistles, of their closest allies—sometimes more than a […]

On 25 January, as France’s third pandemic wave gathered force, Christophe d’Enfert, scientific director of the Pasteur Institute, appeared on national TV with a grim duty: explaining how the venerable institute, named after vaccine pioneer Louis Pasteur, had given up on its most advanced COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Around the same […]

Ending a 14-month fight, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today killed a rule that would have prevented people who sustain shoulder injuries during vaccination from winning compensation from a $4.1 billion government fund. The rule had been finalized on 19 January, the last day of former President […]

The relatively modest research investments outlined in Canada’s new federal budget could make it difficult for the nation to recruit and retain scientific talent, Canadian science advocates fear.

When Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupted on 18 May 1980, the initial explosion blew sideways, creating a nearly 600-square-kilometer blast zone—and what has become a prized ecological research area. Dozens of groups have tracked life’s reemergence there, one lupine and ladybug at a time. Now, many of those […]

New research shows that members of a bee colony all have the same gut microbiome, which controls their smell—and thus their ability to separate family from foe.

Fallout from nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s and ’60s is showing up in U.S. honey, according to a new study. Although the levels of radioactivity aren’t dangerous, they may have been much higher in the 1970s and ’80s, researchers say.

The 20-year-old International Space Station (ISS) is showing its age: Last month, cosmonauts patched up cracks in a Russian module that were thought to be the source of minor air leaks. Cracks are also appearing in the international alliance that keeps the station going. This week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister […]