Check out some of the weird rocks that have turned up on Mars
As the Mars rover Perseverance crested the top of Witch Hazel Hill, its operators back on Earth expected amazing things. This area on the western rim of the Jezero crater, …
How to fight Lyme may lie in the biology of its disease-causing bacteria
Not all cell walls are created equal. Take the peculiar makeup of the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium’s cell wall. It might play a role in lingering symptoms of Lyme disease — …
Wetland bacteria could make more methane in a warming world
Warming temperatures may cause methane emissions from wetlands to rise — by helping methane-producing bacteria thrive. Higher temperatures favor the activity of wetland soil microbes that produce the potent greenhouse …
JWST spots the earliest sign yet of a distant galaxy reshaping its cosmic environs
The James Webb Space Telescope has caught a distant galaxy blowing an unexpected bubble in the gas around it, just 330 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxy, dubbed …
Don’t wait until menopause to strengthen your bones
I confess: If I think about skeletons, it’s around Halloween. I especially enjoy the yard displays of larger-than-life skeletons engaging in mundane activities, like walking skeleton dogs. But our own …
The United States’ oldest known rock has existed for at least 3.6 billion years
A weathered sign in the Minnesota River Valley proudly proclaims: “World’s Oldest Rock.” Erected in 1975, it marks a 3.8-billion-year-old gneiss — or so scientists thought. Turns out, it’s not …
A nebula’s X-ray glow may come from a destroyed giant planet
The decades-long mystery of a never-ending explosion of X-rays around the remains of a dead star may have finally been solved. The radiation probably originates from the scorching-hot wreckage left …
Earth’s landmasses lost trillions of tons of water this century
Earth’s landmasses are holding onto a lot less water than they used to — and this loss is not just due to melting ice sheets. Terrestrial water storage, which includes …
The nearest single star to Earth has four small planets
The nearest single star to the sun, Barnard’s star, has a brood of planets all its own. The red dwarf star, about six light-years from Earth, hosts four close-in planets …
Teens who want to quit vaping have another medication option
Many teens who vape want to quit. A recent clinical trial suggests that a drug used to stop smoking can help. In the last four weeks of a 12-week trial, …