Advances

Researchers figured out how the flow of microplastics flattens ocean waves, letting satellites paint a clearer picture for future policy and cleanup efforts

Southern Ocean phytoplankton help to brighten Earth’s clouds

A robotic finger’s supersensitive touches could probe inside body parts and circuits

Bacteria with artificial hydrogel skeletons could be used as tiny robots

A new material was used in a simple snail robot, but it could one day make artificial nervous systems for more complex machines

Math is called the “universal language,” but a unique dialect is being reborn

A small, bizarre-looking fish found more than five miles under the sea is considered the deepest fish ever recorded

Our galaxy’s enormous scaffolding is shaped by complex magnetic fields

A microbial discovery could help guide the search for life beyond Earth

An unusual semiconductor is making physicists rethink the science of extreme conditions

Millennia of a rodentlike animal’s urine preserve crucial data that could help scientists understand early humans’ leap forward

Just two genes get tiny synthetic cells moving, offering clues to life’s evolution