Stories by Charles Q. Choi

Droplets of water combine, and then jump from the insect's water-repellent wings

A new protein-based glue can act as a solder that lasers can heat up to patch holes in intestines, cartilage, blood vessels, livers, etcetera more effectively than conventional laser welding

Astronomers have found a new type of supernova, a star explosion so weak scientists dubbed it a miniature stellar blast

The fossils, three million years older than previous remains found to date, reveal that early colobine monkeys apparently coexisted with other, more archaic primates. Competition with colobines could have helped drive the other groups to extinction

Bird population crashes seem to correlate with the strange 13-year and 17-year cycles of periodical cicadas. Some researchers suggest that the dissonant insects actually orchestrate the behavior of their predators

FMRI scans of volunteers' media prefrontal cortexes revealed unique brain activity patterns associated with individual characters or personalities as subjects thought about them

The pigment's chemistry could be incorporated into modern applications. For instance, inkjet printers could fabricate devices with the pigment's near-infrared-emitting property

Neuroscientist Stephen Macknik and colleagues have determined that the famous illusion in which balls seemingly jump from cup to cup manipulates our minds more with distraction than with social cues

"Virtual particles" can become real photons--under the right conditions

So-called boson-sampling computers could serve as a stopgap until the development of more capable quantum computers

Security experts are working to thwart a potentially devastating cyber attack

Running on CPUs to detect malware targeting embedded computers that run car system and utilities, symbiotes may not only serve as immune systems for their devices, but also help reveal a previously unseen ecosystem of malware

A new study suggests that "hot Jupiters," gas giants orbiting very close to their stars, may have a volatile early history

Schizophrenic patients might struggle with a poor perception of cause and effect

The "wakes" of pulsar planets could help astronomers understand how planets form around the energetic bodies