The Sciences

Understanding the fate of Mars’s moisture could unlock deep secrets of the planet’s past habitability

A phenomenon called proton tunneling could account for point mutations in strands of genetic material

The field began in part to support white supremacy—and it hasn’t fully shaken off that shameful heritage 

New research tries to tease out whether our closest animal relatives can be selfless

Local engagement, not top-down technocracy, is the way to build acceptance of STEM policy

Elevating science’s role in policy making is important; so is reckoning with how science has been used to harm marginalized communities

Everybody’s favorite red sauce may be thin or thick, depending on how it is handled

NASA’s latest robotic explorer is capturing the snaps, crackles and pops of sizzling stones on the Red Planet

Surveying the billions of tiny microbial astronauts that dwell within the orbital laboratory could help us prepare for human voyages to Mars

Known fondly as the proprietor of “Bea’s Diner,” the nutritionist who created menus for our first spacefarers deserves to be better remembered

A laboratory experiment captured the pull between two minuscule gold spheres, paving the way for experiments that probe the quantum nature of gravity

The work of decoding the cosmic traveler has surprising relevance right now