Science

Memorials hang from the front gate of Greenwood Cemetery during an event and procession organized by Naming the Lost Memorials to remember and celebrate the lives of those killed by the COVID-19 pandemic on June 8 in New York City.

COVID sent last year's U.S. death rate soaring, especially among people of color

12:58am December 23, 2021

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Americans' life expectancy declined by nearly two years in 2020 compared to the year before, primarily because of COVID-19. The drop in life expectancy was bigger for men, and for Blacks and Latinos.

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Employees of Nomi Health check in a long line of people seeking COVID-19 tests Tuesday in North Miami, Fla. The omicron variant has unleashed a fresh round of fear and uncertainty for travelers, shoppers and partygoers across the U.S.

Omicron will cause more infections but lower hospital rates, analysis shows

5:07pm December 22, 2021

by Rob Stein

University of Washington research predicts the omicron wave will infect more than 400,000 people a day in the U.S. when it crests in about six weeks.

The James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror is illuminated inside a darkened clean room. The entire telescope is now packed inside a rocket, awaiting launch.

Science

Why some astronomers once feared NASA's James Webb Space Telescope would never launch

5:07pm December 22, 2021

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is waiting at its launch site, after years of repeated delays and cost overruns. At one point, the giant new observatory was threatened with cancellation.

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View of the oviraptorosaur embryo "Baby Yingliang," one of the best-preserved dinosaur embryos ever reported, in this handout photograph obtained by Reuters on Wednesday.

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A fossilized dinosaur embryo shows a link to modern birds

1:26pm December 22, 2021

by The Associated Press

The embryo fossil was discovered in rocks in east China around the year 2000 and housed in the Yingliang Stone Natural History Museum in Fujian Province, where it was dubbed "Baby Yingliang."

Shell neurons (green) project to the breathing center and core neurons (red) project to the pain/emotion center. Brain scientists have found the two are linked, shedding new light on opioid overdoses

Science

A brain circuit linking pain and breathing may offer a path to prevent opioid deaths

6:00am December 22, 2021

by Jon Hamilton

Opioids can kill because they reduce breathing along with pain. Now brain scientists have made a discovery that could lead to potent pain drugs that don't affect breathing.

President Biden signs the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, part of Biden's climate plans, in November on the South Lawn at the White House.

In 2021, climate ambitions soared and crashed in the U.S. and around the world

5:00am December 22, 2021

President Biden's lofty domestic goals were brought down to earth by congressional opposition, notably from one Democratic senator. International efforts to fight planetary warming also fell short.

This is an artist's rendering of the James Webb Space Telescope. The kite-shaped sunshield is the largest component of the telescope.

Science

Why the most powerful space telescope ever needs to be kept really, really cold

7:00pm December 21, 2021

by Rebecca Ramirez

The James Webb Space Telescope will give a glimpse of the earliest galaxies formed after the Big Bang — but only if the telescope is kept frigid. That's why there's a tennis court-sized sunshield.

Sophomore Dreshon Robinson stands outside his high school cafeteria, where the learning hub takes place. He wants to go to college and be an audio engineer.

Extra learning time is helping these students catch up from COVID interruptions

5:47pm December 21, 2021

by Anya Kamenetz

After school "learning hubs" are helping some high school students in North Carolina catch up on academic time lost due to COVID — and stay on track for graduation.

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Fossilized section of the giant millipede Arthropleura, found in a sandstone boulder in the north of England.

Science

An extinct millipede the length of a car once roamed northern England

7:02pm December 20, 2021

by Scott Neuman

A group of geologists stumbled on the fossil of the giant creature, known as Arthropleura, during a "social trip" to England's Northumberland region in 2018. It's the largest such fossil ever found.

Finally, scientists have found a true millipede

5:13pm December 20, 2021

Scientists have finally found a millipede that lives up to its name. Eumillipes persephone has 1,306 legs — that's more than any other animal — and is the only known millipede to exceed 1,000 legs.

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