The Milky Way May Be Missing a Trillion Suns' Worth of Mass

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October 13, 2023

Astronomy The Milky Way May Be Missing a Trillion Suns' Worth of Mass Slow-moving stars at the Milky Way's outskirts suggest our galaxy may be far lighter than previously believed, with profound implications for dark matter By Adam Mann

Psychology Know Yourself Better by Writing What Pops into Your Head The exercise of writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge By Christiane Gelitz

Vaccines The Flu Vaccine Works--In a Way Most People Don't Appreciate The CDC is emphasizing how the flu vaccine can turn the virus from "Wild to Mild" By Meghan Bartels

Animals Solar Storms Can Hinder Bird Migration New research suggests that solar storms interfere with the magnetic compass that birds use for long-distance travel By Meghan Bartels

Conservation Millions of Mosquitoes Will Rain Down on Hawaii to Save an Iconic Bird Hawaii's brightly colored honeycreepers are at imminent risk of extinction, and bacteria could be the key to saving them By Sarah Wild

Quantum Physics Quantum Physics Isn't as Weird as You Think. It's Weirder Quantum physics' oddities seem less surprising if you stop thinking of atoms as tennis balls, and instead more like waves pushing through water By Jasper van Wezel,Lotte Mertens,Jans Henke

Plants We Finally Know Where Oranges and Lemons Come From In addition to finding where citrus come from, researchers have pinpointed the genetic origins of the fruits' tart taste By Jack Tamisiea

Ecology Thousands More Puzzling 'Fairy Circles' Have Been Found around the World These mysterious spots of barren soil have fascinated scientists for years. Now evidence of their existence beyond two known locations is stirring up a fresh round of contention By Lori Youmshajekian

Archaeology Ancient Skulls Reveal Shifts in Human Violence across Millennia Levels of murder, assault, torture, and the like fluctuated greatly in the ancient world, according to new research By Joanna Thompson

Public Health 'Morning After' Antibiotic Could Reduce STIs Draft CDC guidelines recommend doxycycline for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections in some populations By Sara Reardon

Engineering New Glasses Can Transcribe Speech in Real Time Glasses that provide subtitles for conversations could be a boon to people with hearing loss By Timmy Broderick

Cosmology Many-Mirrored Galaxies Deepen Dark Matter Mystery A surprisingly complex galaxy cluster suggests that in the search for dark matter, nothing is as simple as it seems By Sharmila Kuthunur

BRING SCIENCE HOME Conserving Angular Momentum--without the Skates Gaining momentum: Test the force of a spinning object with this fun physics activity! Credit: George Retseck You might have seen figure skaters spinning around quickly and then tucking their arms to spin faster—or opening them to spin more slowly. This happens, thanks to a physics concept known as the "conservation of angular momentum." But how can you try it out if you don't have any ice skates around? Find out in this simple activity that only requires common household supplies!

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