Life

Health, science, climate, and society-focused reporting.

Briefing: Supercomputers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about giant stars

Strategic angle: Astronomers have finally cracked a decades-old mystery about red giant stars—how material from their deep interiors makes its way to the surface.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Mathematical framework maps landscape of student knowledge via short quizzes

Strategic angle: A new study reveals how short quizzes can help visualize and enhance student understanding by mapping their knowledge landscape.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Stolen chloroplasts maintained by host-made proteins offer clues to plant cell origins

Strategic angle: Every plant cell is the product of a biological merger billions of years ago, revealing insights into the evolution of life.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: More North Sea drilling will put UK at mercy of fossil fuel markets, ministers say

Strategic angle: Ministers warn that expanding North Sea drilling could jeopardize the UK's energy sovereignty.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Opinion: Every pandemic is followed by amnesia. But Covid’s is very different

Strategic angle: In this excerpt from their new book “Whiplash,” David Blumenthal and James A. Morone describe how scientists became villains to MAGA.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: The potential loophole in Trump’s plan to get other countries to pay more for drugs

Strategic angle: Diverging messages on the main effort to address U.S. drug prices point to a loophole in Trump's plan.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: What growing up in an end-times church taught a science communicator about dispelling misinformation

Strategic angle: A passion for snakes opened a crack in the religious beliefs science communicator Paul Martin Jensen grew up with in a end-times Pentecostal church.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Insulin pills may soon replace daily injections

Strategic angle: For over a century, scientists have chased the dream of insulin pills, but the digestive system kept destroying the drug before it could work.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: XRISM identifies gamma Cas X-ray origin, solving a 50-year-old stellar mystery

Strategic angle: Astrophysicists unravel the mystery of γ Cas, a star in Cassiopeia emitting unexpected X-rays.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Nanoparticles enable large-scale production of advanced cell therapies

Strategic angle: Researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University have developed a streamlined process for producing therapeutic particles called exosomes.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: What are zettajoules – and what do they tell us about Earth’s energy imbalance?

Strategic angle: Understanding the significance of zettajoules in the context of climate change and energy measurement.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Eel fisher takes on authorities at Belfast court over pollution in UK’s largest lake

Strategic angle: Declan Conlon will argue officials have failed to act despite clear evidence of the ecological collapse of Lough Neagh.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Agricultural soils exposed to controversial weedkiller may be unexpected breeding ground for hospital 'superbugs'

Strategic angle: Research reveals a link between antimicrobial resistance and agricultural practices.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Tropical Cyclone Narelle Crosses Australia

Strategic angle: The powerful storm lashed the northern edge of the continent with damaging winds and drenching rain as it made landfall multiple times.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

See NASA’s GUARDIAN Catch a Tsunami

A new data visualization illustrates how an experimental NASA technology can provide extra lead time to communities in the path of a tsunami.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Yes, AI could boost productivity, but work is about more than maximizing output

Strategic angle: Worries about the British economy have long been dominated by one persistent concern—weak productivity.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Tonga PM welcomes US deal to explore deep-sea minerals amid environmental concerns

Strategic angle: Pacific island’s new leader discusses ‘exciting’ US partnership as critics fear impacts of seabed exploration.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Why a canceled meeting feels so liberating

Strategic angle: A canceled meeting can feel like a gift of limitless time, according to a Rutgers University study.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: Women over 50 lost 35% more weight with this surprising combo

Strategic angle: A Mayo Clinic study reveals that postmenopausal women using hormone therapy alongside tirzepatide experienced significant weight loss.

Editorial Staff Mar 24

Life

Briefing: In Hollywood, teams don't stick together long enough to learn from failure, data reveal

Strategic angle: Hollywood's quick turnover hinders learning from past failures, undermining potential comebacks.

Editorial Staff Mar 24