A generic drug that's used to treat transplant patients has been shown to extend the life span of some animals. Guido Mieth/Getty Images hide caption
Science
A robot smiles with the help of mechanical actuators beneath a flexible layer of living skin, in an image released by University of Tokyo researchers. Takeuchi et al. CC-BY-ND hide caption
Boeing crew flight test astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, center, pose with Expedition 71 flight engineers Mike Barratt, left, and Tracy Dyson, both NASA astronauts, in their spacesuits aboard the International Space Station's Quest airlock on June 24, 2024. /NASA via AP hide caption
Paleontologist Dany Azar holds up one of his treasures that he discovered in Lebanon in a piece of amber from the early Cretaceous: The oldest mosquito ever found. Ari Daniel/For NPR hide caption
In Lebanon, the 'Amber Man' digs up golden time capsules from the age of the dinosaurs
Reconstruction of a Lokiceratops rangiformis being surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps that would have existed in what is now northern Montana. Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution hide caption
Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species
This photo shows a white buffalo calf born on June 4, 2024, in the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, a spiritually significant event for many Native American tribes. Jordan Creech/via AP hide caption
"Beethoven" (1936). A new study suggests the German composer and pianist may have suffered from lead poisoning. The Print Collector/Getty Images hide caption
Beethoven was a classical and romantic composer, but his body was full of heavy metal
Cows graze in a field in Luncavita, Romania, in this file photo. Denmark will impose cattle farmers with a tax on livestock carbon dioxide emissions starting in 2030, claiming it will be the first country to do so in a move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from each of its cows. Vadim Ghirda/AP hide caption
K-9 Maggie returns to her handler, Special Agent Lindsey Bates, during a demonstration of an explosives search following a graduation ceremony for Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent Canine Handlers and their dogs at the ATF training facility in Front Royal, Va., on June 21. Nathan Howard/for NPR hide caption
A new generation of adorable crime-fighters collect their diplomas
New insights into the brain's waste-removal system could one day help researchers better understand and prevent many brain disorders. Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images hide caption
The brain has a waste removal system and scientists are figuring out how it works
Individually, periodical cicadas aren’t especially noisy, but when they cluster, their collective song can get as loud as a gas-powered lawnmower. Professor Kasey Fowler-Finn holds one in St. Louis last month. Zach Dyer/KFF Health News hide caption
Freelance science writer Sadie Dingfelder is the author of the new book Do I Know You?, which explores human sight, memory and imagination. Little, Brown Spark, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company hide caption
The human brain is hardwired to recognize faces. But what if you can't?
A tornado is seen near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Tuesday. More severe weather was forecast to move into the region, potentially bringing large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes in parts of western Iowa and eastern Nebraska, according to the National Weather Service. Nick Rohlman/The Gazette/AP hide caption
Jets of gas being released from newly forming stars are captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. NPR/NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel Green (STScI) hide caption
The Chang'e 6 capsule landed in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia on Tuesday. CCTV Screenshot by NPR hide caption
A red giant star and white dwarf orbit each other in this animation of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center hide caption
A bedroom of the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, photographed in February. The buildings will be cooled with a system of water pipes beneath the floor, rather than air conditioning. Thibault Camus/AP hide caption
Ferris Jabr's book Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life examines the ways life and Earth have shaped each other. Lucas Heinrich/Random House hide caption
Earth is more than a planet with life on it. It's a "living planet"
A robotic arm at the International Space Station is seen releasing a pallet packed with batteries in 2021. NASA says a metal alloy stanchion from that flight equipment is what landed in a Florida home. NASA hide caption
A Florida family is suing NASA after a piece of space debris crashed through their home
Cailyn Joseph, a graduate student in Andrew Baker's lab, organizes brain and elkhorn coral in Honduras before the trip to Miami.
University of Miami Rosenstiel School
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NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured this high-resolution enhanced color view of Pluto that is inserted beneath the Short Wave logo. The image combines blue, red and infrared images taken by the Ralph/Multispectral Visual Imaging Camera. NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI hide caption
Pluto isn't a planet — but it gives us clues on how the solar system formed
Dr. Stephanie Arnold, who prefers bright-colored clothes instead of a white coat, meets with a patient who needs a pelvic exam. The family medicine clinic Arnold founded offers reproductive health care, including abortion, alongside all kinds of other care. “It’s a little bit of everything, which is very typical of family medicine,” she says. Elissa Nadworny/NPR hide caption