3-D printing: Wave of the future

As Michigan doctors print a trachea and cure a child with a dangerous breathing problem, we ask: How far, how fast, with 3-D printing?

Layer by layer, 3-D printers fuse tiny particles of plastic or metal, building complex parts from computer instructions -- forget hold the prototype or template! How good are these parts? What are they used for? Are 3-D printers the wave of the manufacturing future? More »

Comet explores sun!

Reveals secrets of strong, changing magnetic fields

A suicidal comet brushes past the sun -- and gives detailed evidence for the sun's swirling magnetic fields, source of the solar wind. As scientists strive to understand that wind and the "space weather" it creates, we pause to celebrate the noble comet Lovejoy. More »

Science Teachers: Hip yourself to a great resource!

Teaching the science standards? Looking for extra-credit projects?

Live birth in ancient marine reptile!

Unmistakable: Fetus inside mother in ancient fossils!

78 million years ago, a pregnant predator of the Cretaceous ocean died and sank to the sea floor. Today, her fossil gives the first proof that plesiosaurs, one of the commonest and baddest marine reptiles of the era, did not lay eggs. It gave birth. More »