Charles Q. Choi

Charles Q. Choi is a science reporter in New York who has written for Scientific American, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Science, and Nature, among others. In his spare time, he has traveled to all seven continents, earned the rank of yondan in the Toyama-ryu battodo school of Japanese swordsmanship, and has had science fiction appear in Analog magazine.

Health

Bursts of Brain Activity: A Rare Look At Dying Brains Could Finally Explain Near-Death Experiences

Researchers have long questioned whether consciousness actually continues during the dying process.

News

Ground-Breaking Physics Experiment Shows Light Can Cross Through Gaps in Time

Quantum physics never ceases to impress.

Science

Scientists Claim a New Invention Could Make Nuclear Fusion a Practical Reality

But it isn’t clear if it works.

Innovation

Controlled chaos may be the key to unlimited clean energy

Small doses of instability could eventually bring us a new source of clean power.

Science

Saturn's rings were once a moon ripped apart by bizarre forces

Resonance with not-so-near Neptune destabilized the moon 100 million years ago.

Science

Astronomers find a shocking culprit that shaped Earth's continents

Sure, asteroids did some of the work. But a few came from the fringes of our Solar System.

Innovation

This revolutionary new technology pulls clean fuel from the air

If all goes well, it could create sustainable energy anywhere on Earth.

Science

This 31,000-year-old fossil may reveal the world's oldest amputation

Scientists may have discovered evidence of the earliest known use of surgery

Innovation

Scientists just bypassed millions of years’ worth of evolution in mice

But they don’t have mutant-making in mind.

here comes a big boy

Physicists discover a mind-bending puzzle about protons at the quantum level

Quarks can sneak in and give protons a little extra heft now and then.

Focus

This breakthrough stem-cell therapy could reverse genetic blindness

An answer has long evaded scientists — until now.

fly ducks fly

3D analysis reveals a key similarity between dinosaur and bird embryos

It's all in the hips.

Innovation

This groundbreaking new battery could help solve our e-waste problem

Just add water to power your device.

Science

Humans were drinking milk long before they could easily digest it

Why lactose tolerance evolved is still somewhat of a mystery.

Science

Trap-jaw ants are so powerful they should implode — scientists finally uncovered their secret

The insects evolved special jaws to prevent the animals from destroying themselves.

Science

Mammals’ ears reveal the surprising evolution of warm-bloodedness

This trait was likely key in the spread of mammals and birds across the globe.

Science

35 years ago, a star exploded — now, the Webb Telescope could explain why

Astrophysicists hope to learn more about supernovas by analyzing the aftermaths of their explosions.

Science

30 years after its discovery, astronomers realize first confirmed exoplanet is truly rare

Worlds circling pulsars are a cosmic rarity, according to a new study.

Science

Protofeathers may have helped dinosaurs survive freezing weather and dominate the world

Why dinosaurs thrived when their competitors died during the Jurassic’s mass extinction has long been a mystery.

Science

Were dinosaurs warm or cold-blooded? Scientists might finally have an answer

Paleontologists have long argued over whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded or cold-blooded.