Rich Isaacson, seen in his backyard in Pentagon City, Va., wrote his thesis on gravitational waves and says he always thought their existence would be proven sometime during his career. But he didn't realize that trying to see them would become his career. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption
A new study finds that women who ate a low-fat diet and more fruits, vegetables and grains, lowered their risk of dying from breast cancer. But which of those factors provided the protective effect? Cavan Images/Getty Images/Cavan Images RF hide caption
The increase in suicide rates was highest for girls ages 10 to 14, rising by nearly 13% since 2007. While for boys of the same age, it rose by 7%. Nicole Xu for NPR hide caption
Why are some warnings heard, while others are ignored? Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption
An example of one of the study's ultra-processed lunches consists of quesadillas, refried beans and diet lemonade. Participants on this diet ate an average of 508 calories more per day and gained an average of 2 pounds over two weeks. Hall et al./Cell Metabolism hide caption
Debris blankets the north side of one of the Cocos Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean. Researchers found a huge amount of plastic both onshore and buried in the sand. Courtesy of Silke Stuckenbrock hide caption
A triangle-weaver spider holds its web in tension. S.I. Han hide caption
A technician works in a lab at GeseDNA Technology in Beijing. To counter China, the U.S. plans to impose new export restrictions on "emerging and foundational technology" that researchers say could affect the way they share genetic materials with international labs. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Containers of Roundup are displayed on a store shelf in San Francisco. The verdict is the third recent court decision in California involving the glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer. Haven Daley/AP hide caption
Copperhead snakes are one of the four kinds of venomous snakes in the United States. kristianbell/RooM RF/Getty Images hide caption
Handlers, known as mahouts, ride elephants along a mountain ridge at the Elephant Conservation Center in Xayaboury, Laos. The center has 29 elephants, most of which spent long careers hauling logs in Laos' logging industry. Ashley Westerman/NPR hide caption
A Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis Papua) walks across the rocky beach at Yankee Harbour in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Eitan Abramovich/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The myth that vaccines cause autism has persisted, even though the facts paint an entirely different story. Renee Klahr hide caption
Researchers also found that congestion on the roads in San Francisco also was exacerbated because of where the ride-hailing cars were and at what time of day. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption
Entering the control room at Three Mile Island Unit 1 is like stepping back in time. Except for a few digital screens and new counters, much of the equipment is original to 1974, when the plant began generating electricity. Jeff Brady/NPR hide caption
Hurricane Florence flooded Nichols, S.C., in September 2018. It was the second catastrophic flood in the region in less than two years. Gerald Herbert/AP hide caption
Isabelle Carnell-Holdaway (left), now 17, with her mother Joanne Carnell-Holdaway. Isabelle has a dangerous infection that is being treated with a cocktail of genetically modified viruses. Courtesy of Jo Holdaway hide caption
Artist rendering of NuScale Power's nuclear power plant design, which would use small modular reactors. NuScale Power hide caption
