The Most Interesting Science News Articles of the Week

Each week we uncover the most interesting and informative articles from around the world, here are some of the coolest stories in science this week.

The Voice Recovered?

The remains of the RMS Titanic are rapidly corroding at the bottom of the North Atlantic. But a proposal to cut the ship’s telegraph machine from the wreck has drawn fierce criticism. (Image credit: NOAA/Institute for Exploration/University of Rhode Island)

A wireless telegraph machine, sometimes called the "voice of the Titanic" for its role in sending out distress messages on the fateful night in 1912 when the RMS Titanic cruise liner hit an iceberg, could be recovered from the shipwreck lying at the bottom of the North Atlantic. [Read more about the situation.]

Water, Water Everywhere

Chemicals in ancient ocean rocks hint that 3.2 billion years ago, the surface of a baby Earth was continent-free and covered by a global ocean. [Read more about the world.]

Comparing Worries

The coronavirus particle as a crown of spikes on its surface. (Image credit: Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Library via Getty Images)

How does the new coronavirus compare with the seasonal flu, and which should you most worry about? [Read more about the illnesses.]

Beast Rebirthed

MOLA archaeologists excavate the top of the cesspit, which had been backfilled and covered over with several layers of brick flooring. (Image credit: © MOLA)

The treasures include a gold-plated ring and a rare medieval tile depicting a mythical creature. [Read more about the monster.]

Fossil rangeomorphs — Rangeomorphs dominated the seafloor for millions of years, despite having no mouths, guts or way to move around. Part of their success may have been owed to a "social network" of string-like filaments connecting individual members, a new study suggests. (Image credit: Sarah Collins (Cambridge University))

Rangeomorphs had no mouths, guts, arms, legs or reproductive organs, but an ancient "network" of strings may have helped them dominate the ocean floor anyway. [Read more about the connections.]

Powerful Female Figure

Archaeologists have surveyed the Mayan road with airborne LIDAR technology to reveal the ancient structures along its length. (Image credit: Courtesy of Traci Ardren (University of Miami), Proyecto Sacbe Yacuna-Coba, and Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative)

A ruthless Maya warrior queen may have ordered the building of an elaborate road more than 1,000 years ago to invade a distant city and to counter the rising power of another. [Read more about the leader.]

Unique Attack

Illustration of Streptococcus pneumoniae (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Scientists aim to stay the spread of antibiotic resistance by messing with how bacteria evolve. [Read more about the theory.]

DIY Sanitizer

When soap and water aren't available, hand sanitizer can help protect against disease-causing microbes like the novel coronavirus. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

High alcohol content ensures that DIY hand sanitizers will effectively reduce coronavirus when soap and water aren't available. [Read more about the plan.]

Effects of a Lockdown

A map shows the sharp decline in emissions over China between early January and late February. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory)

There's been a sharp drop in air pollution over China since the acceleration of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, and satellites can see it from space. [Read more about the change.]

"Erie" Winter Wonderland

Ice formed on a house during a storm in Hamburg, New York, on Feb. 28. (Image credit: Reuters/Lindsay DeDario/Newscom)

Powerful winds and freezing temperatures recently made a chilling spectacle of several homes near Lake Erie, encasing them in thick layers of ice. [Read more about the scene.]

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