Earth & Environment
How to spot the warning signs of financial abuse
Financial abuse is one of the most common yet least visible forms of abuse in family and domestic violence.
It happens when one person controls,...
Think bottled water is cleaner? It may contain more microplastics than the tap
Many people choose bottled water believing it is cleaner and safer than tap water. But new research suggests that this assumption may not always...
430,000-year-old wooden tools found in Greece rewrite early human history
Archaeologists have uncovered the earliest known hand-held wooden tools ever used by humans, and the discovery is changing what we know about early technology.
Found...
Baby dinosaurs were a key food source for Jurassic predators, study finds
A new study suggests that the babies of the largest dinosaurs to ever walk the Earth were once a crucial food source for meat-eating...
Ancient DNA solves a 12,000-year-old medical mystery
Scientists have uncovered the oldest known genetic diagnosis of a rare inherited disease, thanks to advances in ancient DNA research.
By analyzing the DNA of...
A 40-million-year-old ant hidden in Goethe’s amber still has stories to tell
More than 200 years after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s death, his curiosity about nature is still leading to new discoveries.
Scientists in Germany have now...
Why the ocean around Greenland is expected to drop—even as the world’s seas rise
Sea levels are rising across most of the planet as the climate warms and ice melts.
But around Greenland, scientists say the opposite is likely...
Burning wood at home may harm our health more than we think
Throwing a log into the fireplace might seem cozy on a cold winter night, but new research shows it could be much more harmful...
How a slow change in ocean chemistry may have cooled Earth after the dinosaurs
Scientists may have finally solved a long-standing mystery about how Earth shifted from a hot, tropical “greenhouse” world to the cooler, ice-covered planet we...
Air pollution may raise the risk and speed of ALS
A new study from Sweden has found that long-term exposure to air pollution may increase the risk of developing serious brain diseases like ALS.
The...
How tiny Mars helps set Earth’s ice ages
Mars is only about half the size of Earth and has just one-tenth of our planet’s mass.
Compared with giants like Jupiter, it seems far...
Why Tiger Shark bites peak in Hawaiʻi each October
For years, surfers and ocean-goers in Hawaiʻi have talked about “Sharktober,” a time when shark encounters seem more common.
Now, scientists say the pattern is...
FEATURED
How a river is pushing Mount Everest to new heights
Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is continuing to grow due to the influence of a nearby river.
According to a recent study...
Young Tyrannosaurus rexes were deadly despite bite force one-sixth that of adults
Jack Tseng loves bone-crunching animals — hyenas are his favorite — so when paleontologist Joseph Peterson discovered fossilized dinosaur bones that had teeth marks...
Scientists find one of the world’s darkest rivers
Imagine a river so dark that you can't even see your hand if you put it into the water.
That's how dark the Ruki River...
Fossil ear bones rewrite the story of freshwater fish
A new discovery of tiny fossilized fish bones has forced scientists to rethink the origins of some of the world’s most successful freshwater fish.
These...
What kinds of astronomy could be done with a telescope on the Moon
For decades, astronomers have said that one of the most optimal places to build large telescopes is on the surface of the Moon.
The Moon...
Darkness, not cold, likely responsible for dinosaur-killing extinction
Roughly 66 million years ago an asteroid slammed into the Yucatan peninsula.
New research shows darkness, not cold, likely drove a mass extinction after...
Healthy eating tips over the holidays
Between bountiful buffets and “food-pushing relatives,” the winter holidays hold landmines for those trying to eat healthily.
New discovery shows how air mixing creates atmospheric particles
Think of our atmosphere as a giant chemistry set, full of gas molecules and tiny particles that constantly interact and change in complex ways.
These...