Earth & Environment
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...
Scientists discover Tyrannosaurus rex grew for 40 years, far longer than we thought
Tyrannosaurus rex has long been pictured as a fast-growing monster that quickly reached its enormous adult size.
But a new study suggests the famous “king...
Different dirty air linked to different lung cancer death risks
Lung cancer is one of the most serious and deadly diseases in the world. Every year, millions of people are diagnosed, and many lose...
The Arctic is entering a new era of extreme weather, scientists warn
The Arctic is no longer changing slowly.
According to a new international study, the region has entered a new phase marked by frequent and intense...
A lost ice age giant speaks again—from inside a wolf’s stomach
Scientists have recovered the complete genome of a woolly rhinoceros that lived more than 14,000 years ago—and they did it using tissue preserved inside...
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Should short selling be banned following GameStop’s surge
It is often claimed that short sales are manipulative and drive down prices.
Is this the case?
Or are short sales in fact a vital part...
Coyotes in the city: What you need to know
Atlanta, home to over 6 million people, a vibrant film and music scene, and now, a growing population of coyotes.
Thanks to new video footage...
New study reveals how early humans kill mammoths in the Ice Age
For years, archaeologists have debated how early humans hunted massive Ice Age animals like mammoths and mastodons using sharpened stone tools.
Many theories suggested that...
Scientists solve the early medieval money mystery
In a groundbreaking study, researchers have cracked a long-standing puzzle about the origins of silver coins that transformed the European economy during the early...
Our planet has generated lots of new lakes in recent years. That brings problems
The number of lakes on our planet has increased substantially in recent decades, according to a unique global survey of 3.4 million lakes.
Plato was right. Earth is made, on average, of cubes
Plato, the Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century B.C.E., believed that the universe was made of five types of matter: earth, air,...
Cost to plug and abandon US Gulf of Mexico wells estimated at $30 billion
The United States has thousands of unplugged oil and gas wells, both onshore and offshore, that present potential environmental and financial risks to the...
The Sun gets feisty, throwing off three X-class flares within 24 hours
The Sun is heading toward solar maximum (which is likely to be about a year away) and as it does, there will be more...