Earth & Environment
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...
The rise of fish began with a mass extinction, fossils reveal
About 445 million years ago, life on Earth nearly collapsed. In a relatively short geological moment, Earth’s climate flipped dramatically.
Massive glaciers spread across the...
Whale hunting in south America began 5,000 years ago—far earlier than we thought
The history of whale hunting is much older—and more global—than researchers once believed.
A new study shows that Indigenous communities living along the southern coast...
How a 400-year-old shark keeps its vision sharp for life
In a quiet office at the University of California, Irvine, Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk watches a grainy video on her computer.
A massive Greenland shark drifts slowly...
This system reveals how super-Earths are born
One of the best things about being able to see thousands of exoplanetary systems is that we’re able to track them in different stages...
Why the Los Angeles fires were so destructive
Twelve months after devastating wildfires tore through parts of Los Angeles, researchers are still uncovering lessons from one of the most destructive urban fire...
Your receipt could soon be made from trees, not toxic chemicals
Every day, most of us touch thermal paper without giving it a second thought.
It shows up as shopping receipts, delivery labels, movie tickets, and...
Walking on two legs began earlier than we thought
Scientists may have just pushed back the timeline for when our ancestors first started walking upright.
A new study suggests that Sahelanthropus tchadensis, a species...
The sticky problem of lunar dust gets a mathematical solution
Apollo astronauts discovered an unexpected enemy on the Moon. Fine dust, kicked up by their movements and attracted by static electricity, coated everything.
It found...
How air pollution may raise depression risk in older people
Air pollution is often talked about as a threat to our lungs and hearts, but scientists are now finding that it can also affect...
How a 4,000-year-old sheep solved a long-standing plague mystery
The Black Death is one of the most infamous pandemics in human history, killing roughly a third of Europe’s population during the Middle Ages.
That...
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John Bogle: How to help your child do investments
Jack Bogle was the founder and chief executive of The Vanguard Group, and is credited with creating the first index fund.
He was an avid...
Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than ever – scientists warn of a critical...
Greenland’s massive ice sheet, which covers more than 1.7 million square kilometers, is the largest freshwater storage in the northern hemisphere. However, this enormous...
Deep earthquakes could reveal secrets of the Earth’s mantle
There may be a layer of surprisingly fluid rock ringing the Earth, at the very bottom of the upper mantle.
Pesticides used in agriculture can cause cancer just like smoking
In today's agriculture, pesticides are crucial for achieving high crop yields and ensuring food security.
However, these chemicals can harm plant and animal life and...
Scientists calculated the weight of two giant extinct amphibians
The last of the temnospondyls – amphibians that look more like crocodiles – became extinct during the Cretaceous period, about 120 million years ago,...
Could more acidic air keep viruses from spreading
Aerosols in indoor air can vary in acidity, and the acidity determines how long viruses remain infectious in the air, research finds.
World’s earliest use of indigo blue was found in Peru 6000 years ago
Indigo blue is one of the most valued and widespread dyes in the world. The color is popular in both ancient times and the...
Scientists reveal how deep-Earth carbon shapes continents and creates diamonds
A new international study led by researchers at the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry in China has uncovered how carbon deep within the Earth plays...