Earth & Environment
When Earth’s magnetic poles took a very long time to flip
Earth’s magnetic field feels steady and dependable, but over geological time it is anything but fixed.
The magnetic north and south poles have swapped places...
Safer plastics ahead: Scientists make polyurethane without toxic chemicals
Polyurethane is one of the most widely used plastics in the world.
It appears in everything from furniture foam and insulation to coatings, adhesives, and...
Why one of Earth’s most common ocean bacteria is surprisingly fragile
One of the most abundant living organisms on Earth may also be one of the most vulnerable.
A group of ocean bacteria known as SAR11,...
A pocket-sized dinosaur solves a 70-million-year mystery
Paleontologists have identified a new species of dinosaur so small it could almost fit under your arm—and yet it is helping scientists solve a...
Earth’s roof is slowly flowing: Satellites expose hidden motion beneath Tibet
A new satellite-based study is changing how scientists understand the forces shaping the Tibetan Plateau, one of the most dramatic and geologically active regions...
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...
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Turn hot air into drinking water: Cool invention from Texas makes it possible
Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have created something amazing for places where water is hard to find.
They've made a special gel...
This energy efficient chip could defend against fierce cyber attacks
A heart attack patient, recently discharged from the hospital, is using a smartwatch to help monitor his electrocardiogram signals.
The smartwatch may seem secure, but...
One in seven deep sea sharks and rays faces extinction risk
Deepwater sharks and rays, mysterious creatures that dwell in the ocean's shadows, are facing a dire threat due to overfishing, reveals an extensive eight-year...
Nanoplastics linked to Parkinson’s and some types of dementia
Since it was first produced at the start of the 20th century, synthetic plastic – and especially plastic packaging – has been an ever-present...
Early human ancestors had huge size gaps between males and females, fossil study finds
A new study reveals that some of our earliest human ancestors showed extreme differences in body size between males and females—much greater than in...
Scientists discover hidden chambers in Sahura’s pyramid
In a thrilling revelation, a team of Egyptian and German researchers led by Egyptologist Dr. Mohamed Ismail Khaled, from Julius-Maximilians-Universität of Würzburg (JMU), have...
Two periods of volcanism caused severe mass extinction, shows study
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that two intense periods of volcanism triggered a period of global cooling and falling oxygen levels...
So far, Elon Musk’s Twitter files amount to ‘a tempest in a teapot,’
There was a lot of buzz over the weekend about the so-called “Twitter Files,” a collection of communications released on Friday that revealed how...