Earth & Environment
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...
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...
FEATURED
Discoveries in the deep sea: Exploring the Salas y Gómez Ridge
In an exciting scientific endeavor, an international team of researchers, led by Ariadna Mechó from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center—Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), embarked...
Lost stone age secrets: Ancient European toolmaking found in China
A surprising archaeological discovery in southwest China is shaking up what scientists thought they knew about ancient humans in East Asia.
Researchers from the University...
Mars glaciers have more water content than previously thought
While Mars may be a dessicated place where water no longer flows, the planet still has glaciers slowly moving across its surface.
Previously, it was...
Air pollution can worsen your bone health
Some of the effects of air pollution on health are well documented -lung cancer, stroke, respiratory diseases, and long etcetera- but for others, there...
Our planet Earth was born from dry, hot rocks, shows study
Have you ever wondered how our amazing planet came into being?
Well, billions of years ago, a massive ring of dust, gas, and rock particles...
Ancient Peru crisis linked to violence, study shows
During the transition from the fifth to the fourth century BCE, the Central Andes, an area now part of Peru, experienced a period of...
Ice age teens went through puberty just like modern adolescents, study finds
Recent research has shown that teenagers who lived 25,000 years ago during the Ice Age experienced puberty in much the same way as teens...
The Sahara Desert used to be a green savannah – new research explains why
Algeria's Tassili N'Ajjer plateau is Africa's largest national park. Among its vast sandstone formations is perhaps the world's largest art museum.
Over 15,000 etchings and...