Earth & Environment
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...
Tattoos, toxins and the immune system – what you need to know before you...
From minimalist wrist designs to full sleeves, body art has become so common that it barely raises an eyebrow.
But while the personal meaning of...
When humans disappeared, these birds evolved different beaks
When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the UCLA campus, students weren’t the only ones affected.
A small brown bird called the dark-eyed junco also felt...
When disasters strike, home batteries could be a lifeline
Extreme weather is placing greater strain on Australia's power grids.
In 2022, the record-breaking Northern Rivers floods blacked out almost 70,000 households.
A powerful storm in...
Biodegradable electronics may create microplastics, scientists warn
Electronics designed to disappear after use sound like a perfect solution to the world’s growing e-waste problem.
Known as transient or biodegradable electronics, these devices...
Your laundry is polluting the ocean—Scientists say this new filter can help
Every time we wash our clothes, tiny plastic fibers are released into the water.
These fibers come mainly from synthetic fabrics such as polyester, nylon...
Engineers find a way to watch desalination membranes clog in real time
As freshwater shortages worsen around the world, desalination—turning seawater into drinkable water—is becoming increasingly important.
But the technology that powers most desalination plants has a...
Scientists discover the youngest armored dinosaur ever found
For more than two decades, a small dinosaur from China has left scientists scratching their heads.
Known as Liaoningosaurus paradoxus, this strange fossil looked like...
Hot, humid weather may increase risk of kidney failure
People living in Australia's hot and humid northern regions are more likely to suffer from kidney failure than those living in cooler and less...
This brainless animal folds itself like origami, study finds
How does a living thing fold itself into complex shapes without a brain, nerves, or muscles?
A new study of one of Earth’s simplest animals...
Scientists discover 125,000-year-old elephant tracks in southeastern Spain
For the first time, scientists have uncovered fossilized footprints of large land animals preserved in ancient coastal sand dunes in the Spanish region of...
Not just cold and conflict: Roman troops at Hadrian’s Wall battled parasites
Nearly 2,000 years ago, Roman soldiers stationed on the edge of the empire faced more than cold winds, enemy raids, and homesickness.
New research shows...
FEATURED
Why the Moon has two different faces?
The face that the Moon shows to Earth looks far different from the one it hides on its far side.
The nearside is dominated by...
How ocean salt in Caribbean influences global climate
Salt might seem simple, but it plays a massive role in our weather and climate.
Researchers from top Canadian and German science centers have dug...
Rocks at asteroid impact site record first day of dinosaur extinction
When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs slammed into the planet, the impact set wildfires, triggered tsunamis and blasted so much sulfur into...
Earth can regulate its own temperature over millennia, MIT study finds
Our planet harbors a “stabilizing feedback” mechanism that acts over hundreds of thousands of years to pull the climate back from the brink.
Why are food prices still so high? What is price gouging—and why is it...
Vice President Kamala Harris' proposal to ban price gouging by grocers and food companies seemed to do more than just stir up the usual...
Elon Musk: My view about future of technology
Advances in digital technologies hold considerable potential to lift the trajectory of productivity and economic growth, and to create new and better jobs to replace...
Breathing? Thank volcanoes, tectonics and bacteria
New study points to one cause for several mysteries linked to breathable oxygen.
Earth's breathable atmosphere is key for life, and a new study suggests...
Six-million-year-old Antarctic ice reveals secrets of a warmer ancient Earth
Scientists have discovered the oldest directly dated ice on Earth—an incredible six million years old—deep in the frozen expanse of East Antarctica.
The ice, along...