Mummy hair reveals that young sacrifice victims were heavy users of coca and alcohol in their last years of life. | Continue reading
Before animals crawled out of the sea and spread onto land, the appearance of jaws marked a significant time in the development of nearly all living vertebrates, including humans. | Continue reading
Wood frogs spend the winter in a remarkable state: frozen, yet still alive. Once they thaw in spring, they head for ponds to find breeding partners. | Continue reading
The benefits provided by great whales, including capturing carbon, make a powerful case for protecting them, according to economists. | Continue reading
Jumping spiders rapidly move their eyes and twitch during rest, suggesting they have visual dreams, never before observed in arachnids. | Continue reading
A Greenland shark was spotted off the coast of Belize, raising the possibility the sharks are more widespread than previously thought. | Continue reading
Can the nation meet the demands of a booming middle class while curbing carbon emissions? The planet's future will hinge on the answer. | Continue reading
More than 60,000 years ago, the island of Flores was home to a bird that stood nearly twice as tall as the diminutive hominins. | Continue reading
Some animal groups have displayed more than 20 ways of using tools while others demonstrate just a few, scientists say. | Continue reading
Subterranean retreat may have sheltered thousands of people in times of trouble. | Continue reading
Cutting ties with a king might have seemed like "Common Sense" in the 1770s, but the desire was not unanimous among the colonists—until the Declaration convinced them otherwise. | Continue reading
A forest owned by the U.S. Navy in Indiana ensures that the U.S.S. Constitution—named by George Washington and built with bolts forged by Paul Revere—stays afloat and at the ready. | Continue reading
New photos show a crow riding on a giant eagle. But the trip may have started as an attempt to pick a fight. | Continue reading
Studying everything from atomic bomb fallout to pesticide residues, scientists are close to defining the start of the Anthropocene—the geologic age of human impact. | Continue reading
As climate change rapidly warms the Arctic, Putin's Russia places a big bet on the future of fossil fuels. | Continue reading
The FDA regards castoreum as "natural flavoring." | Continue reading
In 1693, a ship carrying silk and beeswax from the Philippines to Mexico mysteriously vanished. Now a risky mission has recovered its timbers—solving a 300-year-old puzzle. | Continue reading
Once considered a maritime myth, these towering waves can pose serious risks to ships in the open sea. Now scientists are developing ways to predict them before they strike. | Continue reading
The voracious herbivores are being deployed to clear invasive plants throughout wildlands as another catastrophic fire season looms. | Continue reading
Heat, drought, disease—climate-forced changes are pushing California tomato production into a tough spot. But our future pizzas are not yet lost. | Continue reading
Bristlecone pines in the western U.S. have been alive for nearly 5,000 years, but an upstart Patagonian cypress challenges that record. | Continue reading
It's the first sensation we feel, our most primal connection to others. Can implants and electrical signaling replicate the experience of touch? Research teams are exploring the possibilities—with startling results. | Continue reading
In 8 May 1980, the World Health Organisation declared that “the world and its peoples have won freedom from smallpox.” Through decades of intense vaccination, this once fatal disease had been wiped out. It was a singular victory and having won it, countries around the world disco … | Continue reading
Wood products that are nearly as strong as steel are going into more high-rises, locking up carbon. But can we grow enough trees to keep pace? | Continue reading
Marginalized people are banding together to run for a single office. It’s not entirely legal but ‘it’s what people want.’ | Continue reading
Mounting evidence shows that many of today’s whole foods aren't as packed with vitamins and nutrients as they were 70 years ago, potentially putting people's health at risk. | Continue reading
Eucalyptus leaves might serve as the gold miner's best friend, with gold drawn from the depths, researchers report, draping the humble gum trees. | Continue reading
Throughout history, territorial and often aggressive domestic geese have been deployed to keep watch over everything from Scotch whisky to military installations. | Continue reading
Recent brain imaging shows the disease can cause physical changes equivalent to a decade of aging and trigger problems with attention and memory. Exactly why is still a mystery. | Continue reading
Thousands of people repeatedly exposed to the virus never got sick. Scientists hope their DNA may hold clues to new kinds of treatments. | Continue reading
Experiments suggest that metabolism could have begun spontaneously on our primordial planet—and that scientists may need to rethink how we define life. | Continue reading
Community forests the size of a basketball court can make an outsized difference, providing shade, attracting plants and animals, and even storing a bit of carbon. | Continue reading
The state pumps too much groundwater, especially during droughts. Now, it's learning to refill the overdrawn bucket. "It's the simplest math in the world," says one scientist. | Continue reading
A wild dolphin named Kylie may be able to “converse” with porpoises, a striking example of cross-species communication. | Continue reading
Sofonisba Anguissola's undeniable talent attracted the attention of Michelangelo and the king of Spain. Today more and more of her works are being identified, securing the legacy of this remarkable woman. | Continue reading
Masking mandates are being revoked as COVID-19 cases drop. Experts explain why we still need to keep masks close at hand. | Continue reading
Nutrition labels mislead consumers about how many calories they're getting from whole versus processed foods, says one scientist. | Continue reading
A new technology aims to stop wildlife from spreading Ebola, rabies, and other viruses. It could prevent the next pandemic by stopping pathogens from jumping from animals to people. | Continue reading
Blow-by-blow accounts of the Ides of March spare few details on how Rome's dictator-for-life met a bloody end in 44 B.C. | Continue reading
Early success with a procedure called a mitochondrial transplant offers a glimmer of hope for people fighting for survival after cardiac arrest, stroke, and more. | Continue reading
Demand for ornamental plants is ravaging South Africa’s rare desert flora—and fueling a nonstop duel between poachers and police. | Continue reading
If we keep burning fossil fuels indefinitely, global warming will eventually melt all the ice at the poles and on mountaintops, raising sea level by 216 feet. Explore what the world’s new coastlines would look like. | Continue reading
Cancer, aging, and severe COVID-19 have all been linked to damage from inflammation. Now scientists are flipping their focus to find new drugs that may revolutionize treatments. | Continue reading
A new study finds that high in rainforest trees, insects live in ecosystems that vary wildly from the forest floor on up. | Continue reading
When, in 1849, a man named Henry Brown escaped slavery in a box, America wondered: Could abolition be delivered by mail? | Continue reading
Centuries of bloodshed, foreign domination, and internal divisions have left Ukraine in a precarious position between East and West. | Continue reading
A rare, multi-part earthquake that disturbed waters in three oceans is helping scientists understand how different types of quakes can trigger tsunamis. | Continue reading
A scientific instrument that collapsed in the deep sea allowed scientists to make one of the most precise calculations yet for the abyss known as Challenger Deep. | Continue reading