Science

Age of Humans

Video: Why Should Humans Care About Preserving the Diversity of Life on Earth?

This animation explains that humans don't just impact the interconnected web of life—we depend on it

Caption: Six pairs of hand and footprints were discovered in 1998, including two that are small enough to have belonged to children.

New Research

Footprints Found at Ancient Hot Springs Could Represent Earliest Settlement of Tibetan Plateau

New age measurements of the footprints help pinpoint when humans first settled the highest region on Earth

This year we've seen swelling efforts to protect vast swaths of ocean. Are they scientifically sound?

Do Ocean Preserves Actually Work?

The U.S. now leads the world in protected marine areas. But are they a scientifically sound strategy?

Because Cystisoma live far from shore, scientists have just begun to study them in their natural habitat.

The Master of Disguise of the Ocean Reveals Its Secrets

A marine creature’s unusual defense is becoming perfectly clear

Abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky, who may have been a synesthete, once said: "Color is the key. The eye is the hammer. The soul is the piano with its many chords. The artist is the hand that, by touching this or that key, sets the soul vibrating automatically."

Art Meets Science

Feel the Music—Literally—With Some Help From New Synesthesia Research

How one artist created a show inspired by the neurological experience of synesthesia

Here, a Gila woodpecker peacefully eats a pyracantha berry. But don't be fooled by appearances.

Weird Animals

This Woodpecker Will Drill Into Your Skull And Eat Your Brains—If You’re a Baby Dove

Think those needle noses were only made for eating insects? Think again

Tusks from an $8 million shipment intercepted in Singapore

Future of Conservation

There's a New Tool in the Fight Against Elephant Poaching

An American biologist wields an innovative weapon against the illegal trade in African ivory

Several armed guards accompanied Luiz Rocha and his colleagues throughout their work in Somaliland.

Meet the Researchers Who Scour the World's Most Dangerous Corners in Search of Biological Riches

Militants, malaria and pirates are just some of the challenges these scientist-explorers face in their quest to map the world’s diversity

The journals that scientists consider most prestigious are often in English.

New Research

English Is the Language of Science. That Isn't Always a Good Thing

How a bias toward English-language science can result in preventable crises, duplicated efforts and lost knowledge

Ocean Legacy has a task not even Sisyphean would envy: picking up, sorting and recycling the vast amount of plastic that ends up on our shores.

Future of Conservation

Turning Ocean Garbage Into Gold

From the common plastic water bottle to the shoes of tsunami victims, one recycling organization tries to find a home for all ocean refuse

A technique for implanting a 3D-printed "ear" with stem cells could revolutionize treatment for microtia patients.

New Research

Hear This, 2017: Scientists Are Creating New Ears With 3D-Printing and Human Stem Cells

Two decades after the "earmouse," researchers have mastered a powerful technique for growing ears from fat-derived stem cells

Leah Desrochers, a former employee of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, holds a stranded Kemp's ridley sea turtle.

Why Are Endangered Sea Turtles Showing Up Cold and Seemingly Lifeless on Northeastern Shores?

In the past three decades, scientists have confronted a worsening epidemic of stranded Kemp's ridley sea turtles

Incredibly Cute Polar Bear Cubs See the World for First Time

After a long winter in their den, a polar bear mother and her cubs emerge at the first signs of spring.

These ancient amber fossils from Burma in Southeast Asia help complete the patchy record of lizard evolution.

This Year in Ancient Amber: Prehistoric Feathers, Mushrooms, Lizards and More

It’s no <i>Jurassic Park,</i> but this treasure trove of new creatures will still transport you to an ancient world

In Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, America's most beloved native insect faces threats from illegal loggers and avocado growers.

New Research

The Best Way to Protect the World’s Forests? Keep People in Them

Instead of kicking indigenous groups out, let them continue to manage these lands effectively, argues a new report

The Risky Way a Polar Bear Attack Victim Confronts Her Fear

For Erin Greene, walking up to a polar bear requires even more courage than most of us can imagine

A Fertile Polar Bear's Hard Journey From Mating to Motherhood

After mating takes place, a female polar bear will prepare for her impending pregnancy by eating voraciously. In all, she will pack on more than 400 pounds

This year's science left us speechless and maybe a tiny bit more knowledgeable.

The Top 9 Baffling, Humbling, Mind-Blowing Science Stories of 2016

From gravity's song to the evolutionary secrets of dogs, this year unlocked a treasure trove of scientific discovery

Turns out, the Arctic squirrels (Urocitellus parryii) on Chirikof Island, long believed to be an invasive species, were native.

The Invasive Squirrel That Wasn't

Everyone thought that the Arctic ground squirrel was an invasive species on this remote Alaskan island. A pair of scientists beg to differ.

Patrons of the sciences once offered cash prizes, exotic pets and even islands for world-changing discoveries. Here, Louis XIV surveys the members of the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1667.

For Your Contributions to Science, I Humbly Bequeath You This Pet Moose

A history of motivating scientific endeavor through cash prizes, islands and exotic pets

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