Science

Sputnik Planitia is a 325,000-square-mile, ice-covered basin on Pluto.

How the Pull of an Icy “Heart” Sent Pluto’s Poles Wandering

Using New Horizons data, scientists determine that the erstwhile planet has a more dynamic past than we thought

As a professional falconer, Rosen has trained all of her birds, which now number close to a dozen. Her brood includes Ziggy, a hybrid prairie-gyrfalcon.

Why Winemakers are Turning to Falconry to Tackle Pests

Napa Valley vintners are finding this tried-and-true deterrent more effective than modern technology

Behold: The World's Largest Radio Telescope

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, located in the Atacama Desert, is the product of a 20-year global effort by Europe, North America, and East Asia

Sylvester James Gates, a theoretical physicist and voice for faith and science.

Think Big

Why Theoretical Physicist Sylvester James Gates Sees No Conflict Between Science and Religion

“I got used to the idea that questions had answers.”

The Field Museum's famed T-Rex Sue may be long dead, but she still requires a lot of TLC.

Preserve and Protect: How Paleontologists Care for Their Long-Dead, High-Maintenance Stars

Fossil collections are where the science of paleontology truly lives. Valuable dino bones must be treated accordingly

Reptiles Can't Fly. But This One Glides Like a Pro

Draco, a type of lizard that lives in trees in Southeast Asia, has evolved flaps of skin on its flanks

Mustard gas from wars past is decaying in the world's oceans—but scientists don't yet know how dangerous it could be. Here, U.S. Navy ship prepare for scheduled deployment in the Pacific Ocean in 2014.

Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Ocean After World War II Could Threaten Waters Worldwide

How worried should we be? Chemists are racing the clock to find out

Payam Pourtaheri and Ameer Shakeel enjoy casual conversation with Radia Perlman, 2016 National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee during the Meet the Experts session at 2016’s Collegiate Inventors Competition.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Could These College Inventors Tackle the Global Pesticide Problem?

Developed by a team of University of Virgnia students, AgroSpheres break down pesticide residues on crops hours after they are applied

ALMA Reveals Planets Born Earlier Than We Thought

In 2014, astronomer David Wilmer aimed the ALMA Array at a young star 450 light years away

A tickled rat.

New Research

What Tickling Giggly Rats Can Tell Us About the Brain

Their laughter manifests in a surprising region of the cerebral cortex

Grégoire Courtine, an author on the new study, holds a silicon model of a primate’s brain, a microelectrode array and a pulse generator. The brain-spine interface consists of elements like these.

New Research

A New Wireless Brain Implant Helps Paralyzed Monkeys Walk. Humans Could Be Next.

One small step for monkeys, one potential leap for humans

The well-known dinosaur skeleton known as "Big Mama" has been hiding a secret.

New Research

Fossilized Dinos Are Bones Turned to Stone—But Sometimes, Part of the Original Dino Survives

Every fossilized skeleton is a unique snowflake. We now know that some contain biological bits of tooth and claw

The Surprising Reason Birds First Grew Feathers

When birds first grew feathers 150 million years ago, their function was not necessarily to help with flight

Watch a Bombardier Beetle Mace a Praying Mantis

Praying mantises are adept at ambushing their prey with their specialized legs and swift reflexes

Workers from the Kenya Wildlife Service carry elephant tusks from shipping containers full of ivory transported from around the country for a mass anti-poaching demonstration.

New Research

Most Ivory for Sale Comes From Recently Killed Elephants—Suggesting Poaching Is Taking Its Toll

Carbon dating finds that almost all trafficked ivory comes from animals killed less than three years before their tusks hit the market

The three-spine stickleback usually forages and builds its nest near the lake bottom. But in Enos Lake, it appears to have merged with a related species that spends its time near the surface.

Extinction or Evolution? The Answer Isn't Always Clear

The same factors that kill off some species cause others to evolve at lightning speed

The Incredible Reptiles That Flew 200 Million Years Ago

A 200-million-year-old fossil reveals the amazing body structure of a reptilian creature known as the dimorphodon

That looks nutritious.

Everyone Poops. Some Animals Eat It. Why?

Consuming feces can benefit not only the health and microbiomes of some animals, but also their environments

Puerto Rico's #1 Crop Isn't Sugar, But It's Still Sweet

Puerto Rico's agricultural economy was once dominated by sugar plantations. Today, the same fields hold everything from corn to bananas

Smoking leaves permanent scars on cells, new research finds.

New Research

Smoking a Pack a Day for a Year Leaves 150 Mutations in Every Lung Cell

Researchers quantify just how bad smoking is for you, molecularly

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