Science

An artist's rendering of the Big Bang.

New Research

A New Cosmic Discovery Could Be The Closest We’ve Come to the Beginning of Time

Scientists detect the signature of gravitational waves generated in the first moments of the Big Bang

Floating glaciers in Iceland's Jökulsárlón Lagoon naturally creak and groan as they break apart.

Art Meets Science

What Are the Acoustic Wonders of the World?

Sonic engineer Trevor Cox is on a mission to find the planet's most interesting sounds

Altering activity in the gut has been shown to affect mood and behavior. Can it also improve learning?

New Research

Checking the Claim: Can Probiotics Make You Smarter?

A researcher says a certain strain of gut bacteria can enhance brain power—but some critics aren't sold

Fallen trees in Chernobyl's infamous red forest.

New Research

Forests Around Chernobyl Aren’t Decaying Properly

It wasn't just people, animals and trees that were affected by radiation exposure at Chernobyl, but also the decomposers: insects, microbes, and fungi

None

Do You Live Within 50 Miles of a Nuclear Power Plant?

A new interactive map tells you exactly how far you live from a nuclear reactor

New Research

Why Google Flu Trends Can't Track the Flu (Yet)

The vaunted big data project falls victim to periodic tweaks in Google's own search algorithms

A pastoral cattle herder in near the Meatu district in Tanzania.

Africans' Ability To Digest Milk Co-Evolved With Livestock Domestication

Lactose tolerance spread throughout Africa along human pastoral migration routes, say scientists

A Falcon UAV unpiloted aircraft is bungee launched in a midday demonstration flight.

The One Use of Drones Everyone Can Agree on, Except for Poachers

Conservationists are looking to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for help in keeping an eye on endangered species

Russia and Alaska's current coastlines (the dashed black lines), compared to ancient Beringia (shown in green), the land bridge that brought humans to North America.

New Research

Ancient Migration Patterns to North America Are Hidden in Languages Spoken Today

Languages spoken in North America and Siberia are distantly related. What does that tell us about the first Americans?

The Intel Science Talent Search honored the top winner and nine esteemed runners-up of its 2014 competition at a black-tie affair in Washington, D.C.

These Teenagers Have Already Accomplished More Than You Ever Will

The winners of this year's Intel Science Talent Search take on flu vaccines, stem cells and tools for diagnosing cancer

Jupiter's moon Europa, potentially home to a liquid water ocean, is considered one of the likeliest locales for extraterrestrial life.

Life in the Cosmos

Where in the Solar System Are We Most Likely to Find Life?

A number of interplanetary destinations could harbor extraterrestrial life—finding it could be just a space mission away

The planet Kepler-22b, shown in this artwork, is the right size and distance from its star to support liquid water, and perhaps life.

Life in the Cosmos

The Search for Life Across the Universe

Smithsonian astrophysicist Jeremy Drake explains how the question changed from "if" life will be found elsewhere to "when" and "where"

It is time that we drop Hollywood’s humanoid view of extraterrestrials. In reality, David Aguilar says, “We are going to find bizarre adaptations.”

Life in the Cosmos

What Will Extraterrestrial Life Look Like?

Illustrator David Aguilar melds art and science to imagine how alien creatures might adapt to their environments

Observing the center of the Milky Way at Paranal Observatory.

Top 10 Travel Destinations for An Astronomy Geek

From the world's biggest telescopes to isolated islands, here are some of the best places to explore the cosmos

Genghis Khan attacked and captured the Jin capital of Zhongdu (now Beijing, China) in 1215, in one of many campaigns that expanded the Mongol Empire.

Anthropocene

Warm, Wet Times Spurred Medieval Mongol Rise

Genghis Khan—and his army of men on horseback—benefitted from boom in grasslands

This "heart sock" is dotted with sensors that can detect the intricate inner workings of the heart.

Tech Watch

This Wearable 'Heart Sock' May Someday Save Lives

Inventors say a new device can detect irregularities and even intervene before heart attacks turn deadly

An Anopheles mosquito, the blood-sucking culprit that delivers malaria.

New Research

As Temperatures Rise, Malaria Will Invade Higher Elevations

Malaria is already infiltrating highland areas in Colombia and Ethiopia that were previously protected from the disease by cool mountain temperatures

Shealy poses with a cast of a Skunk Ape footprint he says he made in 1998.

On the Trail of Florida's Bigfoot—the Skunk Ape

Is an imaginary creature a case of mistaken identity?

Art Meets Science

Aerial Views of Iceland's Volcanic Rivers

Andre Ermolaev's photographs of Iceland's volcanic rivers can look more like abstract paintings

Jason Barnes

Cool Finds

This Prosthetic Hand Lets a Drummer Play Again

“I’ll bet a lot of metal drummers might be jealous of what I can do now,” he said. “Speed is good. Faster is always better”

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