Art+Science
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Life
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Quanta Abstractions
Rewilding
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The Kinship Issue
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The Reality Issue
The Rebel Issue
Women in Science & Engineering
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What Happens in Space Matters on Earth
Dagomar Degroot’s three greatest revelations while writing Ripples on a Cosmic Ocean
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Naked Clams and Sunken Ships
A brazen plan to grow an animal that has been the bane of sailors for centuries—to feed the world
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The Hidden Landscape Holding Back the Sea
The fate of our planet’s coasts rests on Antarctic bedrock
The Porthole
Short sharp looks at science
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The Trees That Remember the Pyramids
Dendrochronologist Valerie Trouet on what tree rings reveal about climate, fire, and human history
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Psilocybin Lifted Her Burden
The Covid pandemic left this frontline medical worker burned out, angry, and depressed. Then she got high.
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In Awe of Tiny Things
Artist and filmmaker Michael Benson on dung beetles, diatoms, and the human drive to explore
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The Nautilus Reading List About the Cosmos
Our writers have read a universe of books on space and astronomy. Here are their favorites.
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Seeking Signs of Life on Venus
The first private mission to the morning star will sample for traces of biological activity in the planet’s clouds
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Creating a Cosmic Movie
Making sense of a new era of time-domain astronomy from the Rubin Observatory
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The Problem with Farmed Seafood
We’re decimating the ocean to feed farmed fish. But an innovative solution has surfaced.
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The Divers Who Stretch the Limits of Human Biology
The most dangerous job on Earth is at the bottom of the sea
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Modeling the Deep
An ambitious mission seeks to map the flow of crucial chemicals through marine food webs in far-flung oceanic gyres
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How “Plant Math” Can Help Predict the Climate’s Future
Researchers are building equations for vegetation processes that might improve climate models
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The Power Grid Is Struggling. Can AI Fix It?
Renewables, EVs, and AI itself are straining the grid. These researchers have ideas to evolve it.
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New Life for Rotting Seaweed
Problematic piles of Sargassum could serve as useful raw material for a variety of products
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High-Tech Lollipops That Detect Disease
This researcher crosses disciplines for unexpected innovations
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Will Trump’s Immigration Policies Hurt US Nobel Chances?
Drastic cuts to science funding and immigration restrictions could hobble the country’s research enterprise
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The Periscope: Book Weeding, Fact-Checking, and Imperiled Fruit Fly Data
What Nautilus executive editor Katherine Courage has been tuning into recently
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What Is Intelligence?
At a church in Italy, we sought to shed an old definition for one that could save us
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What Is Your Brain Doing on Psychedelics?
Something is happening here, but neuroscientists don’t know what it is
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In the Land of the Eyeless Dragons
The cave-dwelling olm is a canary in the coal mine for environmental change
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Visit the 7 Most Extreme Planets in the Universe
From molten glass rain to oceans of lava, an intergalactic tour of the most terrifying and beautiful climates out there
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The Sean Carrolls Explain the Universe
Why are we here? Is there life on other planets? The renowned scientists who share a name share their answers to life’s big questions.
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The Soviet Rebel of Music
He composed on a computer in a dangerous time. His echo is still heard today.
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How Whales Could Help Us Speak to Aliens
Learning to decode complex communication on Earth may give us a leg up if intelligent life from space makes contact.
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The Science of Unrequited Love
Researchers are learning more about limerence, the term for obsessive, involuntary love that is often unreturned -
How This Haunting Hurricane Illusion Forms
Powerful storms like Hurricane Melissa foment an odd phenomenon called the “stadium effect” at their centers -
Can We Beam Away Our Space Junk Problem?
A plan to use ions to clear out the crowded low Earth orbit -
Bats That Glow
And shifting battles with rats: New discoveries take flight during Bat Week -
This Spiritual Eclipse Calendar Might Still Work
The remarkable accuracy behind the Maya people’s eclipse forecasts may have emerged from an astrological calendar system that could still hold true -
Witness the Rare Birth of a Water Bear
A vulnerable moment for one of Earth’s most resilient creatures -
The World’s Tiniest Wave Tank
This ocean on a chip unlocks the mysteries of rogue waves, tsunamis, and other aquatic oddities -
This Inca Building was the Original Boom Box
A 600-year-old temple was likely designed to amplify drum beats and music -
Pink Boulders Reveal a Hidden Antarctic Giant
Inside the massive, granite slab slumbering beneath the frozen continent -
The Secrets of Deadly Snake Bites
Slow-motion video reveals how these strikes could kill you, in surprisingly different ways -
The Dark Side of Putting Mirrors in Space
On-demand sunlight could be a shady undertaking -
How Scavenging Made Us Human
Our early ancestors were more like vultures than we might like to think -
Why Have We Never Sampled an Interstellar Comet?
A cosmic coincidence could give us an unprecedented look at a visitor from another solar system. If all goes well. -
These Three Species Have Eased Back From the Brink
Recent conservation wins are proof that such efforts can make a difference -
What Poop Reveals About Ancient Humans
The parasites found lurking in 1,000-year-old feces give a glimpse into the health and daily life of the past -
Mysterious Deep Sea Habitats Reveal New Species
Ecosystems that have not been fully explored or catalogued by science are at risk of severe damage -
Check Out the Beak on This Baby Basking Shark
An intriguing image resurfaces from a decades-old paper -
Evolution Is Written in Our Joints
Why do humans have such stupid knees, ankles, and backs? -
Your Chatbot “Friend” Is Only Pretending to Like You
ChatGPT and Claude can’t offer real empathy -
Space Is Raining Junk, and It’s Getting Worse
With another hunk of space debris crashing down, the perils of a jampacked low-Earth orbit hit home
