Watch How “Trashy” City Bowerbirds Attract Their Mates
Human-made objects are just too tempting
Stupid in the Land of Oz
We’re not in Kansas anymore, but you knew that
Beavers Don’t Just Build Dams, They Build Nations
A journey to the hidden settlement of nature’s busy hydro-engineer
9 Books We’re Excited About This June
Sea monsters, Niagara’s toxic legacy, and animal orgasms
The Cephalopods Are Coming
Fossil records reveal Earth’s mass extinctions are followed by a rise of ocean cephalopods. They’re rising again.
Latest Stories
Food Noise Goes Quiet with GLP-1s
But there’s a lot we still don’t know about these intrusive thoughts of food
The Iceman’s Microbiome
Ötzi commensal microorganisms included a surprisingly cold-tolerant yeast
Ancient DNA Illuminates the Uniqueness of the Extinct Cave Lion
Although it had a habit of interbreeding with modern lions
Read Stories from Our Newest Print Issue: Precarious
See moreSchrödinger’s Kittens Are All Grown Up
Offspring of the most famous thought experiment in physics are now testing the very fabric of the universe
The Most Precarious Day in the Universe
On the same day the world descended into war, physicists saw reality itself unraveling
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Cutting-edge science, unraveled by the brightest living thinkers.
Astronomy
See more AstronomyRare Meteorite Hints at Ancient Planetary Collision in Our Solar System
It’s the first definitive proof of the angrite parent body
History
See more HistoryDid a Roman Legionnaire Wear Eyeliner?
An ancient makeup bottle turns up far from its Egyptian home
Is This Why Science Advances One Funeral at a Time?
As researchers age, they produce less disruptive work
Psychology
See more PsychologyHow the “Perfectionism Pandemic” Is Crushing Young People
Our current achievement economy may deserve the blame
The Impossible Strength of the Testosterone Myth
Scientists keep knocking it down but it keeps roaring back
Does Sexual Attraction Cloud Our Rejection Detection?
The ability to read signals may be impaired by arousal
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Environment
See more Environment
After the Black Death, Italy’s Oak Trees Came Back
Turns out getting rid of large swaths of humanity benefits nature
Zoology
See more Zoology
Tadpoles Use a World War I Naval Strategy to Dazzle Predators
Sometimes all it takes is a new paint job
This Blood-Sucking Fly Drastically Transforms When It Finds Its Prey
Just in case you needed some new nightmare fuel
Philosophy
See more PhilosophyThe Bad Seed and the Problem of Blame
A conversation with behavioral geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden about the heritability of vice
A Light in the Dark: Finding the Good in the Natural World
Is it absurd to think that science can inform our values?
How ‘Tiny Shortcuts’ Are Poisoning Science
Seemingly harmless data tweaks are undermining the integrity of the entire field. We must define the problem to prevent it
How Animals Pick and Choose the Sex of Their Offspring
It’s ultimately about the grandkids
Read more
See all posts
Editing the Pesky Bones Out of a Popular Farmed Fish
Genetic modification could make carp more accessible for millions
Nightmarish Heron-like Dinosaur Unearthed in Patagonia
Pretty tough to be a fish 70 million years ago
How Right-Wing Politics Make You Physically Ill
Over the past two decades, right-wing ideology has become associated with less trust in medicine—and poorer health
The Moon Bases of Yesteryear
With NASA recently detailing its plans for a lunar settlement, here’s a look at how that concept has taken shape through history
The Genetic Secrets of a Shark That Lives for 500 Years
How the Greenland shark lives long and prospers
The Many Ways to Build a Black Hole
Gravitational waves point to a multifaceted assembly line for the cosmic oddities
