Skip to Content

The Birth of Genius

Leonardo da Vinci, polymath and victim of the vagaries of science funding, was born on this day

Why Are Gray Whales Dying in the San Francisco Bay?

Ship encounters are deadly—even for 90,000-pound animals

Time Brings Order to the Universe

These scientists are proposing a new law of nature

Latest Stories

Why Feeling Lonely Increases Your Risk for Heart Valve Disease

Social isolation can have effects beyond our mental health

Can the Brain Survive Cryonic Sleep?

Experiments with mouse tissue suggest memory and function may remain intact

Watch These Birds Use Their Tongues to Suck Up Nectar

It’s a striking example of convergent evolution

From our latest print issue

See more

Saving the Girl with Dementia

It takes a family to drive research for a rare disease forward

When Scientists Are Dinosaurs 

At the paleontology conference, her new theory was shouted down

The Best Photos of the Artemis II Mission

Humans have never taken photos of the moon like this

Two Supermassive Black Holes Are on a Cosmic Collision Course

Astronomers find a pair of super close, supermassive black holes for the first time

What Comes After Artemis II

Artemis II was one small step in another giant leap

The Bra-and-Girdle Maker That Fashioned the Impossible for NASA

Crafting a spacesuit demanded perfection from seamstresses to gluers to engineers — every stitch could mean life or death

The Creator of the SAT Was an Infamous Eugenicist

The racist origin story of the most common college entrance exam

A Very Unscientific History of Scientific Hoaxes

The past, present, and future of academic deception

Get unlimited, ad-free Nautilus. Become a member today.

The Centuries-Old History of the Super El Niño

We may get an exceptionally strong El Niño this year, but we’ve been tracking the climatic cycle since 1578

The Crowd-Sourced Science to Save Endangered Succulents

Coalescing all known information about cacti for anyone who needs to know

A Rare Cloud Jaguar Photographed Slinking Through the Honduran Forest

It’s encouraging evidence that conservation measures matter

The Deep Secrets of the Nautilus

Evolutionary time has forged changes in these shelled cephalopods

The 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

Astronauts as Influencers

Artemis II was a wild ride that played out across social media to give the public unprecedented insight into space exploration

Read more

See all posts

Why You Should Let Your Biological Clock Schedule Workouts

Going with the flow is better than fighting the system

New Alzheimer’s Blood Test Promises Earlier Detection

A simple blood test is the holy grail for Alzheimer’s diagnosis

You Could Be Genetically Resistant to GLP-1s

Ten percent of people carry a genetic variant that makes them vulnerable

Solid Proof That Our Mammal Ancestors Laid Eggs

How ancient reproduction paved the way for mammals

Survival of the Wittiest

How verbal humor arose and how it protects us

How Your Neighborhood Could be Aging You

Your zip code might affect you on a cellular level