The Emergence of a Deadly Hunting Technology in Prehistoric North America
The atlatl is handy enough to re-invent across cultures
Watch Bison Fend Off a Wolf Attack on a Newborn Calf
They’re not usually considered prey for wolves
Was the Saber-Toothed Cat Doomed by Its Signature Fangs?
Five million years of evolutionary history were hidden in a museum drawer
Lung-on-a-Chip Reveals How Asthma Attacks Permanently Change Airways
Researchers built a cultured lung and gave it an asthma attack
Coincidences in My Life Have Me Wondering
My search for a hidden structure to astronomically unlikely occurrences
Latest Stories
The Trouble with Trash
A conversation with a trash man turned sociologist about our dangerous waste problem and the heroics that hide it
11 Books to Read This July
Marvelous maggots, biological warfare, AI survivalists, space myths, and more
When Earth Was an Asteroid Rain Hell
The constant barrage made it impossible for continents to form in the planet’s early days
Read Stories from Our Newest Print Issue: Precarious
See moreThe Cephalopods Are Coming
Fossil records reveal Earth’s mass extinctions are followed by a rise of ocean cephalopods. They’re rising again.
Schrödinger’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 AstronomyThe New Seismic Discovery Beneath the Surface of Mars
Earth isn’t alone—in its rock recycling processes
James Webb Space Telescope Captures the Cigar Galaxy’s Brilliant Stellar Halo in Pristine Detail
The newly released images offer hints into the galaxy’s turbulent past
Perseverance Scratches the Martian Surface, Finds Organic Carbon
Another hint life may have existed on the red planet
History
See more HistoryThis Was a Big Week for Marie Curie, More Than 120 Years Ago
Despite steep odds, she became the first woman in France to earn a doctorate in science
Today Was the Day Galileo Caved
On this day almost four centuries ago, the father of modern science was forced to bow to political and religious pressure to save his life
The Model for Botticelli’s Venus Died at 23
And researchers have a new theory for her untimely demise
Psychology
See more PsychologyHow Humans Are Like Bloodhounds and Bats
A conversation with writer Richard Louv, who coined the term “nature deficit disorder”
“Me, Myself, and I”: The Increasing Narcissism of Western Music
Individualistic pronouns have grown more common in pop songs over the past half century
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Environment
See more EnvironmentCan We Air-Condition Our Way Out of Climate Change?
No. But in the midst of intense heat waves it may be necessary to save lives.
Hidden Fungal Networks Could Stretch from the Earth to the Sun a Billion Times Over
A new map of global mycorrhizal fungi details the massive scope of the vital systems
These Overlooked Pollutants Cause About 15 Percent of Global Warming
And scientists are sounding the alarm
Zoology
See more ZoologyThere May Be Three Times More Insect Species Than We Realized
The overwhelming majority are unknown to science
Evidence of Recently Discovered Bat Behavior Found Hiding in Plain Sight in Renaissance Painting
The Flemish painter Jan Brueghel the Elder captured the bird-eating behavior in 1611
Four New Chameleon Species Found in Tropical “Sky Islands”
Two of which are named after pioneering female scientists
Philosophy
See more PhilosophyThe Inventor of the Thinking Machine Didn’t Worry. Neither Should You
In this age of AI anxiety, listen to your heart
Science Is Political—and Spiritual
Author and physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein on the crisis in American science
Aliens Probably Have Consciousness
A conversation with a philosopher about extraterrestrial and machine minds
Inside the Brain of a 319-Million-Year-Old Fossil Fish
It paves the way for understanding how ray-finned fishes came to dominate Earth’s oceans
Read more
See all postsWhat Do You Do When You Lose Gigantic Megalodon Shark Vertebrae?
Megalodons were the apex predators of the Miocene seas
How Fruit Flies Manage Their Exceptionally Long Sperm
If human sperm were a foot long, fruit fly sperm would span three football fields
Some Neanderthals Were Genetically Healthy Right Up Until the End
Not all populations of the ancient human species were struggling prior to their mysterious demise
Archaic Hominin Species Buried Only Their Women
Ancient proteins recovered from the teeth of Homo naledi fossils tell the tale
Orangutans Seek Out Medicinal Plants
In fact, they’re some of the same plants used pharmacologically by local Indigenous people
How Obesity Leads to Memory Loss
Scientists want to know if aging and an expanded waistline affect memory in the same way
Everyone’s Been Drawing Pterosaur Wings Wrong
Theoretical reconstructions hint at versatile approaches to prehistoric flight
The Unlucky Ones: What It Feels Like to Get Struck By Lightning
A bolt may ignite seeming genius, but is more likely to deliver agony
See the Milky Way’s Galactic Bulge, Captured in Unprecedented Detail
60 million stars never looked so good
