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Ordinary Lab Gloves May Have Skewed Microplastic Data

That doesn’t mean microplastics aren’t a problem, though

How Did Evolution Come Up With So Many Squids?

It was a slow burn followed by a big bang

Why You Should Root for the Apex Predator

They’re indispensable ecosystem engineers

These Seals Brave Polar Bear Country to Access an Ocean Buffet

Conservation plans for climate change must consider both fear and food

Now We Know What the Insects of the Jurassic Period Sounded Like

Thanks to crickets and relatives playing their “washboards”

Latest Stories

The Giant Sloths and Armadillos of Prehistoric Texas 

Snorkeling scientists uncover a treasure trove of megafauna fossils in a flooded cave

New Ape Fossil Could Shift Our Evolutionary Origins Northward

Ancestor of humans and other great apes turns up in Egypt

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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

Hubble Snaps a New Dazzling Photo of the Crab Nebula

It was formed by an explosion witnessed around the world almost a millennium ago

The Search for Alien Life Just Identified 45 New Targets

This subset of exoplanets are the most likely to be habitable

The Martyrs, Hunters, and Nature Lovers Who Came Together to Save Birds

An interview with James McCommons, author of The Feather Wars, about the past and future of bird conservation

How Three Students Designed an Atomic Bomb

A top-secret 1960s project tasked physics postdocs with building The Bomb

The Thrill of Science in 2042

A science historian explains how science got its groove back. A fictional dispatch from the future.

When Fake Supplements Work

A new twist on the placebo effect

The Internet Has Not Killed Reading—or Attention Spans

An interview with Kevin Ashton, MIT technology pioneer and author of The Story of Stories

Heat Probably Doesn’t Make You More Aggressive

An interview with a behavioral economist about cake, climate change, and cooperation

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The Mystery of the Legless Lizards of Taiwan

The secretive reptile has confounded researchers for decades

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

Doing Science and Philosophy On Drugs

Justin Smith-Ruiu takes a philosophical and first-person look at psychedelics

How Science Fiction Can Save Us

Three scientists share their bold vision for turning stories into testable experiments

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Space Screws Up Sperm’s Ability to Navigate Properly

And not because they refuse to ask for directions

The Doctors Who Say Spirituality Belongs in Medicine

Many patients with neurological disorders want spiritual care, but most clinicians are reluctant to offer it

How We Walk Might Reveal Our Risk of Death

Another good reminder to keep a pep in your step

Can Home-Cooked Meals Help Stave Off Dementia?

It’s got all the ingredients of a healthy, active lifestyle

Why Vivid Dreams Make for Better Sleep

An active dream life is key to good sleep

Fitbit Data Sheds Light on Best Time to Exercise  

New technology chimes in on an age-old question