Vast Hidden Structure Discovered Beneath Antarctica
The massive formation is older than the continents
Human Ancestors Were Using Fire Earlier Than Previously Thought
Early hominins seemingly first tamed a flame 1.8 million years ago
Check Out the Newest Fluorescent Amphibian
Another terrestrial organisms glows with UV light
Your Saliva Knows How Sleepy You Are
Sleep-deprived? Spit here.
Beavers Don’t Just Build Dams, They Build Nations
A journey to the hidden settlement of nature’s busy hydro-engineer
Latest Stories
How Big Tobacco Marketing Made it into Our Lunch Boxes
Ultra-processed foods and cigarettes share parent companies and sales tactics
Lessons in Chemistry, 19th-Century Style
She wrote the bestseller that made young people fall in love with science
Newly Discovered Four-Winged Dinosaur Didn’t Need to Fly to Hunt Birds
The discovery of Jian changmaensis solved a mystery
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 AstronomyWho Was Nancy Grace Roman?
The trailblazing astronomer lends her name to the newest space telescope slated to deliver unprecedented insight into the universe
Rare 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 PsychologySolving Feynman’s Formula for Eating Well, Parking Your Car, and Finding a Mate
The 50-year mystery suggests humans may be more rational than we thought
Food Noise Goes Quiet with GLP-1s
But there’s a lot we still don’t know about these intrusive thoughts of food
How the “Perfectionism Pandemic” Is Crushing Young People
Our current achievement economy may deserve the blame
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Environment
See more EnvironmentThis Towering Fir Is the Tallest Tree in East Asia
The Indigenous people of Taiwan call it “the tree that hits the moon”
After the Black Death, Italy’s Oak Trees Came Back
Turns out getting rid of large swaths of humanity benefits nature
Zoology
See more ZoologyCheck Out This New Colorful Sea Slug the Size of a Sesame Seed
There may be other micro-wonders in the waters off Taiwan as well
Screwworms Are Back. Here’s How We Eliminated Them the First Time
Screwworms used plagued the livestock industry for decades
Bumblebees Have Chimp-Like Problem-Solving Abilities Despite Tiny Brains
New research may upend the cognitive primacy of humans and other large-brained vertebrates
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
Ice Age CSI: Mammoth Cold Case Files
Mysterious bones bear the marks of human butchering
Read more
See all postsThe Soul of Numbers
Jason Socrates Bardi’s 3 greatest revelations while writing his book The Great Math War
Hell Heron: An Illustrated Story
A new dinosaur discovered in the sands of the Sahara upends an old model
Newly Discovered Active Fault Line Could Threaten New Zealand’s Biggest City
It lies just 30 miles away from Auckland
The Cold War’s Accidental Whale Observatory
Built to track enemy submarines, the Navy’s underwater listening network inadvertently revealed that whales may be singing across entire oceans
Watch How “Trashy” City Bowerbirds Attract Their Mates
Human-made objects are just too tempting
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
