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Science & Nature

Mind-Blowing Facts That Bring Science to Life

Photograph of the Earth

Earth

The Mystery of Earth's 26-Second Pulse

Photograph of ocean waves on a tropical beach

Human Behavior

Just Add Water: Why We Relax When We Watch It

Photograph of a jet airplane

Technology

Your Car Has 30 Times More Software Code Than a Boeing 787

Image of dog's face with attentive eyes

Animals

The Secret Chemistry Between Dogs & Humans

Image of people leaping for joy at sunset

Human Behavior

One Question, 43,000 People and Seven Years

Photograph of Northern Lights

Astronomy & Space

Why Fall is Northern Lights Season

Medicine

What Does a Gila Monster Have to Do With GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs?

Photograph of Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered Pluto in 1930

Astronomy & Space

In New Mexico, Pluto is Still a Planet

Photograph of the Milky Way

Space & Physics

We Don't Know What 95% of the Universe Is

Photo of pigs in mud

Animals

Why Do Pigs Love Mud?

Photograph of two pigs noses poking through a fence

Animals

The Secret Domestic Pigs Are Keeping From Their Genes

Image of sheep and lamb

Animals

Sheep Used to Shed on Their Own. We Bred That Out of Them

Photograph of farmer in field

Evolution

Farming Wasn't a Human Invention

Three Different Insects Beat Us to It, Tens of Millions of Years Apart."

Photograph of Octopus in Water

Animals

How Long Does Parenting Last in the Animal Kingdom?

Oil Painting entitled "Self-Portrait, Yawning" by Joseph Ducreux.

Human Behavior

Did Reading This Make You Yawn?

You may not need to see someone yawn to catch one.

Photograph of someone sneezing

Human Behavior

Why Does Bright Sunlight Make Some People Sneeze?

Photograph of Butterfly on Plant

Insects

Plant It and They Will Come

Photograph of a Bee

Insects

Bees Make Silk, Too

Photograph of Clownfish Near Anemones

Animals

Every Clownfish Starts Life As a Male

Photograph of an Elephant Swimming

Animals

An Elephant's Secret SuperPower

Photograph of father and child fishing

Human Body

The Surprising Way Children Shape Adult Brains

Image of 23 chromosomes

Human Body

The 23 Chromosomes That Help Make You You

Photograph of an antique brass doorknob

Natural Remedies

The Hidden Superpower of Brass

Photograph of a toddler bending over to look at something in the grass

Human Body

Why Toddlers Have More Brain Connections Than Adults

Photograph of Woman Taking a Shower

Human Behavior

Your Brain Has a Hidden Mode for Solving Problems

Photograph of human eye that is blue

Human Body

Your Eyes Have a Night Shift

Photograph of fingers typing text on keyboard

Human Body

Your Fingers Don't Contain a Single Muscle

Painting of Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici

Genetics

For 439 Years, We Thought the Medicis Were Poisoned

DNA found something else

Photograph of kangaroos at sunset

Animals

Why Evolution Developed a Pause Button

Some babies start growing only when conditions improve

Photograph of a Golden Retriever dog, panting

Astronomy & Space

The "Dog Days" Have Nothing to Do With Panting Dogs

Blame Sirius, the star that rises with the sun every July

Photograph of Cannabis

Human Body

Your Brain Makes Its Own Cannabis. And Dark Chocolate Helps.

Photograph of Clock at Grand Central Station

Human Behavior

Why Time Seems to Fly or Slow Down

Image of two particles

Space & Physics

Spooky Action From Space

Illustration of how soap molecules rinse away dirt and grease

Chemistry

How Does Soap Actually Remove Dirt?

Photograph of fireflies at night

Insects

Fireflies Have More Going On Than You Think

Image of peony flower in bloom to illustrate nature

Innovative Solutions

Why Do the Laws of Nature Seem so Beautiful?

Photograph of colorful climbing sweet peas

Plants

How Does a Vine Know Where to Climb?

Illustration from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels

Human Behavior

The Mushroom That Makes Tiny People Appear

Photgraph of a baby laughing

Human Behavior

Why are People Ticklish?

Photograph of Homing Pigeon

Animals

Birds Have Been Solving a Puzzle Humans Barely Understand

Scientists may be getting closer to understanding how

Illustration of Taiwanese wood-eating cockroaches with no wings

Insects

One of Nature's Strangest Relationship Rituals

Photograph of person looking up at stars in the sky

Origins of Life

What Were the Chances?

Close up photo of a dog's nose

Animals

Why Dogs Need The Groove Above Their Lip, and Humans Don't

Photograph of citrus fruits rich in Vitamin C

Human Body

Every Mammal Makes Its Own Vitamin C. Except You.

Image of audience clapping in theatre

Human Behavior

Your Brain Can Sync With Other People's Brains at the Same Time

Photograph of person on earth staring up at the galaxy

Earth

You Are Moving Through Space at Over 1 Million MPH

Image of a honeycomb

Insects

The Tiny Settlers That Came By Ship

Image of DNA

Human Body

Some Cells in Your Body May Come From Another Person

Image of raindrops clinging to a branch

Weather

The Raindrop Shape You Know Is Wrong

Image of a monarch butterfly perched on a flower

Insects

A Comeback, Not a Recovery: The Monarch Butterfly’s Fragile Rebound

Photograph of a young woman drinking water

Solar System

Your Water is Billions of Years Older Than You Think

Genetics

Why Pale Skin Evolved in Northern Europe

Image of a woman sleeping in bed

Human Behavior

Why You Sometimes Feel Like You're Falling When You Are Asleep

Image of a figure walking into a room with a table with flowers and a door in the distance

Human Behavior

Why You Forget Why You Walked Into A Room

Image of a hydrothermal vent underwater

Origins of Life

Every Living Thing Shares A Single Ancestor

Image of young children laughing together

Human Behavior

How Laughter Synchronizes the Brain

Image of a black fly on a green leaf

Animals

Why Flies React Faster Than We Do

Small animals like flies process visual information faster than humans, detecting more changes per second.

Photograph of a Field of Sunflowers

Flowers

How Sunflowers Help Restore Polluted Land

Photograph of a colorful rainbow with mountains in the background

Weather

Rainbows Are Actually Full Circles

Photograph of 3 puffins in the grass

Animals

Why Icelandic Kids Go "Puffling Hunting" Each Fall

Illustration of gravediggers and watchmen

Medicine

When Anatomy Students Ran Out of Bodies

Photograph of newborn baby

Human Body

Scientists discovered a human cell that only exists during pregnancy

Photograph of Liquor Bottles on Shelves to Illustrate Alcohol Facts

Applied Science

How Humans Engineered Strong Alcohol

Image of a crown to represent the queen's royal status in an ant colony

Insects

Born to Rule. Born to Die

Nature's Most Unequal Kingdom

Image of camel with Google camera in the desert

Technology

When Google Used A Camel to Map the Desert

Photograph of car driving on country road to illustrate effect of tire wear and tear on microplastics

Environment & Weather

Most People Don’t Realize What the Largest Source of Microplastics Is

Here's What Actually Helps Reduce Microplastics

Photograph of Yttrium

Earth & Materials Science

Rare Earth Minerals: They're Not Rare, Just Hard to Get

Photograph of a lamb

Animals

How Ranchers Know When Sheep Have Mated (Without Guessing)

Painting of people gathered in two during medieval times

Human Behavior

Humans Once Slept in Two Shifts Each Night

Image of futuristic tech cube

Technology

The Spark That Launched San Francisco's Tech Scene

Microscopic image of human killer T cells closing in on a cancer cell, illustrating how the immune system identifies and attacks harmful cells.

Human Body

What Really Helps Your Immune System (It's Not What You Think)

Photograph of two swans together

Animals

Animals That Stay Together For Life

Photograph of a Raven flying

Animals

Ravens Can Talk and They Love a Good Prank

Portrait of Genghis Khan, the 13th-century Mongol ruler whose invasions caused widespread depopulation, allowing forests to regrow and absorb carbon.

Environment & Weather

The Warlord Who Accidentally Helped the Climate

Illustration of a cartoon tooth with a cape

Innovative Solutions

The Breakthrough Gel That Can Regrow Tooth Enamel

Photograph of brain scan

Technology

AI is Learning to Translate Brain Signals Into Language

Photograph of U.S. Capitol

Technology

Public Data Is Vanishing. Here’s Why It Matters.

Photograph of a full moon at night over the water

Space & Physics

November's Night Sky: Fireballs, Shooting Stars and a Supermoon.

Photograph of a Borneo Orangutan

Animals

Meet Ken Allen: The Orangutan Who Escaped the San Diego Zoo Three Times

Image of an octopus underwater

Animals

How Inky the Octopus Outsmarted the Aquarium

Photo of a Dolphin

Animals

The Animals That Sleep with One Eye Open

Photo of an orange tabby cat

Animals

Why Most Orange Cats Are Boys

Image of a spider web

Innovative Solutions

Goats That Make Spider Silk?

Image of Blue LED lights representing breakthrough in lighting science

Technology

How Blue Light Changed Everything

Photograph from space of air currents on earth

Human Body

Cleopatra’s Breath Might Be in Your Lungs Right Now

Image of toddler smiling on blanket

Human Body

The Memories You’ll Never Recall

Photograph of Fred Astaire dancing

Human Behavior

Dancing May Be the Most Powerful Mood Booster

Photograph of Enceladus from NASA

Solar System

Life May Not Be Unique to Earth

Saturn's Moon Enceladus May Have the Essential Ingredients

Illustration of matter and antimatter

Space & Physics

Antimatter: The Most Expensive Substance Ever Made

Image of Marblehead Lighthouse

Innovative Solutions

Progress Worth Sharing

Photograph of Adult Female Elephant and Young Elephant

Animals

Elephants: Long-Distance Talkers and Gentle Giants

Technology

AI Learns to Sniff Out Cancer

Illustration of a small nuclear reactor (SMR)

Innovative Solutions

Radical Breakthroughs in The Race for Energy

Innovative Solutions

Surprising Energy Solutions At Work Today

Biotechnology & Medicine

Five of the Most Expensive Liquids in the World

Close-up of a rooster at sunrise, symbolizing how birds use their internal clocks to greet the day.

Animals

The Science Behind Cock-a-Doodle-Doo

Photograph of Royal Crown

Insects

Royal Perfume: How a Queen Keeps Her Kingdom in Line

Photograph of Drone Bee

Insects

Gentlemen Bees, Last Call

How Drones Are Evicted From the Hive

Image of a server to illustrate internet traffic

Technology

The Biggest and the Baddest Bots on the Internet

Photograph of a newborn baby

Human Body

How Does a Baby Breathe When It is in the Womb?

Photograph of Wrinkly Fingers

Human Body

Why Do Our Fingers Wrinkle in Water?

Diagram of the reproduction process of the queen ant of Messor ibericus that produces two species through xenoparity, with hybrid workers and cloned males.

Insects

The Ant Queen That Gives Birth to Two Species

Waves crashing releasing negative ions that create a refreshing atmosphere.

Environment & Weather

Why Ocean Waves and Storms Make You Feel Alive

Close-up image of snail with a left-spiraling shell.

Animals

Ned the Lefty Snail: A Rare Love Story from New Zealand

Photo of an MRI machine

Technology

HOW MRI Works: Magnets, Protons and the Signals That Build Images

Fossilized brittle star with central disk and long slender arms, ancestor of modern brittle stars that drift across oceans on deep-sea currents.

Ocean

The Hidden Highways Beneath the Sea

A global network of life is hidden in the deep, carried by creatures you’ve probably never heard of.

An illustration of an atom with a proton

Chemistry

The Rowdy Crowd of Protons Inside of You

Illustrative image of hot plasma

Innovative Solutions

Magnets That May Power the Future

Photograph of person looking out in the evening at the stars and galaxy

Chemistry

Hydrogen in Nature: The Element That Powers Life and Starts

Photograph of dark, fertile soil

Earth

The Amazon's Ancient Recipe for Super Soil

Photograph of a lovely older woman with blue eyes

Human Body

Young Blood, Old Bodies: Can Transfusions Slow Aging?

Image of a Gorilla highlighting the history of evolution

Genetics

This System That Just Made Evolution 100,000 Faster

Full moon glowing in the night sky, symbolizing its role in stabilizing Earth’s tilt and influencing life on the planet.

Earth

Why Earth Needs the Moon

Photo of little boy playing with leaves in the Fall.

Weather

High Pressure, Low Pressure: How Fall Weather Tips Your Mood

Illustration by Arthur Mee and Holland Thompson of Goldilocks and the Three Bears

Earth

Earth's Just-Right Atmosphere

Photograph of Venus

Earth

How Earth Escaped a Venus Fate

Image of the sky with clouds and a stream and green landscape below

Earth

Why the Air You Breathe Is Mostly Nitrogen

Waterfall in Hawaii

Animals

The Tiny Fish That Climbs Waterfalls Taller Than Skyscrapers

Fruit fly courtship illustration showing male offering regurgitated food to female as part of mating ritual

Insects

Love at First Sight?

Not Really

Different types of maize showing diversity of corn varieties. Scientists found that corn plants communicate through chemical signals to protect against pests.

Nature

When Cornfields Whisper

Earth

More Volcanoes are Underwater Than on Land?

Macro photo of Micronecta scholtzi, the water boatman insect that produces the loudest sound of any insect underwater.

Insects

The Tiny Bug With the World's Loudest Love Song

Photograph of leaf cutter ants carrying leaves

Insects

Why Do Ants Carry Leaves? They're Farmers, Not Snackers

Tiger orange and black stripes that appear camouflaged to prey animals.

Animals

Why Don't Deer Notice Tigers? The Secret of Orange Camoflage

Illustration of a human brain connections to illustrate the concept of thoughts being communicated outside of the brain without speech

Human Behavior

Can Scientists Read Your Thoughts Now?

Illustration of the cryptochrome protein structure showing its light-sensitive components, based on scientific visualization from Wikimedia Commons

Human Body

Cryptochrome: The Invisible Compass We Might All Have

A bar-tailed godwit in flight during migration

Birds

The Bar-Tailed Godwit: The Bird That Flies for Days, Guided by Nature’s Map

Photograph of a Blue Whale

Animals

Why Blue Whales Are Falling Silent as Ocean Heat and Krill Loss Mounts

Illustration depicting Earth's magnetic fields

Earth

How Earth's Magnetic Field Protects Us

Photograph of a Vintage Compass

Human Body

The Hidden Compass in Your Brain

Photographic image of sea turtle swimming underwater

Animals

Drawn Back by the Earth

Photograph of a honeybee on a sunflower

Animals

The Secret Sense in a Bee's Belly

Two pale pink roses in soft natural light, symbolizing calm and stress relief.

Flowers

Flowers That Calm the Nervous System? Science Says Yes

Photograph of a dog with blue eyes

Animals

Super Sniffers:

How Dogs Detect Disease

Photograph of newborn baby sleeping

Human Behavior

So...Can Men Really Smell Fertility?

Photograph of actor Bela Lugosi portraying Dracula

Human Behavior

The Scent of Fear

Your Nose Can Pick Up on Panic

Photograph of a giraffe

Trees

The Trees That Talk

Giraffes Bite, Acacias Fight Back

Photograph of Steve McQueen

Human Behavior

The Science of Scent and Attraction. When Love Stinks (In a Good Way)

A photograph of a large wave

Ocean

The Physics Behind A Tsunami

Innovative Solutions

Carbon-60: The Soccer Ball Molecule with Superpowers

Close-up of a peacock feather’s eye, showing vivid blue and green structural coloration used in laser-light experiments

Technology

Feathers, Lasers and a Little Bit of Magic

A streaking Perseid meteor blazing across a starry night sky above a silhouetted landscape.

Solar System

The Perseids: Summer's Fireworks from Space

Image showing digital code to represent bots

Technology

Who's Really Using the Internet? Mostly Bots.

A smooth, lens-shaped lenticular cloud hovering above a mountain range at sunset.

Weather

The Clouds That Look Like UFOs

A fluffy baby chick in the grass

Animals

Baby Chicks Can Do Math

Before They Can Cluck

Photograph of Full Moon Near the Horizon by the Ocean

Solar System

Why The Moon Looks Bigger on the Horizon

Photograph of hand holding a lit match in the darkness

Human Behavior

Why We're Still Afraid of the Dark. It's not the dark itself...it's what your brain does when the lights go out

Human Body

Science Breakthrough (July 2025): Organs Grown From Scratch

Woman Underwater in Bathing Suit Rising to the Surface

Human Body

The Real Reason You Can’t Stay Underwater

Image of Interstellar Object 31/Atlas

Space & Physics

A Rare Cosmic Drive-By

A Rare Interstellar Object is Visiting Us

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