Editors' Picks
Cracking the Code of the Human Genome
A special report on the secrets of our DNA
Don’t Listen to the Buzz: Lobsters Aren’t Actually Immortal
Contrary to memes circulating online, lobsters can't live forever—but they do keep growing and growing until they die
When Large Birds Disappear, Rainforests Suffer
A century after toucans and toucanets disappeared from patches of Brazilian jungle, trees have evolved to have smaller, weaker seeds
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Measuring how coral fluorescence changes may serve as an early indicator of the declining health of a reef
March 13, 2013
| By Rachel Nuwer
An intriguing study involving puppet shows suggests that infants dislike those who are different from themselves
March 13, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
Neanderthal brains had more capacity devoted to vision and body control, with less left over for social interactions and complex cognition
March 12, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
Zookeepers show that it is possible to teach an old otter new tricks
March 13, 2013
| By Rachel Nuwer
The spectacular aurora borealis is inspiring artists to create light installations, musical compositions, food and fashion
March 12, 2013
| By Megan Gambino
Your publicly available "likes" can tell others a lot you wouldn't expect—including your political views, sexual orientation and religion
March 11, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
The smog-filled valley recently hosted NASA planes that tested air quality to help calibrate future satellite efforts to measure air pollution
March 08, 2013
| By Claire Martin
A new exhibit at the National Archives highlights an interesting decade—one that gave rise to the environmental movement and some awkward fashion
March 08, 2013
| By Megan Gambino
More and more scientific research is showing that sleep is more important to our state of mind--and body--than we ever could have imagined.
March 08, 2013
| By Randy Rieland
Deep channels, buried under lava but now mapped with satellite data, give hints to the planet's violent, wet and recent past
March 07, 2013
| By Marina Koren
The drug, naturally present in coffee and citrus plant nectars, is shown to improve honeybees' long-term memory
March 07, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
From a caterpillar to the Milky Way, the ten finalists in the contest's Natural World category capture the peculiar, the remarkable and the sublime
March 07, 2013
| By Megan Gambino
Research shows that cities can cut emissions by 70 percent; check out the ones striving their hardest to curb their carbon appetites
March 07, 2013
| By Claire Martin
Israel battles a swarm of millions of locusts that flew from Egypt that is giving rise to a host of ecological, political and agricultural issues
March 06, 2013
| By Rachel Nuwer
A new DNA analysis confirms that an ancient skull found in a Siberian cave was an early ancestor of man's best friend
March 06, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
The birds' plumage is even colder than the surrounding air, paradoxically insulating them from heat loss
March 05, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
Actually, fairly smart. And we're only seeing the first wave of smartwatches, with Apple expected to enter the fray as early as this year.
March 05, 2013
| By Randy Rieland
Look for the comet just after twilight in the Northern Hemisphere's western sky, with the best viewing chances to come early next week
March 05, 2013
| By Mohi Kumar
Ivory poachers slashed the population of the small elephants by 62 percent in the past decade--future losses at those rates will doom the species
March 04, 2013
| By Rachel Nuwer
Melting sea ice will open up shipping lanes across the Arctic, potentially making the Northwest Passage and North Pole navigable during summer
March 04, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
Thanks to global warming, hot air piles up at mid-latitudes and causes storms and heat waves to linger for long stretches of time, new research shows.
March 02, 2013
| By Claire Martin
Artist Nathalie Miebach uses meteorological data to create 3D woven works of art and playable musical scores
March 01, 2013
| By Marina Koren
The level of soot in Beijing's air is off the charts, leading to higher risks of lung cancer, heart attacks and other health problems
March 01, 2013
| By Joseph Stromberg
Thanks to a proposal by astronomers Avi Loeb and Dan Maoz, we could find evidence of extraterrestrial life very soon
March 01, 2013
| By Leah Binkovitz
With nanomedicine, the strategy is not to poison cancer cells or to blast them away but to trick them
March 01, 2013
| By Randy Rieland
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