Science

In 1958, dozens of red-breasted flycatchers, like the one pictured here, flew off course and visited the United Kingdom.

One Reason Migrating Birds Get Lost Is Out of This World

Solar energy can alter the Earth’s magnetic field and likely lead the animals astray

An Indian cobra found in the farmlands of Kanchipuram, India. The country has the highest rate of snakebite deaths in the world.

An Inside Look at the Effort to Curb Deadly Snakebites in India

With around 58,000 human deaths from snakebites each year in the country, a lot more must be done to save lives

A screenshot of the 3D model

An Interactive 3D Model of the JFK Assassination Site, Grassy Knoll and All

A Danish graphic designer has pieced together historic photos and maps to create an interactive digital diorama of the fateful moments

Ketamine and esketamine are the only psychedelics currently being used clinically with eating disorder patients.

The Future of Mental Health

Are Psychedelics the Future of Eating Disorder Treatment?

The drugs have been shown to reduce depression and anxiety symptoms and make individuals more flexible in their thinking

The OSIRIS-REx sample return capsule (foreground) landed in the Utah desert on September 24, carrying samples collected from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu (background). 

There's More to That

How NASA Captured Asteroid Dust to Find the Origins of Life

The sample of the space rock Bennu that OSIRIS-REx collected could unlock an ancient existential mystery

This well-preserved track from Australia clearly shows the four toes of an ancient bird.

Australia's Oldest Known Bird Tracks Are 120 Million Years Old

In that age, the continent was attached to Antarctica, but migrating animals still traveled to the polar region for sustenance

Meteorological records from USS Pennsylvania, seen here off the Virginia coast in 1927, helped fill a gap in 20th century marine weather records.

How Citizen Scientists Rescued Crucial World War II Weather Data

Newly declassified documents from the Pacific theater have been digitized and could improve climate models

Dividing the estimated length of 240,000 miles of stone wall by the geographic area of the New England heartland yields about six linear miles of stone per square mile of land.

How Stone Walls Became a Signature Landform of New England

Originally built as barriers between fields and farms, the region’s abandoned farmstead walls have since become the binding threads of its cultural fabric

In recent years, the European perch (Perca fluviatilis) population has been steadily declining due to the combined impact of climate change, pollution and overfishing.

Italian Divers Revive Centuries-Old Tradition to Help Save European Perch

Nurseries built from bundles of tree branches may help conserve the freshwater fish in the age of climate change

In the village of Tautira, Tahiti, the community came together to impose their own set of fishing restrictions to ensure the availability of fish into the future.

How an Ancient Practice Aids Marine Conservation

In French Polynesia, the art of rahui puts everyone in charge of protecting the sea

Contact between Europeans and Native Americans is recorded in the DNA of head lice.

When Did Humans Arrive in the Americas? Lice Help Answer That Head-Scratcher

A new analysis of the annoying critters shows when groups from Asia and Europe hitched rides on human hair and skin to arrive on our continent

Basilosaurus hunts fish.

Ancient Whales Were the Biggest and Smallest of Their Kind to Ever Roam the Oceans

New discoveries show how whale diversity exploded after the dinosaurs disappeared

Julie Packard by Hope Gangloff is on view at the National Portrait Gallery in the new show, "Forces of Nature: Voices That Shaped Environmentalism."

Meet the Steely Gaze of Environmentalism

A new show at the National Portrait Gallery focuses on the defenders of Mother Earth over the past 150 years

A group of chimpanzees at elevation listen for rivals.

While Some Chimps Go Low, Others Go High to Avoid a Dangerous Fight

Primate groups climb to elevation to scout out rivals and steer clear of clashes

The Aftel Archive of Curious Scents has been drawing commercial perfumers with a nose for aromas, gardeners, cooks and others since 2017.

This California Museum Is Home to Hundreds of Nature's Scents

Perfumer Mandy Aftel's spellbinding collection of rare essences and artifacts is on display at the Aftel Archive of Curious Scents in Berkeley

A tornado churns up dust at dusk near Traer, Iowa.

How and Why Do Violent Tornadoes Form?

Scientists hope new technology and computing power will help them understand destructive twisters

A captive breeding program has seen the return of Galápagos giant tortoises to Española in the Galápagos Islands. As the tortoise population rebounds, the island ecosystem is in the process of transforming.

Galápagos Giant Tortoises Are Ecosystem Engineers

A decades-long project shows how the reptiles are changing the island of Española

The annual Woolly Worm Festival is a fiercely popular local event that’s been going on for nearly half a century.

Groundhogs Are Old News. In This Tiny Town, Caterpillars Predict the Weather

Thousands of people flocked to Banner Elk, North Carolina, this year to watch the nation’s biggest woolly worm caterpillar race

Carved Cucurbita pepo traditionally grace stoops around Halloween.

Five Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Jack-O’-Lantern

A horticulturalist with the New York Botanical Garden provides advice for prolonging the life of your pumpkin

An experimental replica of shell beads with Natufian red organic colorant made from the roots of Rubiaceae plants

Archaeologists Find the First Red Paint Made From Plants

Hunter-gatherers cooked up the alluring pigment in the Eastern Mediterranean 15,000 years ago

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