New Research

Bottom trawling is a polarizing fishing practice that involves dragging heavy nets and equipment across the seafloor.

Seabed Trawling May Be Spewing Huge Amounts of CO2 Into the Atmosphere

New research suggests the controversial fishing method is also contributing to increased ocean acidification, which can harm marine wildlife

A picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope that contains GN-z11, the galaxy with the newly discovered black hole at its center. When GN-z11 was first imaged, it was the farthest galaxy ever seen in the universe.

Astronomers Discover the Oldest Known Black Hole, Breaking a Record Set Last Year

The supermassive structure dates to about 400 million years after the Big Bang, and it’s particularly large for its age

Colored scanning electron micrograph of a water bear, or tardigrade

How Are Tardigrades So 'Indestructible?' Scientists Finally Have an Explanation

The tiny animals nicknamed "water bears" can endure extreme conditions by entering a deep hibernation with a switch at the molecular level, a new study finds

To understand Elma's life, researchers cut her tusk lengthwise and took samples to study the elements present in the ivory.

Meet Elma, a Woolly Mammoth Who Roamed Far and Wide More Than 14,000 Years Ago

By analyzing a fossilized tusk, scientists have pieced together the animal's movements

This reconstruction shows the 4,000-year-old structure in its original form.

Archaeologists Discover 4,000-Year-Old Wall Built Around Oasis in Saudi Arabia

The nine-mile-long structure surrounding the Khaybar Oasis may have once protected against raiders

The American mink, native to North America, is a semiaquatic mustelid that is often farmed for its fur.

Traps Scented Like Mink Butts Could Be Key to Removing the Invasive Species From the U.K.

A successful eradication trial in East Anglia has raised biologists' hopes for ridding Great Britain of the destructive creatures, which threaten native wildlife

Scientists produced the most complete catalog of marine microbe DNA yet, including data from the deeper zones of the oceans.

DNA From the Ocean's 'Twilight Zone' Could Lead to New Lifesaving Drugs, Scientists Say

Researchers catalogued the genes of more than 300 million groups of marine bacteria, viruses and fungi in hopes that the database could lead to breakthroughs in medicine, energy and agriculture

Dogs are one of the few animals that use their tails primarily for communication.

Why Do Dogs Wag Their Tails? Scientists Examine the Endearing Behavior

Dogs communicate through tail-wagging, and humans may have selected for the trait during domestication

An artist's impression of the planet orbiting its star with the trail of gas behind it. The planet, called WASP-69b, completes one orbit in less than four days.

This Distant Exoplanet Has a 350,000-Mile-Long Tail, Like a Comet

A stream of particles flung from the planet's star is causing its atmosphere to boil away and lose 200,000 tons of mass per second

Researchers studied roughly 50 numbats over the course of a year.

As the Planet Warms, Australia's Numbats Are at Risk of Overheating

The endangered, squirrel-sized marsupials forage for termites during the day—but they can become too hot after just ten minutes in direct sunlight, according to new research

A group of grey reef sharks and blacktip reef sharks at La Vallée Blanche in French Polynesia in 2018.

Sharks Are Being Killed at Rising Rates Despite Increased Regulations

Global bans on finning have inadvertently opened up shark meat markets, prompting demand for threatened species, a new study reveals

The 160-year-old pelt of the woolly dog Mutton in the Smithsonian’s collection

What Happened to the Extinct Woolly Dog?

Researchers studying the 160-year-old fur of a dog named Mutton in the Smithsonian collections found that the Indigenous breed existed for at least 5,000 years before European colonizers eradicated it

Researchers measure California snowpack levels at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada on January 2.

Climate Change Is Melting Snowpack, Pushing Some Regions Past a 'Snow-Loss Cliff'

Some of the Northern Hemisphere's most populous areas are at risk of warming past a critical threshold, after which snowpack melts rapidly with even small rises in temperature, study finds

The area was surveyed using lidar technology, which revealed a large-scale network of roads and platforms.

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Cities Hidden in the Ecuadorean Amazon

Laser imaging has revealed an extensive network of settlements and roads that challenge historical understandings of the area

An artist's rendering of the newly identified species, called Tyrannosaurus mcraeensis. The species may be the closest known relative of T. rex.

Fossils Reveal a Possible New Tyrannosaur Species, the Closest Relative of T. Rex

The remains, dug up in the 1980s, might shed light on T. rex's mysterious origins, according to a new paper

Genes that significantly increase risk of developing multiple sclerosis were introduced to northwestern Europe by herders who migrated from the east around 5,000 years ago.

Ancient DNA From Eurasian Herders Sheds Light on the Origins of Multiple Sclerosis

Genetic variants linked to the risk of MS were brought to Europe during a migration around 5,000 years ago, a new study finds—and they might have helped herders survive

An artist's impression of Gigantopithecus blacki near a forest in southern China.

What Caused the Mysterious Extinction of 'Giganto,' the World's Largest Ape?

The massive primates were unable to shift their diet to keep pace with a changing climate, according to a new study, forcing them to eat less nutritious bark and twigs

A California grizzly bear specimen at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. The brown bear subspecies went extinct around 1924.

California Grizzlies Weren't as Big—or Bloodthirsty—as People Once Thought

The now-extinct bears were mostly vegetarians and measured about the same size as today's North American grizzlies

Leaves from the iboga plant, collected in 1933 from Angola. The psychedelic drug ibogaine can be derived from the plant's root bark.

A Lesser-Known Psychedelic Drug Shows Promise for PTSD Treatment

Ibogaine, derived from a central African shrub, has been used in rituals for two millennia. But in a small study, it appeared to reduce symptoms of PTSD among veterans

These fossilized teeth belonged to a Propliopithecus chirobates, a type of early primate that lived between 29 million and 35 million years ago.

Early Primates May Have Feasted on Soft, Sweet Fruits

An analysis of more than 400 fossilized teeth suggests the creatures weren't eating many seeds, nuts or other hard foods

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