Ancient Australia’s First Settlers Probably Came There On Purpose

Rather some chance encounter with the continent down under, researchers think that the original migrants set out to deliberately colonize Australia
April 25, 2013 | By Rachel Nuwer

An Artist’s Ode to Plankton, Set to Puccini’s ‘La Boheme’

Instead of singing to Mimi, the poet Rodolfo serenades a giant stalks of human-sized plankton wrapped in plastic pollution
March 27, 2013 | By Rachel Nuwer

Smuggler Caught With 10 Percent of an Entire Species

At the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand, authorities stopped a man with some turtles. Fifty-four ploughshare tortoises and twenty-one radiated tortoises, to be exact
March 26, 2013 | By Rose Eveleth

For Truck Drivers, Coffee May Save Lives

Drivers who drank caffeine-laden beverages were 63 percent less likely to crash than those who did not - even if they were more sleep deprived
March 21, 2013 | By Rachel Nuwer

Japan Just Opened Up a Whole New Source for Fossil Fuels

For the first time, natural gas has been pulled from offshore methane clathrates
March 13, 2013 | By Colin Schultz

This Giant Snail Is Giving Australia Terrible Flashbacks to the Last Giant Snail Takeover

The giant African snail is a true nightmare. So when Australian officials found one in a shipping container yard in Brisbane, they destroyed it as quickly as possible
March 12, 2013 | By Rose Eveleth

California’s Gender-Bending Fish Was Actually Just a Contamination Accident

Scientists thought male fish, exposed to artificial hormones, were growing eggs. They weren't
February 08, 2013 | By Colin Schultz

At 62, the Oldest Bird in the World Is Still Hatching Chicks

Wisdom the 62 year-old albatross just hatched what is thought to be her 30 to 35th chick
February 07, 2013 | By Colin Schultz

Sweet Potato Genes Say Polynesians, Not Europeans, Spread the Tubers Across the Pacific

Sweet potato samples preserved in centuries-old herbariums indicate that Polynesian sailors, rather than Spanish or Portuguese explorers, introduced the now-ubiquitous yam across Southeast Asia and the Pacific
January 23, 2013 | By Rachel Nuwer

Indians Made It to Australia More Than 4,000 Years Before the British

Evidence of substantial gene flow between Australian and Indian populations around 4,000 years ago refutes beliefs that Australia was an isolated continent before Europeans arrived
January 15, 2013 | By Rachel Nuwer

Pet Store Refuses to Sell Impulse-Buy Puppies for Christmas

Too many animals end up on death row, one Australian pet shop says, so their shop will not sell kittens or puppies around Christmas time
December 12, 2012 | By Rachel Nuwer

Eating Whale Meat Is Going Out of Vogue in Japan

Whale meat elicits a "meh" response from young Japanese these days, but global citizens continue to cry foul
November 28, 2012 | By Rachel Nuwer

Australian Students Accidentally Taught That Robots Led the Russian Revolution

Nearly 6,000 Australian students were inadvertently taught this week that giant robots led the Russian Revolution thanks to a sloppy exam staff Google job
November 15, 2012 | By Rachel Nuwer

Mother Birds Teach Their Eggs a Secret ‘Feed Me!’ Password

Australian female fairy-wrens don't even wait until their young are hatched before starting to teach them life skills
November 09, 2012 | By Rachel Nuwer

Island Nation Now Runs Entirely On Solar Power

A one-megawatt solar power plant now provides150% of the electricity demand of a small Pacific island nation
November 06, 2012 | By Colin Schultz

While the East Coast Focused on Sandy, Typhoon Son-tinh Battered East Asia

Sandy was not the only tropical cyclone this week
October 30, 2012 | By Colin Schultz

To Increase Salmon Populations, Company Dumped 110 Tons of Iron Into the Pacific Ocean

Adding iron to the ocean can make life bloom, but scientists are uneasy about the potential unknown consequences
October 16, 2012 | By Colin Schultz

Fossilized Dung Hints That One Endangered Species Might Be the Savior of Another

Researchers examined fossilized kakapo dung and found that it contained wood rose spores, suggesting that the kakapo played an important role in pollinating the threatened plant
October 04, 2012 | By Rachel Nuwer

Fish to Shrink in Warming Waters

Climate change could lead to a sizable drop in fish sizes in coming decades
October 01, 2012 | By Colin Schultz

Slinkys Can Float in the Air (For a Second)

Further proof that Slinkys are magical
September 13, 2012 | By Rachel Nuwer

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