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Science / Our Planet

No one knows exactly how many Emperor penguins are left in Antarctica.

The Complicated Calculus of Counting Emperor Penguins

Scientists journey to the icy bottom of the Earth to see if satellite imagery can determine how many Emperor penguins are left in the world

An illustration showing what Galagadon would have looked like in life, swimming along the river floor.

New Prehistoric Shark Species Discovered Alongside Sue the T. Rex

The teeth of Galagadon nordquistae were discovered in the rock that once surrounded the famous T. rex skeleton.

The species Orobates pabsti represents a group of animals that lived after the first animals to walk on land but before the evolution of modern lizards.

Scientists Used a Robot to Study How Prehistoric Lizards Walked

OroBOT, a robot version of an ancestor to the dinosaurs, is helping fill in some gaps in the evolution of walking

Fatu, born in 2000, is one of the world’s last two surviving northern white rhinos. In this 2013 photograph, she’s hanging out with southern white rhinos at Kenya’s Pejeta Nature Conservancy.

San Diego’s Frozen Zoo Offers Hope for Endangered Species Around the World

The largest animal cryobank in the world is a rich source of genetic knowledge that may one day be used to bring endangered species back from the brink

Researchers often depend on fishing communities to learn what life is like for sharks out in the deep ocean.

To Study Rare Sharks, Scientists Are Heading to Fish Markets

Marine biologists are combing fish markets around the world to study what comes up in the nets, and sometimes the catch is full of surprises

Inupiat hunters set out with harpoons to catch seals during the spring hunt of June 13, 2005, on the Chukchi Sea near Shishmaref, Alaska.

‘The End of Ice,’ and the Arctic Communities Already Grappling With a Warming World

A new book highlights the changes endured by inhabitants of the Arctic, serving as a harbinger of what’s to come in lower latitudes

A newly collared mule deer is released onto its winter range.

New Tracking Technology Reveals Hidden Animal Migration Routes

Using improved GPS collars, scientists are mapping more herd migration routes than ever before, a key to conservation efforts in the western United States

Sunset near Turtle Rock, Joshua Tree National Park.

Using the Sounds of Nature to Monitor Environmental Change

From wind speed to temperature to atmospheric density, the sounds of the wilderness can help ecologists learn a lot about our planet

Up to 1,000 octopus moms care for their brood.

The Top Ten Ocean Stories of 2018

From the most ancient animal known to a newly defined ocean zone, the world’s watery places never cease to amaze

By regrowing trees from stumps, farms can produce sustainable, pesticide-free pine trees.

Stump-Grown Christmas Trees Are the Gift That Keeps on Giving

Using the sustainable and ancient method of coppicing, evergreen Christmas trees can be regrown indefinitely

Illustration of an adult and juvenile ankylosaur.

Armored Dinosaurs Kept Cool With a Labyrinth of Nasal Canals

A fluid dynamics study suggests the large and intricate passages in ankylosaurs’ skulls were a great way to cool off in the Cretaceous

The Smithsonian's Mary Hagedorn and hundreds of colleagues collaborated on the project, which used cryopreserved elkhorn coral sperm to fertilize live eggs to create larvae.

To Help Corals Fight Back, Scientists Are Breeding Populations Separated by Hundreds of Miles

A new study demonstrates that assisted reproduction using cryopreserved sperm leads to offspring that might be more resilient in the face of climate change

Redwood forest in California, similar to some of the terrain Josiah Gregg and his team crossed at the height of the California Gold Rush.

The Ill-Fated Expedition of a 19th-Century Scientist to Explore the California Wilderness

Even facing exposure and starvation, Josiah Gregg insisted on stopping to take measurements and observations, much to his companions’ distress

Although the asteroid strike that created Chicxulub crater in modern-day Mexico dramatically affected life on Earth, the fiery crash isn't the whole story of the fate of the dinosaurs.

We Still Don’t Know Why the Reign of the Dinosaurs Ended

The asteroid strike on the Yucatán Peninsula 66 million years ago is only part of the story

Signals from other workers can tell ants when and where to fan out and search for food.

Ant Colonies Retain Memories That Outlast the Lifespans of Individuals

An ant colony can thrive for decades, changing its behavior based on past events even as individual ants die off every year or so

The Ten Best Science Books of 2018

These titles explore the wide-ranging implications of new discoveries and experiments, while grounding them in historical context

Ichthyosaurs (Greek for "fish lizard") were large marine reptiles that lived alongside the dinosaurs during most of the Mesozoic era.

Like Whales and Dolphins, Prehistoric ‘Fish Lizards’ Kept Warm With Blubber

A new analysis of a pristine ichthyosaur fossil reveals that the prehistoric marine reptile had a layer of insulating fatty tissue

Hurricane Florence causes severe flooding to a church and surrounding areas in Spring Lake, NC, Sept. 17, 2018.

As Port Cities Dredge Deeper to Accommodate Growing Cargo Ships, the Risk of Inland Flooding May Rise

By smoothing and deepening waterways, the hydrodynamics of estuaries and rivers can be dramatically changed to invite in the sea

One of NIST’s ytterbium optical lattice clocks.

Scientists Measure the Second With Record-Breaking Precision

A new generation of optical clocks are becoming ever more reliable as physicists work to redefine time

A sea turtle swimming by bleached corals of the Great Barrier Reef near Heron Island off the east coast of Australia.

Coral Larvae Cryogenically Frozen and Thawed for the First Time

Warming oceans are killing the world’s reefs, but scientists may have found a way to help them get out of hot water—by putting corals into a deep freeze

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