Nature
Nature, or the natural world, encompasses the behavior and physiology of animals, plants and minerals
Public for the First Time: A Last Letter from Dying Antarctic Explorer Captain Scott
In private hands for the past hundred years, Captain Scott's final letter is revealed
March 29, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
Sugar Cube-Sized Robotic Ants Mimic Real Foraging Behavior
Researchers use tiny robots to study how ants navigate a labyrinth of networks, from the nest to the food and back again
March 28, 2013 |
By Marina Koren
Events March 29-31: Parasitic Wasps, Joseph Henry and Victorian Portraits
This weekend, learn about wasps that live inside their prey, meet Smithsonian's first secretary from 1846 and see living rooms from 150 years ago
March 28, 2013 |
By Paul Bisceglio
A Survey of the 161 Bacterial Families That Live on Your Fruits and Veggies
The first-ever sequencing of the "produce microbiome" reveals that grapes, peaches and sprouts host the largest diversity of harmless bacteria
March 27, 2013 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Butterflies, Baseball and Blossoms: Tours for Your Spring Vacation
Two custom tours come fully loaded with insider information, digital postcards and step-by-step directions
March 27, 2013 |
By Leah Binkovitz
Attractive Great Tits Raise Healthier Babies, Even If They’re Not Genetically Related
Males may be selecting for females with brighter cheeks and bolder stripes, which indicate the females' genetic strength and parenting skills
March 26, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Are You Here on Earth Just to Make Babies?
If so, what does that really mean for what we do each day, our culture and our society?
March 26, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
The Otherworldly Calm of Wolfgang Laib’s Glowing Beeswax Room
A German contemporary artist creates a meditative space—lined with beeswax—at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
March 26, 2013 |
By Megan Gambino
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
Warning: Living Alone May Be Hazardous to Your Health
Being socially isolated increases your chance of death—but not because you're feeling depressed over being lonely
March 25, 2013 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Sea Monkeys, Ferns and Frozen Frogs: Nature’s Very Own Resurrecting Organisms
As Easter draws near, we celebrate creatures that seemingly die and then come back to life
March 25, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Can Watching One Video Help You Die Better?
Since most of us don't see emergency medicine all that often, we tend to have an unrealistic idea about just how end of life care works
March 25, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
People in Israel Really Are Eating Swarming Locusts
While there are simply too many locusts to eat the swarm out of existence, Israelis who do tuck in can enjoy a healthy, kosher snack
March 22, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
Brown Polar Bears, Beluga-Narwhals and Other Hybrids Brought to You by Climate Change
Animals with shrinking habitats are interbreeding, temporarily boosting populations but ultimately hurting species' survival
March 22, 2013 |
By Claire Martin
Death Club for Hipsters Wants to Change the Way You See Dying
Called the Order of the Good Death, the club is full of artists, writers, film makers, musicians and other creative types
March 21, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
Video: This Lizard-Inspired Robot Can Scamper Across Sand
It's a product of the emerging field of terradynamics, which studies the movement of vehicles across shifting surfaces
March 21, 2013 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Scientists Are Making All Sorts of New Drugs From Animal Venom
Several venom-derived drugs are already approved on the market and scientists are working on what they think are many more to come
March 21, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
How Does One Actually Shrink a Head?
How does one take a regular sized human skull and miniaturize it?
March 20, 2013 |
By Rose Eveleth
Untangling the Mysterious Genetic Tentacles of the Giant Squid
Contrary to prior speculation about the elusive creatures, all giant squid belong to a single species and they all share very similar genetics
March 20, 2013 |
By Rachel Nuwer
After 17 Years, the Northeast Is About to Be Blanketed by a Swarm of Cicadas
An inch and a half long with bright red eyes, the swarm of Brood II cicadas is coming
March 20, 2013 |
By Colin Schultz
