Will Sullivan

Will Sullivan

 

Will Sullivan is a science writer based in Washington, D.C. His work has appeared in Inside Science and NOVA Next.

The bottles were discovered in five storage pits in a cellar at Mount Vernon.

Preserved Fruit From the 18th Century Found at George Washington's Estate

During a renovation project, archaeologists uncovered intact bottles containing preserved cherries and berries that are more than 250 years old

The white bison calf and its mother were spotted in Yellowstone National Park.

Rare White Bison Calf Born at Yellowstone National Park

A photographer spotted the calf on June 4. White buffalo are sacred to some Native American tribes, and the birth has been called a "blessing and a warning"

Akira Endo discovered the first statin, a class of molecule that decreases the production of cholesterol. He died June 5 at the age of 90.

Akira Endo, Biochemist Who Found a Way to Fight Heart Disease, Dies at 90

Endo's research paved the way for the development of drugs to treat high cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks or strokes

Geoscientist Sian Proctor (left) and physician assistant Hayley Arceneaux (right) on the Inspiration4 mission, a three-day tourist trip to Earth orbit in 2021.

Scientists Release Largest Trove of Data on How Space Travel Affects the Human Body

A collection of 44 new studies, largely based on a short-duration tourist trip in 2021, provides insight into the health effects of traveling to space

Elephants at Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, on May 3, 2024. Elephants use low, rumbling vocalizations to call to others and while caring for their young.

African Elephants May Call Each Other by Name

In a new study, a computer model was able to identify the recipient of an elephant's call more than a quarter of the time, which scientists say is significantly greater than chance

Children play in a spray pool in Rio de Los Angeles State Park in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday, June 6. A heat wave led to record-setting temperatures across the western U.S. last week.

The Western U.S. Is Sweltering Under a 'Heat Dome.' What Does That Mean?

A stagnant high-pressure system over the region is trapping heat, exacerbating high temperatures and setting records

Chickens on a poultry farm in Tepatitlan, Jalisco State, Mexico, on June 6, 2024. Outbreaks of H5N2 avian influenza have recently been reported in poultry in Mexico.

Man Infected With H5N2 Bird Flu in Mexico Dies. Here's the Latest on the Virus

The strain is not the same one that has infected U.S. cows and three dairy farm workers, and officials say the risk to the general public remains low

SpaceX's Starship launches on its fourth test flight on Thursday morning.

SpaceX's Starship Lands Successfully for the First Time in a Test Flight

Three previous uncrewed test flights ended with Starship being destroyed, but both the booster and the spacecraft splashed down on the fourth try

The three young explorers participated in the excavation of the fossilized remains.

Kids Discover Tyrannosaurus Rex Fossil in North Dakota

The bones belonged to a dinosaur that was likely a teenager when it died. Only a handful of young T. rex skeletons have ever been found

The fossilized remains include the most intact skull of the bird to be discovered, which helps scientists to better understand the bird's behavior, appearance and evolution.

Paleontologists Uncover Rare Skull of 500-Pound 'Thunder Bird' in Australia

The most complete skull of the extinct, flightless bird ever found has revealed adaptations that might have made the creature well-adapted for a life near water

The fern Tmesipteris oblanceolata, which scientists just discovered has the longest known genome of any organism. Ferns are known among scientists for having particularly large genomes.

This Tiny Fern Has the World's Largest Known Genome

The plant's genome has about 50 times as many base pairs as a human's, and its DNA from a single cell would stretch longer than a football field

A partially dried bed of Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán, Mexico. Rising temperatures and decreased rainfall are contributing to droughts in the area.

Mexico City's Reservoirs Are at Risk of Running Out of Water

Amid climate change, drought and aging infrastructure, the largest metropolitan area in North America is struggling to conserve water in a major reservoir system

A blue-eyed cicada that's on exhibit at the Field Musum in Chicago. Four-year-old Jack Bailey found the bug in his yard, and his family donated it to the museum.

People Are Spotting Rare, Blue-Eyed Cicadas Around Illinois

As two broods of periodical cicadas emerge across the U.S. this spring, people have discovered a few of the bugs that don’t have their trademark red eyes

A helicopter photographs lava and ash from the May 29 eruption in Iceland. The surrounding area has been evacuated.

Another Volcanic Eruption Hits Iceland, Launching Lava More Than 160 Feet Into the Air

It's the fifth eruption near the town of Grindavik since December, signaling a new era of volcanic activity for the region

The sympathetic nervous system was thought to have evolved with jawed vertebrates. But lampreys—jawless, parasitic fish that suck out the blood of their hosts—have a simple one, per recent research.

Eerie Lampreys Hint at the Origins of Our 'Fight-or-Flight' Response and Sympathetic Nervous System

The jawless, parasitic fish largely haven't changed over the last 340 million years, but they might be better sources for studying our own evolution than thought, a recent study suggests

A computer-generated model of Sif Mons, a volcano on Venus. The new study found evidence of recent volcanic activity at Sif Mons and the Niobe Planitia region.

Venus Might Still Have Active Volcanoes, as Recent Lava Flows Suggest 'Ongoing' Eruptions

Astronomers have again discovered evidence of recent volcanic activity on Earth's sister planet in data from the 1990s

An illustration of the sun's magnetic fields overlaid on an image of the sun captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory in 2016.

Researchers Trace the Origin of the Sun's Magnetic Field, Shedding Light on Space Weather and Solar Cycles

In a new study, scientists suggest the sun's magnetic field originates much closer to the star's surface than previously thought, a finding that could boost predictions of solar activity

Color-enhanced transmission electron microscope images of adenovirus, which is a common cause of respiratory illnesses. Researchers identified adenovirus remnants, as well as herpesvirus and HPV, in Neanderthal remains in a new study.

50,000-Year-Old Neanderthal Bones Have Remains of Human Viruses, Scientists Find

The preliminary analysis is a first step in testing the theory that infectious diseases played a role in Neanderthals' extinction

German cockroaches took advantage of human globalization to spread all over the world.

DNA Reveals How German Cockroaches Came to Dominate the World

A new paper looks at the genes of the most common cockroach species, tracing its historical journey alongside humans, from Asia to the Middle East, Europe and beyond

Ed Dwight celebrates after landing back on Earth following Sunday morning's ten-minute flight to space.

Ed Dwight, the First Black Astronaut Candidate in the U.S., Finally Travels to Space at 90 Years Old

The former Air Force pilot trained to become an astronaut in the 1960s but was never selected by NASA. On a Blue Origin flight Sunday, he became the oldest person to go to space

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