Alex Fox

Alex Fox

 

Alex Fox is a freelance science journalist based in California. He has written for the New York Times, National Geographic, Science, Nature and other outlets. You can find him at Alexfoxscience.com.

An illustration of NASA's Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars.

NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands on Mars

The technically complex landing marks the fifth successful U.S. bid to reach the Martian surface

An artist's illustration imagines the newly discovered Farfarout (lower right), now confirmed to be the most distant object ever observed in our solar system. Farfarout is 132 times the distance of Earth to the sun (upper left) and is estimated to be around 250 miles across.

Meet Farfarout, the Most Distant Object in the Solar System

The new planetoid unseats Farout, which held the title for about two years

Fin whale songs are some of the loudest animals in the ocean, producing calls that can reach 189 decibels and are almost as loud as container ships.

Researchers Use Whale Calls to Probe Undersea Geology

The study finds that fin whale songs are powerful enough to reverberate through the Earth’s crust, allowing scientists to study its thickness and structure

Ingenuity undertakes its first test flight on Mars in this illustration.

NASA's Helicopter Ingenuity Will Attempt the First Flight on Mars

If the craft succeeds, it will provide crucial information for exploring the other planets by air

The phenomenon of increasing yearly pollen loads is accelerating.

Climate Change Is Making Allergy Season Worse

New research finds climate change is making allergy season arrive earlier and bring higher pollen loads in North America

Tianwen-1 is now officially in orbit around Mars.

China's Tianwen-1 Mission Successfully Begins Mars Orbit

After a few months of observing Mars from orbit, the mission will attempt to land a rover on the planet's surface

The "jaws" of the carnivorous Venus flytrap plant are actually modified leaves.

Magnetic Fields Detected in Venus Flytraps

Researchers used sensitive instruments to measure weak magnetic fields when the flytrap's 'jaws' closed up

Engineers working on the Hope space probe prior to launch.

The United Arab Emirates' Hope Probe Enters Into Mars Orbit

The spacecraft's successful transit makes the UAE the fifth nation to reach the Red Planet

An artist's rendering of a new species of mosasaur named Xenodens calminechari. The marine reptile was about the size of a porpoise and had serrated shark-like teeth.

Newly Discovered Marine Reptile Sawed Prey With Serrated Teeth

Researchers say the new species of mosasaur had teeth unlike those of any known reptile

A 38-foot male whale washed up along Sandy Key in the Florida Everglades in January 2019. Researchers have now determined that the whale is a member of a previously unknown species they've dubbed Rice's whale. A necropsy revealed a 3-inch hunk of plastic lodged in its gut that may have contributed to its demise.

Large New Whale Species Identified in the Gulf of Mexico

Named Rice’s whale, the species can reach lengths of 42 feet and lives in the Gulf’s warm waters all year

A new study suggests cities across the United States may be underreporting their carbon emissions. The study suggests Los Angeles' self-reported emissions could be 50 percent below the metropolis' true carbon footprint.

U.S. Cities Are Underestimating Carbon Emissions, New Research Shows

Forty-eight cities across America have shorted their emissions by nearly 20 percent

The male of a newly discovered species named Brookesia nana may be the smallest adult reptile ever found.

Chameleon Discovered in Madagascar May Be World's Smallest Reptile

The male of the newly described species measured just half an inch long from his nose to the base of his tail

A group of perovskite solar cells that have been treated with capsaicin.

Chili Pepper Compound Increases Solar Cell Efficiency

Adding capsaicin, the chemical responsible for making chili peppers spicy, improved the efficiency of solar cells in experiments

An oceanic whitetip shark swimming in the open ocean. This species was common in the 1970s but its population has since declined by 98 percent, according to a new study.

Oceanic Sharks and Rays Have Declined 70% Since 1970

Fishing fleets have indiscriminately slaughtered sharks for decades and a new study catalogues the environmental damage done

A stream of meltwater cuts through the Greenland ice sheet.

Earth Loses 1.2 Trillion Tons of Ice Per Year, a Nearly 60% Increase From 1994

A pair of studies paint a worrying picture of accelerating ice loss around the world, with serious consequences for projections of sea level rise

Three adult gray whales photographed via drone in 2017, 2018 and 2019 in Laguna San Ignacio off the coast of Mexico. The three shots show increasingly skinny whales, a bad sign for an animal that needs to make a 10,000-mile return trip to reach its feeding grounds.

Nearly 400 Gray Whales Have Died Off the West Coast Since 2019

Scientists say the die-off, which is entering its third year, is likely due to a scarcity of food in the animals’ cold water feeding grounds

An Australian lungfish (Neoceratodus forsteri) at the Haus des Meeres in Vienna, Austria.

Australian Lungfish Has Biggest Genome Ever Sequenced

The air-breathing fish dethrones the Mexican axolotl for the title of largest known genome in the animal kingdom

Artist's rendering of blue jet lightning blasting from a storm cloud towards space. The International Space Station solar panels can be seen in the foreground.

Mysterious Blue Jet Lightning Seen From Space

Researchers captured an instance of this poorly understood type of lightning using instruments aboard the International Space Station

A paleontologist excavating a 98 million-year-old fossil which may belong to the largest land animal ever. Researchers first started unearthing the creatures remains in 2012 at the Candeleros Formation in the Neuquen River Valley, Argentina.

Dinosaur Unearthed in Argentina Could Be Largest Land Animal Ever

The skeleton is still far from complete but paleontologists say what they've found suggests the dinosaur may be more than 120 feet long

Silver-washed fritillary butterfly

Study Reveals the Secrets of Butterfly Flight

The fluttering insects create tiny jets of air by clapping their flexible wings together, which may help them evade predators

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