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A rhesus macaque on Cayo Santiago, which is less than a mile east of Puerto Rico. Rhesus macaques spend upwards of 20 percent of their time engaged in cooperative behaviors like grooming.

How Do Animals Change Their Social Habits as They Age?

In patterns that may sound familiar, long-term studies reveal what elderly deer, sheep and macaques are up to in their twilight years

The remains of whales that sink to the ocean floor become biological oases. Since 1977, scientists had only identified about 50 such whale falls across the world’s oceans, but a recent effort uncovered a startling density of them off the coast of Los Angeles.

Why Have So Many Whale Remains Been Found on the Ocean Floor Near Los Angeles?

Scientists have discovered more whale falls there than in the rest of the world combined

Winged Life Winner

View 11 Breathtaking Images From the BigPicture Photography Competition

This 2024 showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet's most amazing species and places

An 18th-century illustration of a jury of matrons

How All-Female 'Juries of Matrons' Shaped Legal History

Courts called on these jurors to determine whether women sentenced to death were pregnant or faking it to avoid execution

A woman named Evelyn Thaw dodges a camera, 1909

How the Rise of the Camera Launched a Fight to Protect Gilded Age Americans' Privacy

Early photographers sold their snapshots to advertisers, who reused the individuals' likenesses without their permission

Scientists are getting better at keeping premature baby sharks alive in aquariums—a boon when captive sharks give birth early, or when aquariums receive donations of living shark fetuses taken from mothers that die in fishing nets.

Preemie Sharks Get by With a Little Help From an Artificial Uterus

Scientists manufactured a womb that could potentially help bolster populations of endangered shark species

Rice coral grows over another species of coral.

These Supercorals Are Causing Problems

As rice coral spreads it reduces biodiversity

A fake foot helps researchers at California State University, Long Beach, determine how stingrays react when they come in contact with people.

When Do Stingrays Strike?

A California researcher and his team simulate stepping on round rays to learn more about their behavior

While scientists have seen colossal squid before—like this specimen examined by New Zealander researchers in 2014—their interactions have always been with animals that were either pulled from the depths, washed up on shore or otherwise removed from their natural habitat.

Is This the First Recorded Footage of a Colossal Squid Living Freely?

The only sightings of the animals so far have come from corpses or creatures dragged up from the depths

The bladder and the brain are involved in determining when we need to urinate.

How Do We Know When to Pee?

The basic urge is surprisingly complex and can go awry as we age

Wedge-tailed shearwaters surprised scientists by showing up after rats were eradicated on Tromelin Island—a place, in the Indian Ocean, where the seabirds hadn’t been documented breeding before.

After Rats Were Eradicated From This Small Island, Seabirds Thrived

Tromelin Island became a safe place for birds once the invasive mammals were eliminated

Evidence suggests blue whales were an important food source for Icelanders.

Medieval Icelanders Likely Hunted Blue Whales

New research suggests Viking-age hunters took down the biggest animal on Earth

The 1892 People's Grocery murders are “what opened my eyes to what lynching really was,” Ida B. Wells later wrote.

How the Murder of a Black Grocery Store Owner and His Colleagues Galvanized Ida B. Wells' Anti-Lynching Crusade

The saga of People's Grocery stands as a powerful reminder of the centrality of Black radicalism to the food justice movement

The Travelers’ Tour Through the United States featured a map of the then-24 states.

What America's First Board Game Tells Us About the Aspirations of a Young Nation

Released in 1822, the Travelers’ Tour Through the United States took players on a cross-country adventure

A diving bell spider with a captured bug under the water

These Funky Spiders Are Lurking by the Water

Some make nests inside seashells, while others tote bubbles of air on their backs

In the late 1960s, Bob Paine described the Pisaster sea star as a “keystone species” in Pacific Northwest tide pools. The concept has since taken on a life of its own.

Has the Term 'Keystone Species' Lost Its Meaning?

More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems

An 1890 portrait of Lizzie Borden

How Lizzie Borden Got Away With Murder

Class, nativism and gender stereotypes all played a role in Borden's acquittal for the 1892 killings of her father and stepmother

A moose moves through the forest.

How Should Colorado Handle Its Booming Moose Population?

Roughly 3,000 animals now roam the state's mountain ranges

The cutter Douglas Munro and crew searching for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing activity—including high seas drift-net fishing

How A.I. Is Revolutionizing Marine Conservation

Driven by a childhood marked by war and environmental devastation, marine scientist Dyhia Belhabib developed an innovative technology to combat illegal fishing

The Nesjavellir Geothermal Power Station. Geothermal power has long been popular in volcanic countries like Iceland, where hot water bubbles from the ground.

Is Geothermal Power Heating Up as an Energy Source?

Long confined to regions with volcanic activity, the method of harnessing energy from the Earth promises to become much more versatile thanks to new technologies

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