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Stories from REPRINT AUTHOR PLACEHOLDER

The palm oil industry in Indonesia has led to widespread deforestation, making it hard to find remaining signs of archaic life.

The Search to Find the Remains of Homo Erectus in a Vanishing Landscape

A paleontologist journeys through Indonesia’s Riau Archipelago in search of our earliest ancestors, and uncovers how environmental devastation has erased much of the region’s history

A firefighter works as the Hughes Fire burns north of Los Angeles on January 22.

Welcome to the Pyrocene

Human use of fire has produced an era of uncontrolled burning

A vast mosaic of cells, some that are identical and some that are slightly different, make up the human body.

Why Is Every Human Being Riddled With Genetic Errors?

Your body is a collection of cells carrying thousands of genetic mistakes accrued over a lifetime—many harmless, some bad and at least a few that may be good for you

The world’s first Covid-19 human challenge study was born in early 2021.

What Have We Learned From Intentionally Infecting People With Covid-19?

Challenge trials help researchers study immune responses. Skeptics still doubt the approach is worth the risks

Illustration from a 16th-century Falnama, or Persian Book of Omens

How People of the Past Predicted the Future, From Spider Divination to Bibliomancy

A new exhibition spotlights the ways in which cultures around the world have sought answers in the face of uncertainty

Some people are genetically built to require less sleep than the rest of us.

Why Do Some People Thrive on So Little Sleep?

Short sleepers cruise by on four to six hours a night and don’t seem to suffer ill effects

Scientists have discovered the strongest evidence yet that healthy vertebrates can have brain microbiomes.

Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?

The discovery that other vertebrates have healthy microbial brains is fueling questions about our own brains

The plant-based egg substitutes available today are less than perfect. Food scientists are working hard to improve them — and, maybe, make them better tasting and more nutritious than the real thing.

Scientists Are Trying to Crack the Recipe for the Perfect Plant-Based Eggs

With new ingredients and processes, the next generation of substitutes will be not just more egg-like, but potentially more nutritious

A painted lady perches on a flower.

Where Do Butterflies Migrate From? Clues Can Be Found in Pollen on Their Bodies

Trillions of insects move around the globe each year. Scientists are working on new ways to map those long-distance journeys

An earwig with eggs

A Deep Look Into the Wacky and Wild Lives of Earwigs

The insects participate in elaborate courtships, are devoted parents, occasionally eat each other and have a gregarious nature

An example of the American Pedometer with the decimal face and original packaging

From Jealous Spouses to Paranoid Bosses, Pedometers Quantified Suspicion in the 19th Century

The devices were used to track movement and measure productivity—an insightful foreshadowing of our current preoccupation with personal data

On September 4, 1967, six identical silver disks appeared at equidistant locations along a plumb-straight line that bisected southern England.

How British College Students Convinced Authorities That Flying Saucers Were Invading the U.K.

To raise awareness for a charity event, aspiring engineers planted six UFOs across southern England on a single day in 1967

An armored mist frog warms itself on a wet rock. Once thought extinct, this species was rediscovered in locales where it has access to the sun’s warmth, which can help frogs fight the often-deadly fungal infections.

How Frogs Are Kicking Back Against a Lethal Fungus

Scientists are seeing signs of resistance to the infections that have been wiping out the world’s amphibian populations—and they’re developing methods to fight the pathogen

A sperm whale swims away, leaving a cloud of feces.

Scientists Are Crafting Fake Whale Poop and Dumping It in the Ocean

The artificial waste could fertilize the ocean and sequester carbon

The white substance on this fly is a fungus called Entomophthora muscae.

This Parasitic Fungus Turns Flies Into Zombie Insects

The pathogen takes over the brains of its hosts and controls them for its own sinister ends

Just like today's fitness influencers, the celebrities of pedestrianism used their platforms to monetize, popularize and diversify walking. Edward Payson Weston attempted to walk 500 miles in six days.

One of America’s First Spectator Sports Was Professional Walking

Before fitness influencers made getting your steps in a trend, pedestrianism had the nation on their feet

A new study suggests that among adolescents mental health disorders could be “socially transmitted,” though its researchers could not establish any direct cause.

Is Depression Contagious?

The science about whether mental health conditions can spread socially is uncertain, but exposure to an affected peer can drive awareness

Mark Muhn of Team Cleveland on his way to winning the Functional Electrical Stimulation bike race in the inaugural Cybathlon in 2016. Muhn’s legs are paralyzed; the muscles in them are activated by electric signals from a controller outside of his body.

Bionic ‘Pilots’ Compete for the Gold at the Cybathlon

In the international competition, people with physical disabilities put state-of-the-art devices to the test as they race to complete the tasks of everyday life

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Here’s How Weather Balloons Can Harm Marine Animals

Latex balloons designed to collect high-altitude data can become a threat after they burst

A green-crowned brilliant hummingbird feeds on a cactus flower in Costa Rica. 

Uncovering the Secrets Behind Hummingbirds’ Extreme Lifestyle

Here’s how the aerial acrobats are able to survive on a nearly all-sugar diet, fly higher than many helicopters can and migrate over the open ocean

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