Low oxygen caused the death of these corals and others in Bocas del Toro, Panama. The dead crabs pictured also succumbed to the loss of dissolved oxygen.

Why Our Oceans Are Starting to Suffocate

A new paper links global warming to diminished oxygen concentrations at sea

This cartoon from Harper's Weekly depicts how opiates were used in the 19th century to help babies cope with teething.

Inside the Story of America’s 19th-Century Opiate Addiction

Doctors then, as now, overprescribed the painkiller to patients in need, and then, as now, government policy had a distinct bias

The book was published so hastily the fuse bomb pictured on the cover was “ticking.”

1968: The Year That Shattered America

The Book That Incited a Worldwide Fear of Overpopulation

‘The Population Bomb’ made dire predictions—and triggered a wave of repression around the world

Scientists Recreate a Stone Age Cremation

A scientist recreates a Stone Age funeral pyre using nothing but resources from that era. The makeshift pyre achieves same temperatures as a crematorium

Large animal skeletons at the Finnish Natural History Museum.

The Hidden Biases That Shape Natural History Museums

Here’s why museum visitors rarely see lady animals, penis bones or cats floating in formaldehyde

In a recent presentation held at the National Museum of Natural History, University of Melbourne researcher Gerald Roche called attention to 21 minority languages spoken in villages across Tibet.

The Incredible Linguistic Diversity of Tibet Is Disappearing

Thanks to national schooling and the Internet, many of the plateau’s unique languages are in danger

Don't touch that thermostat.

Future of Energy

The Things People Do To Foil Energy-Saving Buildings

New research on how occupants inhabit energy-efficient buildings reveals behaviors designers don’t anticipate—and a slew of bloopers

El Greco: Apocalyptic Vision {The Vision of St. John)

Where Do New Ideas Come From?

With close study, the genealogies of even the most original ideas can be traced

Scary pumpkins are the least of what frightens us at Halloween, a day devoted to being frightened.

What Happens in the Brain When We Feel Fear

And why some of us just can’t get enough of it

The Ainu, the Indigenous people of Japan, have fought Japanese domination for centuries. As this century unfolds, their efforts are finally paying off.

How Japan’s Bear-Worshipping Indigenous Group Fought Its Way to Cultural Relevance

For a long time, Japanese anthropologists and officials tried to bury the Ainu. It didn’t work

Mothers Adopt a Universal Tone of Voice When They Talk To Babies

And other surprising facts about how we speak to infants

Skeleton of the Neanderthal boy recovered from the El Sidrón cave complex (Asturias, Spain).

New Research

Modern Humans and Neanderthals May Be More Similar Than We Imagined

A remarkably preserved 49,000-year-old skeleton shows that Neanderthal kids may have grown slowly, like us

Mount Hora, the site in Malawi where an 8,100-year-old skeleton was found, yielding the oldest-known DNA from Africa.

New Research

Ancient DNA Helps Scientists Shed Light on How Ancient Africans Moved and Mixed

New techniques help explain why there is little genetic overlap between modern and ancient Malawi people—and promise much more

Everyone sees them all, but we don’t all give them the same distinct names.

The World Has Millions of Colors. Why Do We Only Name a Few?

Cognitive scientists suggest that we name the colors of things we want to talk about

Humpback whales sounding in Windham Bay, Alaska.

What Humpback Whales Can Teach Us About Compassion

Are these orca-fighting, seal-saving good Samaritans really just in it for themselves?

Plotting a route out? German prisoners in Britain during WWII.

This Newly Excavated Underground Tunnel Reveals How 83 German Officers Escaped a World War II Prison Camp

The POWs burrowed to freedom from a Welsh encampment in 1945

Luckily stress doesn’t do this to you!

How Your Body Reacts to Stress

A little tension can keep you on your toes. Too much can break down the system

Is This Where Humanity Decided to Settle Down?

Plant analysis of ancient wild cereals from Göbekli Tepe reveal a remarkable similarity to modern strains

A red fox listening for prey under the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Noise can affect foxes and other animals that rely on their hearing when they hunt.

How Human Noise Ruins Parks for Animals and People

Even in America’s most pristine wildernesses, unwanted sound is changing landscapes

The Mona Lisa's sparse setting may help visitors better appreciate its beauty, according to a new psychology study.

New Research

Distraction May Make Us Less Able to Appreciate Beauty

Truly experiencing the beauty of an object could require conscious thought, vindicating the ideas of Immanuel Kant

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