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Science / Our Planet

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This Bumpy-Faced Reptile Ruled the Prehistoric Desert

Newly excavated fossils tell us more about the cow-sized, plant-eating Bunostegos akokanensis, which roamed Pangea around 260 million years ago

Who do you think is the bigger threat in this picture?

A Turn in the Tide for Sharks and Their Public Image

Nearly 40 years after Jaws gave sharks a bad rap, the fish are the ones that need saving, not the beachgoers

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Sloth Cub Hank Says Hello at the National Zoo

At six months, the Zoo’s first sloth cub in seven years made his public debut

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This Incredible Art Installation Makes It Rain, Everywhere But On You

“Rain Room,” on display at MoMA, is an indoor downpour that detects the presence of people and adjusts to keep them dry

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Your Fruits and Vegetables Can Tell Day from Night—and Even Get Jet Lag

New science shows that cabbage, carrots and blueberries experience circadian rhythms, with potential consequences for nutrition

One bionic ear, fresh off the printer.

How One Day Everything Could Be Recycled

Mix 3-D printers and biomimicry and what do you get? Products that are as strong, resilient, versatile—and biodegradable—as most things in nature

The Larsen Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula has seen vast reaches of ice crumble into the ocean. New research suggests that this and other dramatic episodes of ice shelf collapse might be caused by the ocean below eating away at the ice above.

Antarctica’s Ice Shelves Dissolve Thanks to Warm Water Below

The ocean bathing the underside of massive sheets of floating ice is slowly melting ice shelves, making them vulnerable to collapse

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Saving the World’s Largest Old Growth Red Pine Forest

Located in Ontario, Canada, Wolf Lake faces the threat of mining for the next 21 years

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This is What a Huge, Rotating Supercell Looks Like

Photographer Mike Olbinski captured a massive and rare type of thunderstorm along the Texas panhandle

Languages that evolve at high elevations are more likely to include a sound that’s easier to make when the air is thinner, new research shows.

Do Geography and Altitude Shape the Sounds of a Language?

Languages that evolve at high elevations are more likely to include a sound that’s easier to make when the air is thinner, new research shows

Do cats always land on their feet? Scientists figured out the answers to this and other pressing questions once and for all.

Do Cats Always Land on Their Feet? (and Other Absurd Scientific Studies)

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Scientists figured the answers to this and other pressing questions once and for all

White-tailed deer making do in a harsh winter wonderland.

Deer May Be Peeing Themselves Out of Their Favorite Winter Habitats

Special patches of trees shield deer from harsh winter weather, but deer urine stimulates growth of competitive plants in those havens

Emerging research indicates that low doses of the active chemical psilocybin can have positive psychiatric effects.

Could “Magic” Mushrooms Be Used to Treat Anxiety and Depression?

Emerging research indicates that low doses of the active chemical psilocybin, found in the fungi, can have positive psychiatric effects

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How Do Death Valley’s ‘Sailing Stones’ Move Themselves Across the Desert?

These mysterious rocks have puzzled scientists for decades—until one geologist found the answer on his kitchen table

Can this little thing really ride hurricane winds?

How Swarming Drones Can Explore a Hurricane

A University of Florida engineer is building a squadron of hand-sized drones that he says will be able to gather data as they ride on hurricane winds

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Warming, Rising Acidity and Pollution: Top Threats to the Ocean

Since the last World Oceans Day, we’ve documented trash in the deep sea, sea snails with acid-weakened shells, high ocean temperatures and more

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What’s Working When It Comes to the Ocean?

On World Oceans Day, scientist Nancy Knowlton reflects on the health of our seas

Designer Kate McLean creates detailed smell maps of cities around the world, such as this map of the the “Smelliest Block in New York.”

Mapping the Smells of New York, Amsterdam and Paris, Block by Block

Designer and cartographer Kate McLean charts the sweet scents and pungent odors that fill a city’s olfactory landscape

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Why Navy Scientists Want to Mimic Cicadas

No, it’s not about learning to live underground for 17 years. It’s all about the noise.

This European lobster (Homarus gammarus) can live at least 50 years in the wild.

Don’t Listen to the Buzz: Lobsters Aren’t Actually Immortal

Contrary to memes circulating online, lobsters can’t live forever—but they do keep growing and growing until they die

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