A time-lapse image showing the plane flying across a gymnasium.

MIT Flies Model Airplane Powered by the Blue Glow of Electric Fields and Ionic Winds

The model plane, with no moving parts, could pave the way for new flight technology that emits no pollutants

The marsupial lion (Thylacoleo carnifex) stalked Australian forests tens of thousands of years ago.

How a Changing Climate May Have Killed Off the Marsupial Lion

The fearsome predator, related to koalas and wombats, ruled the wilds of Australia until the loss of its habitat helped drive it to extinction

Several of the newly identified stone tools – unearthed from a museum collection.

A Fresh Look at These Stone Tools Reveals a New Chapter of Ancient Chinese History

Archaeologists thought these ancient tools, 80,000 years old at least, were brought to China by migrants—but now it appears they were invented locally

Once NASA's InSight lander touches down on the surface of Mars, it will use a seismometer to measure "Marsquakes," and a self-hammering heat probe will burrow five meters below the surface to study the internal heat of the planet.

NASA Will Attempt Its Eighth Mars Landing on Monday

Touching down on the surface of the Red Planet is one of the most difficult engineering challenges ever attempted, and InSight is about to give it a go

A figure representing the Kayentatherium babies found with an adult specimen. They are the only known fossils of babies from an extinct mammal relative that lived during the Early Jurassic.

Weasel-Like Fossils Reveal Evolutionary Clues of the First Mammals

A protomammal known as Kayentatherium was discovered with 38 babies in 185-million-year-old rock

The “headless chicken monster” is actually a type of sea cucumber.

Science in the Movies

Fantastic Things We Learned This Year About Fantastic Beasts of the Real World

The second iteration of the “Fantastic Beasts” movie series comes out this week, but why wait for the movie when you can get a glimpse of the real thing?

An artist’s impression of the newly discovered planet’s surface.

Astronomers Discover Second-Closest Known Exoplanet

The planet, a frozen Super-Earth, orbits Bernard’s Star about six light-years away

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Ingenious Minds

AOL Co-Founder Steve Case Talks With Smithsonian Geologist John Grant About the Search for Life on Mars

In the near future, we are going to know if life exists elsewhere in the universe

The NIST-4 Kibble balance, an electromagnetic weighing machine that is used to measure Planck's constant, and in turn, redefine the kilogram.

Scientists Are About to Redefine the Kilogram and Shake Up Our System of Measures

After more than 100 years of defining the kilogram according to a metal artifact, humanity is preparing to change the unit based on a constant of nature

A brave soul walks on Legos at the U.K. Firewalk

Why Walking on Legos Hurts More Than Walking on Fire or Ice

Everything you wanted to know about the science and history of stomping on the toy blocks

Rake marks on humpback flukes may be literal tallies of battles won—like the scars seen on the upper right fluke fin here—but little is known about the losses.

New Research

With Humans Out of the Way, Humpbacks Are Flourishing—But So Are Orcas

Researchers are just now beginning to understand what happens when one whale species attacks another

The centerpiece is a cast of the reconstructed remains of Prognathodon kianda, which make up the most complete skeleton of this species found to date.

Prehistoric Angolan “Sea Monsters” Take Up Residence at the Natural History Museum

The new fossil exhibition spotlights the majestic marine predators that swept into the South Atlantic shortly after it formed

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Ingenious Minds

Astrophysicist Michelle Thaller on Understanding Our Place in the Universe

Autodesk vice president Brian Mathews talks with the NASA science communicator about the search for life on other planets and why it’s important

Princepajaro, a male California sea lion, swims in a pool during treatment for leptospirosis at The Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, CA. When a leptospirosis outbreak occurs, the Center’s scientists study the disease to learn more about what causes an outbreak and how we can improve treatment for infected animals.

Major Disease Outbreak Strikes California Sea Lions

Leptospirosis afflicts sea lions on a semi-regular cycle, but warming waters and migrating fish could make the marine mammals more susceptible

A silica sphere with a radius of 50 nanometers is trapped levitating in a beam of light.

Optical Tweezers Give Scientists a Tool to Test the Laws of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum superposition is one of the great mysteries of physics—a mass existing in two states at once—and scientists hope to probe the phenomenon

This painting of a cattle-like animal in a Borneo cave has been dated at at least 40,000 years old, making it the oldest known figurative rock art in the world.

World’s Oldest Known Figurative Paintings Discovered in Borneo Cave

Dated to at least 40,000 years old, the depiction of a cattle-like animal has striking similarities to ancient rock art found in other parts of the world

Zelia Nuttall, who began an academic career in archaeology after she divorced her archaeologist husband in 1888, is best known for her work on ancient Mexican manuscripts.

Women Who Shaped History

The Archaeologist Who Helped Mexico Find Glory in Its Indigenous Past

Disrupting a stereotype of Mesoamerican savagery, Zelia Nuttall brought the ingenuity of Aztec civilization to the fore

Seagrass plants have a large capacity for absorbing and storing carbon on the seafloor.

Underwater Meadows of Seagrass Could Be the Ideal Carbon Sinks

Many ecosystems absorb and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide, and seagrass is one of the most efficient natural carbon storage environments

Khoikhoi of South Africa dismantling their huts, preparing to move to new pastures—aquatint by Samuel Daniell (1805). Pastoralism has a rich history in Africa, spreading from the Saharan region to East Africa and then across the continent.

Ritual Cemeteries—For Cows and Then Humans—Plot Pastoralist Expansion Across Africa

As early herders spread across northern and then eastern Africa, the communities erected monumental graves which may have served as social gathering points

As the first serious scientist to study the legendary creature, Krantz risked his career and reputation on a subject that many consider a joke. And while the museum remembers him as a man who loved science so much that he donated his body to it, another community remembers Krantz as a pioneer in the study of Sasquatch.

The Scientist Grover Krantz Risked It All…Chasing Bigfoot

The dedicated anthropologist donated his body to science and it’s on display, but his legacy is complicated

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