Why the Shift to Farming Ruined This Ancient City’s Health

The switch from a hunter gatherer society to a farming one appears to have resulted in a more sedentary lifestyle for the inhabitants of Catalhoyuk

Healthcare providers leave a village after completion of a culling operation in response to a bird flu outbreak in Budgebudge, West Bengal, India.

The Next Pandemic

The Pandemic Everyone Fears Is Flu In the Wrong Place At the Wrong Time

Governments should constantly be preparing for outbreaks, instead of just hastily responding to threats as they arise

Image from the cover of Emma Byrne's new book, Swearing is Good For You.

The Science of Swearing

A new book explains the neuroscience of why we swear—and how it can sway our listeners

Close-up view of the of jawbone, showing details of the crown topography and dental features.

New Research

Earliest Human Remains Outside Africa Were Just Discovered in Israel

If accepted as Homo sapien, the jaw-dropping jawbone would push back the human exodus out of Africa by nearly 100,000 years

Music might be more universal than we thought.

New Research

Your Brain Knows What Songs Are For, No Matter Where They Came From

Researchers find that people easily recognize lullabies and dance songs from around the world

Dr. Kevin Olival and the USAID PREDICT wildlife team surveying areas for bat trapping at the entrance to a cave in Thailand.

The Next Pandemic

Can Virus Hunters Stop the Next Pandemic Before It Happens?

A global project is looking to animals to map the world’s disease hotspots. Are they going about it the right way?

Ice skates signed and worn by Sonja Henie, the Norwegian figure skater who was instrumental in popularizing the sport. Her impressive array of spins and jumps won her three Olympic gold medals.

The First Ice Skates Weren’t for Jumps and Twirls—They Were for Getting Around

Carved from animal shin bones, these early blades served as essential winter transport

The fruit that bursts with contradictions.

The Toxic Rise of the California Strawberry

Growing this popular fruit year-round has long relied on harmful chemicals. Is there another way?

A Counterintuitive Idea for Treating Severe Depression: Stay Awake

Doctors are finding that sleep deprivation actually helps lift some people out of depression. Now they want to know why

At just 18 months old, young children can show biological evidence of added stress.

New Research

How a Mother’s Depression Shows Up in Her Baby’s DNA

Researchers find that at just 18 months, infants can have cellular damage related to stress

Lava cascades down the slopes of the erupting Mayon volcano in January 2018. Seen from Busay Village in Albay province, 210 miles southeast of Manila, Philippines.

Geology Makes the Mayon Volcano Visually Spectacular—And Dangerously Explosive

What’s going on inside one of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes?

It's not as bad as it sounds.

Sorry, Guys: Your Y Chromosome May Be Doomed

But don’t worry, men aren’t going anywhere

Baber gathering fossils at Mazon Creek, Illinois, 1895, during the first field class at the University of Chicago to which women were admitted.

Women Who Shaped History

The Woman Who Transformed How We Teach Geography

By blending education and activism, Zonia Baber made geography a means of uniting—not conquering—the globe

A Doomed Aircraft Is Left to Fly Until It Runs Out of Fuel

Learjet 35 was a doomed plane, flying miles off course and with passengers and crew presumed dead

From developmental problems to reproductive issues, drug waste is affecting marine wildlife.

How Drugged-Up Shellfish Help Scientists Understand Human Pollution

These involuntary medicine-guzzlers have much tell us about the consequences of pharmaceutical waste

An etching of carts laden with corpses in the Piazza San Babila, Milan during the plague of 1630.

The Next Pandemic

How Proteins Helped Scientists Read Between the Lines of a 1630 Plague Death Registry

New tech reveals bacterial contamination, what scribes were eating and how many rats were around

The Amazing Adaptation That Keeps Tamarin Numbers Up

Golden lion tamarins have evolved a clever way to keep their population size steady in the face of predation. They almost always give birth to twins.

Eriauchenius milajaneae is one of the 18 new species of pelican spiders from Madagascar described by the scientists. This species was named after Wood’s daughter, and is known only from one remote mountain in southeast Madagascar.

Madagascar’s Ancient ‘Pelican Spiders’ Are As Striking As They Are Strange

New research offers an in-depth look at the island’s fascinating spider scene

A de-horned rhino lies in the sand at Hoedspruit endangered species centre in South Africa. Rhinos are particularly vulnerable during wartime due to illegal trade of their horns for weapons.

New Research

The Animal Cost of War

Even low-level human conflict can drive dramatic wildlife declines

The Volcanoes That Still Threaten New Zealand’s Safety

Ever since the deadly eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886, New Zealand has invested heavily in a sophisticated warning system

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