Meet the Ozark hellbender, an elusive creature that has become only more so as of late.

Future of Conservation

What the Heck Is a Hellbender—And How Can We Make More of Them?

Why the Saint Louis Zoo decided to invest in this slimy, surprisingly adorable amphibian

The sarcophagus of Tadja, one of the mummies from Abusir el Meleq that had its DNA analyzed in a new study.

New Research

Ancient Mummies Finally Give Up Their Genetic Secrets

Armed with new DNA techniques, scientists have extracted genetic sequences from preserved Egyptians

This celestial chart from 1687 is one of many illustrations from books, charts, and maps showing artists’ imaginings of polar bears.

How Polar Bears Became the Dragons of the North

Renaissance maps depicting the “white bears” say more about our own fears and fantasies than about the predators themselves

Don’t skimp on the SPF

How Sunscreen Protects Your Skin’s DNA

The chemistry behind this protective lotion reflects a modern understanding of the danger of ultraviolet rays

Exclusively feeding in the wild on blood from live animals, vampire bats, native to Central and South America, can regurgitate blood in order to feed one another, though they won't do this for just anyone.

What a Vampire Bat Can Teach Us About the Economics of Friendship

A Smithsonian scientist says important lessons about making friends and sharing can be learned from these blood-sucking creatures

Multiple views of the young teen's right humerus arm bone that runs from the shoulder to the elbow show where the tumor left its mark.

Oldest Cancer Case in Central America Discovered

A young teen, who died 700 years ago, likely suffered pain in the right arm as the tumor grew and expanded through the bone

How NASA Cut Costs With a New Kind of Spacecraft

With budgets for space exploration falling toward the end of the 1960s, NASA began to make plans for a new kind of reusable spacecraft to save money

Future of Conservation

The Hidden Dangers of Road Salt

It clears our roads, but also spells danger for fish, moose—and sometimes humans

A mid-air tourist flight. The author is second from the left.

The Future of Zero-Gravity Living Is Here

Entrepreneurs predict there will be thousands of us living and working in space. Our correspondent takes off to see what that feels like

DNA barcoding, as the name suggests, was designed to make identifying a species as simple as scanning a supermarket barcode.

Future of Conservation

The Key to Protecting Life on Earth May Be Barcoding It

An easier way to read DNA is helping scientists tease apart species and ecosystems in nuanced ways

How Mastiffs Became the World’s Top Dogs

The large, furry dogs of Tibet took an evolutionary shortcut millenia ago

Aubrey de Grey says, “There’s no such thing as aging gracefully.”

Can Human Mortality Really Be Hacked?

Backed by the digital fortunes of Silicon Valley, biotech companies are brazenly setting out to “cure” aging

From the Batpod to the Batcomputer, the Caped Crusader's gadgets use up a whole lot of energy and spew a whole lot of carbon. But when it comes to carbon footprints, Gotham's techiest hero has nothing on some of pop culture's other saviors.

Age of Humans

Which of Your Favorite Superheroes Is Destroying the Earth?

Measuring the carbon footprints of your favorite comic book heroes, from Batman to Jessica Jones

The soil microbe Bacillus subtilis is ubiquitous, but one rare strain yielded scientific pay dirt.

One Girl’s Mishap Led to the Creation of the Antibiotic Bacitracin

Margaret Treacy was the namesake for a breakthrough medication

Taste receptors for salty, sweet, bitter and sour are found all over the tongue.

The Taste Map of the Tongue You Learned in School Is All Wrong

Modern biology shows that taste receptors aren’t nearly as simple as that cordoned-off model would lead you to believe

Thousands of clay caterpillars, like this one glued to a leaf in Hong Kong, were used to measure how often predators are eating insects around the world.

New Research

Sacrificing Fake Caterpillars in the Name of Science

Ersatz insects are helping ecologists figure out why bugs are more likely to become meals near the equator

These Trees Uncover What Plunged Egypt’s Climate Into Chaos

Examining tree rings inside the world’s oldest trees reveal a seismic event that took place around 3,500 years ago

Amanda Lawrence, lead technician, collections program. With a green sea turtle Chelonia mydas

Why These Humans Are Museum Treasures, Too

A portrait photographer captured 24 staffers from the National Museum of Natural History posing with their favorite artifacts from the collections

Some studies have shown that humans can learn to track scents like canines.

New Research

In Some Ways, Your Sense of Smell Is Actually Better Than a Dog’s

Human noses are especially attuned to picking up odors in bananas, urine and human blood

Torrance Coste of the Wilderness Committee illustrates the immensity of the missing Carmanah cedar in 2012.

Future of Conservation

How Thousand-Year-Old Trees Became the New Ivory

Ancient trees are disappearing from protected national forests around the world. A look inside $100 billion market for stolen wood

Page 150 of 456