Must all molecules of life be handed?

Think Big

Must the Molecules of Life Always be Left-Handed or Right-Handed?

They are on Earth, but life on other planets could play by different rules

It looks like a rodent of unusual size, but the solenodon—a creature that has outlived the dinosaurs—is more closely related to moles and shrews.

Age of Humans

Podcast: The Weird, Wild, Endangered Solenodon

The solenodon survived the impact that killed the dinosaurs, but after all that, we might be its downfall.

How to Regulate the Incredible Promise and Profound Power of Gene Drive Technology

An evolutionary ecologist argues that cutting-edge genetic research that could lead to species extinction should be handled with care

Mark Barton and principal investigator Kevin Boswell of Florida International University conduct species sampling of the nearshore waters.

Photo Contest Featured Photographer

From Playboy to Polar Bears: A Fashion Photographer’s Journey to Document Climate Science in Northernmost Alaska

Florencia Mazza Ramsay traveled to Barrow, the northernmost town in the United States, to document life and research on the front lines of climate change

Watch: Hammerhead vs. Stingray

A hammerhead shark locates a stingray hiding beneath the ocean floor. Unnerved, the stingray makes a dash for freedom—but is it too late?

New anti-Zika measures go way beyond bug spray.

All the Extremely Absurd Ways People Are Fighting Zika at the Rio Olympics

Donning facial masks, wearing Zika-proof uniforms and freezing sperm: Does any of this stuff actually work?

Crocodiles sun themselves at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Buena Vista, Florida in 2012.

Forced Closer to Humans, Crocodiles Face Their Greatest Existential Threat

These armored reptiles have long been considered indestructible, but new threats are shifting the equation

This 3D model of a microbial community within the human gut allows researchers to study how bacterial changes influence overall health.

How Miraculous Microbes Help Us Evolve Better, Faster, Stronger

Invisible yet crucial, our microbial partners add a gene-swapping plot twist to evolutionary theory

The Tent of Casually Observed Phenologies.

Art Meets Science

Can the Art of Divination Help People Cope With Climate Anxiety?

A Brooklyn-based artist strives to create emotional connections with the looming threat of climate change.

A drone shot of a researcher collecting data on cryoconite holes on the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Journey to the Center of Earth

The Tiny World of Glacier Microbes Has an Outsized Impact on Global Climate

Microbes living on glaciers collectively cover an area the size of New Hampshire—and they could have a big influence on global climate

Is this supposed to be a democracy or what? (Shown here: North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un visiting Mangyongdae Revolutionary School in 2014.)

Metaphorically Speaking, Your Nervous System is a Dictatorship

Except when it’s an oligarchy. Or a democracy. Or all three.

Organic! Doesn't always mean what people think it means.

Age of Humans

Podcast: Our Food, Our Selves

Food is a focal point for understanding broader environmental problems. In this podcast, we learn how food buyers are influenced in surprising ways.

Yao honey-hunter Orlando Yassene holds a wild greater honeyguide male in the Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique.

New Research

Forget Bees: This Bird Has the Sweetest Deal With Honey-Seeking Humans

The effectiveness of the honeyguide call sheds light on why this golden relationship has stuck around so long

Illustration of a Velafrons, a hadrosaur whose name means "sailed forehead."

Chew on This: Powerful Jaws Fueled a Jurassic Herbivore Boom

Teeth, not flowers, might be the key to the duckbills’ success

The Mauna Loa observatory.

Age of Humans

The Enduring Climate Legacy of Mauna Loa

Sixty years after a trailblazing climate scientist scaled its heights, the Hawaii-based observatory remains essential

Being a blood fluke is more popular than you might expect.

How Parasites Became So Popular

A new study finds that parasitism evolved independently 223 times. But that number is actually surprisingly low

Tiny nurse ants tending to white ant larvae are dwarfed by the queen ant in the upper right. All the ants feed upon protein-rich food produced by a white-grey fungus that they cultivate underground.

Were Ants the World’s First Farmers?

A new study shows that a group of ants have been conducting a subsistence type of farming since shortly after the dinosaurs died out

The Incredible Things a Hammerhead’s Nose Can Do

A hammerhead shark is capable of detecting a single drop of fish oil in a body of water equivalent to an Olympic-size swimming pool

You ain't seen nothing yet.

There’s No Wrong Way to Make a Tadpole (or Froglet)

Marsupial frogs, “vomit frogs” and foam-spewers reveal the glorious range of frog baby-making techniques

What chemicals are hiding in your couch?

Why Chemicals in the U.S. Are Still “Innocent Until Proven Guilty”

A new chemical bill makes major strides, but doesn’t fix the root problem

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