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Why Do Astronauts on the International Space Station Float and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

Montsechia’s origins in freshwater lakes challenge the idea that flowers evolved on land before moving into water.

These Are the Oldest Known Flowers in the World

Found in the fossil record, these plants are more than 100 million years old

Did Diplodocus walk with a spring in its neck?

New Research

How Long-Necked Dinosaurs Pumped Blood to Their Brains

Well-preserved fossils include spring-like neck bones that may have helped the giants get blood from their hearts to their heads

A person stands in front of a fault in Utah. Better understanding how rocks behave under stress and along faults like this could help geologists more accurately identify places at risk of earthquakes.

Big Quakes Can Trigger Other Shakes Thousands of Miles Away

According to new research, when a big one strikes, more than aftershocks can follow

A color composite image highlighting pluto's brilliant diversity of color and texture. The western lobe of the heart—an area rich with nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane ice—is brightly displayed in the right of the image.

First Official Data From the Pluto Flyby Reshapes the Dwarf Planet’s History

“The ‘little spacecraft that could’ is making a lot of big discoveries,” says Alan Stern

A fuzzy Tyrannosaurus roars across the Utah desert at Moab Giants.

New Dinosaur Museum Tracks the “Terrible Lizards” Through Time

The Moab Giants museum in eastern Utah makes a roaring debut

The black-footed ferret's tale of near-extinction is just one of many stories of endangered animals.

Age of Humans

How We Decide Which Animals Become Endangered

It wasn’t too long ago that the idea of “endangered animals” didn’t even exist.

The wandering pond snail may be small, but it is giving scientists insights into a rather lofty question: Why do we have personality?

What Extroverts and Introverts Can Learn From Snails

Genes may change a snail’s “personality” and the thickness of its skin (or rather, its shell)

The red-necked wallaby has a powerful nose, according to a new study.

Wallabies Can Sniff Out Danger in Poop

Like sommeliers of poop, the pint-sized marsupials can smell what species left it behind and what that creature last had for dinner

Scientists Are Working on a Pill That Just Might Replace Exercise

The idea is to create a drug that mimics the molecular changes exercise causes in the body. But it’s no small challenge

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Philippe Petit in The Walk

What Happens to Your Body When You Walk on a Tightrope?

It’s more than just an insane amount of courage that gets people on the tightwire

The Rise of DIY Genetic Testing

Some people are skipping the doctor’s office and using the internet to order and interpret their own DNA tests

Shaving was something of a job on all the Apollo missions because in Zero-G, water doesn't just run off the face.

New Photos From Apollo Mission Depict the Mundane Daily Tasks of Astronauts at Work

From the original film rolls that the astronauts took into space, a work-a-day routine emerges of Apollo mission voyages

By the time the Salt River reaches downtown Phoenix, it is a river in name only. Some scientists think that is why a non-native plant, the salt cedar, is thriving while native flora are suffering.

Age of Humans

How We Created a Monster In the American Southwest

The salt cedar is often seen as an un-killable invader. But are humans the real reason this unwanted plant is thriving?

A view from Mota Cave in Ethiopia, where archaeologists found the remains of a 4,500-year-old human.

New Research

Back to Africa: Ancient Human Genome Reveals Widespread Eurasian Mix

Genes from a 4,500-year-old skeleton from Ethiopia show how migrations shaped modern populations

Soldiers pose with bison heads captured from poacher Ed Howell. In the early days of Yellowstone, poaching, setting the park on fire and defacing its hot springs were rampant.

Age of Humans

How the U.S. Army Saved Our National Parks

Before the National Park Service, Yellowstone was guarded by the cavalry. Without them, we might not have national parks today

Age of Humans

See the Two Ship Graveyards That May Become New Marine Sanctuaries

The first marine sanctuaries approved by NOAA in 15 years are home to a plethora of shipwrecks

The wings of the Arctic fritillary butterfly have decreased in size since 1996.

Age of Humans

Greenland’s Butterflies Are Shrinking as Temperatures Rise

In the high Arctic, hotter summer weather may be taxing insect metabolism

Baby tree saplings, cloned from giant redwoods in California, chill out in the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive's propagation area.

Age of Humans

The Race to Save the World’s Great Trees By Cloning Them

A nonprofit dedicated to preserving old, iconic trees is cloning them in hopes of preserving them for the future

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