A common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) stretches out on a reef environment beneath the sea.

Why Don’t Octopus Suckers Stick To Their Own Skin?

A chemical excreted by octopus skin tells their severed arms, “Don’t grab me or eat me!”

Diver Susan Bird works at the bottom of Hoyo Negro, a large dome-shaped underwater cave on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. She carefully brushes the human skull found at the site while her team members take detailed photographs.

New Research

DNA From 12,000-Year-Old Skeleton Helps Answer the Question: Who Were the First Americans?

In 2007, cave divers discovered remains that form the oldest, most complete and genetically intact human skeleton in the New World

A red-winged blackbird, the males of which (pictured) feature bright red spots. Females, on the other hand, are a mottled brown.

New Research

Drab Female Birds Were Once As Flashy As Their Male Mates

Biologists always assumed that sexual selection primarily drove differences in looks between male and female birds, but a new study challenges that notion

A drawing of the West Indian or Caribbean monk seal based on a specimen collected in Matanzas, Cuba.

New Research

For the First Time in More Than 100 Years, Scientists Discover New Seal Genus

The now extinct Caribbean monk seal shares an evolutionary connection with the endangered Hawaiian monk seal—one more reason to save the species

Water extracted from beneath California’s San Joaquin Valley keeps farm fields green. But it may also be affecting earthquakes in the region.

New Research

Pulling Water Out of the Ground May Lead to Quakes on the San Andreas Fault

Ground movements linked to water extraction may change stresses on the fault famously responsible for California earthquakes

In her seminal rose diagram, Florence Nightingale demonstrated that far more soldiers died from preventable epidemic diseases (blue) than from wounds inflicted on the battlefield (red) or other causes (black) during the Crimean War (1853-56). “She did this with a very specific purpose of driving through all sorts of military reforms in military hospitals subsequent to the Crimean War," says Kieniewicz.

Art Meets Science

Infographics Through the Ages Highlight the Visual Beauty of Science

An exhibit at the British Library focuses on the aesthetic appeal of 400 years of scientific data

Bees from a single species aren't as effective in pollinating as bees from a diversity of species, a new study shows.

New Research

A Diversity of Bees Is Good for Farming—And Farmers’ Wallets

A new study shows that if more species of bees are available to pollinate blueberry flowers, blueberries get fatter

10 Things Science Says About Being A Mom In 2014

Among them: she usually underestimates the height of her youngest child and her diet when she conceives could change her offspring’s DNA.

Think Big

Watch the Universe Evolve Over 13 Billion Years

A new computer simulation, called Illustris, can take you on an epic journey through space and time

One of the National Zoo's new lion cubs, born this spring.

Meet the Babies of the National Zoo

The National Zoo is home to babies of all species this Spring. You can just smell the cuteness in the air

Around three billion people worldwide depend on rice for their diet. But a new study finds that rice and other crops grown under high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide results in lower levels of some nutrients.

New Research

More Carbon Dioxide in the Air Makes Some Crops Less Nutritious

Crops such as rice and wheat have lower concentrations of some nutrients when they’re grown under an atmosphere with higher levels of the greenhouse gas

Daiquiri mixing machines at Wet Willie's.

The Surprising History of Making Alcohol a Powdered Substance

A startup is seeking approval to sell alcohol in tiny inconspicuous packets. But the science is decades old

A hyper realistic reconstruction of an Australopithecus africanus based on cast of the skull STS5 (nicknamed "Mrs Ples") discovered in 1947 in Sterkfontein, South Africa. The fossil STS5 is between 2.1 and 2.7 million years old.

Art Meets Science

Paleoartist Brings Human Evolution to Life

For Elisabeth Daynès, sculpting ancient humans and their ancestors is both an art and a science

An overly alluring research subject.

New Research

Biologists Are Biased Toward Penises

Researchers interested in the evolution of animal genitalia tend to focus on the male side of that equation, often unjustifiably ignoring the female

At the Mpala research facility in Kenya, scientists can use fences to exclude large animals, such as zebras, from ecosystems to study the effect of their absence.

New Research

How Will Wildlife Loss Affect Diseases That Jump From Animals to Humans?

In an east African case study, scientists found that taking large wildlife out of an ecosystem increases the number of disease-infested rodents

A cluster of variola viruses viewed under an electron microscope. Strains of the variola virus cause smallpox disease.

Should We Destroy Our Last Living Samples of the Virus That Causes Smallpox?

Later this month, the World Health Organization will decide whether or not to get rid of two live virus repositories in the United States and Russia

This is the face of deception.

New Research

This Bird Tricks Other Animals Into Handing Over Their Meals

The African drongo mimics warning calls of other animals to scare them away from food, but mixes true warnings with lies to keep those animals guessing

Superstorm Sandy's aftermath on the Jersey Shore. With climate change, extreme weather events, like Sandy, could become more common.

Why Doesn’t Anyone Know How to Talk About Global Warming?

The gap between science and public understanding prevents action on climate change—but social scientists think they can fix that

Trash, such as this glass bottle, has been found deep in the ocean, far away from shore.

New Research

Your Garbage Is Polluting Even The Deep, Remote Reaches of the Ocean

Scientists have found plastic, glass and other trash littering the seafloor and collecting in canyons

Breast cancer cells dividing.

Could A Genome-Savvy Computer Help Change The Way We Treat Cancer?

The pilot is one of several doctors are using to target treatment to the way cells mutate instead of to the part of the body in which tumors grow

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