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Science

A silhouette of the dinosaur Nemegtomaia barsboldi, indicating the dinosaur's bones and the nest it was sitting on. Much of the skeleton was lost to beetles.

When Beetles Ate Dinosaurs

Even the world’s most formidable consumers eventually became food themselves

A new study involving lab mice could bring a breakthrough in treating Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer’s Disease Advance

There are reasons to be very positive about this result, but also reasons to be very cautious

A very wrinkly dinosaur outside California's Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center

Dinosaur Sighting: Wrinkles

A reader spots what may be the wrinkliest dinosaur of all time

To go backward in time, start at the far right side of this Cosmic Web poster, which represents the universe as it is today, scattered with galaxies. As you move to the left, you see earlier stages of the universe in which dark matter—a mysterious substance astronomers can detect only indirectly—was structured as webs and filaments. Before that, closer to the Big Bang, dark matter was dominated by tides and voids.

The Best Science Visualizations of the Year

Browse through the winning images that turn scientific exploration into art

A fruit fly

Anti-Gravity Machine for Levitating Fruit Flies

A powerful magnetic field counteracted Earth’s gravity and disrupted gene expression during development

A restoration of Lambeosaurus magnicristatus, a dinosaur once thought to represent the male form of Lambeosaurus lambei, but now known to be a distinct species.

Intimate Secrets of Dinosaur Lives

Scientists are searching for dinosaur sex differences in features like size, ornamentation and bone structure—not the bits actually used during mating

Baby, we're pair-bonded for life.

Geeky Gifts for Your Valentine

Having trouble finding a gift that matches the brilliance of your Valentine? We’ve got the solutions

Did sexual selection cause sauropods, such as this Barosaurus at the Natural History Museum of Utah, to evolve ludicrously long necks?

Sex and Dinosaur Necks

Did competition for mates drive the evolution of the enormous, long-necked sauropods?

Otavia is globular or ovoid in shape.

Oldest Animals Ever Discovered

The sponge-like organisms date back to about 760 million years ago, extending the known time span of animals by 17 percent

The backside of Diplodocus, photographed at the Utah Field House of Natural History

How Did the Biggest Dinosaurs Get it On?

Of all the dinosaur mysteries, how dinosaurs like the 23-ton Apatosaurus mated is one of the most perplexing

A restoration of Hypselosaurus, a sauropod dinosaur which may have laid some of the eggs found in Cretaceous rock of Southern France.

Who Was the First to Discover Dinosaur Eggs?

Despite an immense wave of publicity heralding the discovery of dinosaur eggs in 1923, French paleontologists had discovered them decades earlier

The winged albatross

The Wandering Albatross and Global Warming

The giant oceanic birds are producing more and plumper chicks, at least for now

The Caldera of Santorini is today a ring of islands in the Aegean.

What Happens Before a Volcano Blows?

Volcanologists thought that the buildup to an eruption would take centuries. But this report adds to a suspicion that it can happen faster than expected

A restoration of Saurolophus angustirostris based upon skeletal and soft-tissue fossils

Judging a Dinosaur By its Cover

A new study suggests that you can distinguish different hadrosaur species by their pebbly hides alone

The scientific name of the ox-eyed oreo is Oreosoma atlanticum. Oreosoma, meaning "mountain body," refers to the peaks protruding from the fish's underbelly.

What You See When You Turn a Fish Inside Out

Scientists use X-rays to classify different species, but when viewed outside the lab, the images provide stunning art

Orcinus orca

What the Inuit Taught Scientists About Killer Whales

The native people knew what orcas ate, how they hunted prey, how the prey responded to the whales and when and where predation occurred

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Dinosaur Deep Freeze

An animated short suggests dinosaurs died out for want of winter coats

A reconstruction of Velociraptor, complete with a scleral ring in the eye, at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, WY.

The Debate Over Dinosaur Sight

Did Velociraptor hunt under the cover of darkness?

Studies show most football coaches make poor decisions on fourth down. Does Bill Belichick have a secret advantage?

Super Bowl Science: Are Football Coaches Irrational?

Studies show that coaches often make poor choices in crucial situations. But one coach may have a secret advantage

Astronomer Roger Angel is trying to harness the power of the sun with new technology developed for telescopes. The solar tracker pictured currently makes 2 kW of electric power.

An Astronomer’s Solution to Global Warming

The technology developed for telescopes, it turns out, can harness solar power

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