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Science

Someone painted this rhinoceros on a wall in France's Chauvet Cave about 30,000 years ago.

The Top Four Candidates for Europe’s Oldest Work of Art

The discovery of 37,000-year-old cave art showing female genitalia adds to the list of contenders

A Tyrannosaurus stands over the remains of an abandoned mini-golf course.

Dinosaur Sighting: Tyrannosaurus Golf

Dinosaurs probably wouldn’t have been very good at mini-golf—imagine a Carnotaurus with a putter—but they make for excellent fairway decor

A slime mold is used to design an efficient U.S. interstate system.

If the Interstate System Were Designed by a Slime Mold

How a brainless, single-celled organism created a startlingly efficient route map for U.S. highways

A sculpture of Torosaurus—or, according to some, a mature Triceratops—outside Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Dear Media, Leave My Dinosaurs Alone

Lazy journalists and unscrupulous documentary creators have demonstrated that they just can’t play nice with Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops and kin

Betty White’s new book details her life of loving animals and working with zoos to help endangered species around the world.

Betty White on Her Love for Animals

Everyone knows the “Golden Girls” actress for her long television career, but she is just as proud of her work with zoos

Adult male orangutans have large cheek pads and a big throat pouch, but it can take decades to develop such traits.

Why Some Orangutans Never Want to Grow Up

Some males take decades to fully mature; this arrested development can improve their odds of mating success

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg thinks watching TV should be a social experience.

Is Facebook Good For TV?

It wouldn’t seem to be. But social TV, where people interact with their friends on a second screen while they’re watching a show, may be boosting ratings

The decaying head of King Kong's Brontosaurus, as seen at The Dinosaur Museum.

A Miniature Dinosaur Celebrity

King Kong’s fearsome Brontosaurus found a home in an out-of-the-way Utah museum

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Ten Extremely Rare Seeds on the Brink of Extinction

The Millennium Seed Bank has set out to collect 25 percent of the world’s plant species by 2020—before it is too late

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Picture of the Week: Stephen Hawking in Zero Gravity

The renowned physicist enjoyed the sensation of weightlessness while 24,000 feet over the Atlantic

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The Idiocy, Fabrications and Lies of Ancient Aliens

The History Channel presents self-appointed challengers of science who take on the idea that aliens caused the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs

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What Really Sparked the Hindenburg Disaster?

Seventy-five years later, opinions still vary on what caused the airship to explode so suddenly

A metallic, skeletal "Brontosaurus" at a Blanding, Utah Sinclair station

Dinosaur Sighting: Blanding Brontosaurus

An isolated Utah gas station created its own rendition of the iconic Sinclair dinosaur

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What Makes a 21st Century Mom?

Not an easy answer. But here are 10 recent studies on what it means to be a mother today

A huge Allosaurus threatens a super-sized Diplodocus. Did such giant dinosaurs fart? We don't know.

Media Blows Hot Air About Dinosaur Flatulence

A new study claims dinosaur farts contributed to prehistoric climate change, but don’t believe reports that they gassed themselves to death

A grandmother in Ethiopia carries her grandchild.

Grandmothers Reduce Incidence of Breast Cancer?

By helping raise their grandchildren, grandmothers might have influenced the spread of certain genes, a new study suggests

This modern-day assassin bug stacks dead ant bodies on its back to confuse predators.

This Insect Uses Its Victims’ Carcasses As Camouflage

Acanthaspis petax, a type of assassin bug, stacks dead ant bodies on its back to confuse predators

The microstructure of Smets' "dinosaur" revealed the fossils to be petrified wood.

The Demise of a Wooden Dinosaur

A Victorian-era naturalist thought he’d found a new kind of dinosaur, and he threw a fit when other naturalists disagreed

One of the many mysteries baffling astronomers is how galaxies such as the Milky Way are able to form new stars at an unsustainable rate.

Top Ten Mysteries of the Universe

What are those burning questions about the cosmos that still baffle astronomers today?

The soft spot and metopic suture are clearly visible on the skull of the young human (right) and absent in the young chimpanzee (left). Those features are present, although harder to see, in the fossil of a young Australopithecus (center).

Why Do Babies Have Soft Spots?

Humans’ big, fast-growing brains and unique style of walking explain why it takes so long for infant skulls to develop

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