Debra Babalola and Shefali Bohra invented Dotplot, a device that can help users monitor their breast health.

A New Tool Could Help Detect Breast Cancer Earlier

Dotplot gives users real-time feedback and builds a personalized map of their chests

A grave with bones that were analyzed

Ancient DNA Charts Native Americans’ Journeys to Asia Thousands of Years Ago

Analysis of ten Eurasian individuals, up to 7,500 years old, gives a new picture of movement across continents

Banff Sunshine has pioneered snow farming, which involves setting up miles of fencing across its highest terrain to capture large amounts of wind-blown, natural snow.

This Canadian Ski Area Doesn’t Make Snow—It Farms It

Sunshine Village Ski Resort in Alberta is in the perfect position for piling up powder

A captive-bred male lion at Warthog Safaris in Limpopo, South Africa. The breeding facility is one of an estimated 260 in the country.

Is It Ethical to Hunt Captive Lions?

In South Africa, the big cats are raised to be killed by hunters. Opponents are outraged, but advocates point to conservation benefits

Thwaites Glacier as captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, November 26, 2020.

How We Came to Know and Fear the Doomsday Glacier

We’re only beginning to understand Antarctica’s Thwaites, the world’s most vulnerable glacier

An image created using lidar data shows the structures at Aguada Fénix, in Mexico.

Mesoamericans Have Been Using a 260-Day Ceremonial Calendar for Millennia

New research has the earliest evidence yet of when the timekeeping guide was used to mark the seasons

Copepods at various life stages teem inside a water droplet. The creatures go through six larval and six juvenile stages between egg and adulthood. They grow a new pair of legs at each stage.

These Gorgeous Photos Capture Life Inside a Drop of Seawater

A passion for the infinitesimal leads a photographer to discover the countless creatures that live unseen in the ocean

The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit relies on sagebrush for food and shelter, but the shrub has nearly disappeared. It's also slow to regrow: it takes about two decades, or ten pygmy rabbit lifetimes.

Planet Positive

Can Scientists Save the World’s Tiniest Rabbit?

In Washington State, the race is on to save a diminutive bunny as wildfires threaten its already shrinking habitat

After the American Revolution, why did the colonies keep their British nobility namesakes?

Why Did the American Colonies Keep Their British Names After the Revolution?

You’ve got questions. We’ve got experts

An impala runs away from a cheetah.

How the Brain Calculates a Quick Escape

Scientists are beginning to unravel the complex circuitry behind the split-second decision to beat a hasty retreat

This cross section of a sequoia in Yosemite National Park in California has markers identifying the dates of tree rings.

The Science Behind the Oldest Trees on Earth

How experts have determined that bristlecone pines, sequoias and baobabs have stood for thousands of years

Residents of Washington, D.C. wait in line to get Covid-19 test kits in December of 2021. The United States lagged behind other nations in testing during the first few months of the pandemic.

Six Lessons We’ve Learned From Covid That Will Help Us Fight the Next Pandemic

Public health experts weigh in on the steps America needs to take to stem a future outbreak

A growing movement is underway to halt chronic disease by protecting brains and bodies from the biological fallout of aging.

Could Getting Rid of Old Cells Help People Live Disease-Free for Longer?

Researchers are investigating medicines that selectively kill decrepit cells to promote healthy aging

Our ten-most read stories of the year featured the all-woman army of the African kingdom of Dahomey, mischievous felines, J.R.R. Tolkien and more.

Our Top Ten Stories of 2022

From a teen inventor to invasive fish to lost cities of the Amazon, these were our most-read articles of the year

Scientists believe that at several times in Earth’s history the planet was covered by ice.

How Animals May Have Conquered Snowball Earth

We know there were animals during our planet’s chilliest era. But what did they look like?

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The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2022

From Omicron’s spread to a revelation made using ancient DNA, these were the biggest moments of the past year

A team led by Laurits Skov and Benjamin Peter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology sequenced nuclear, mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA of 13 Neanderthal individuals. From these sequences, they determined that two of the Neanderthals represent a father-daughter pair and that another two are cousins.

Fourteen Discoveries Made About Human Evolution in 2022

Smithsonian paleoanthropologists reveal the year’s most riveting findings about our close relatives and ancestors

Innovators may want to create soft robots that more accurately replicate the dynamics of an elephant’s trunk.

Seven Scientific Discoveries From 2022 That May Lead to New Inventions

Nature is a breeding ground for innovative solutions to everything from aging to plastic pollution

The government in Queensland, Australia, is testing whether drones can be used to detect sharks near beaches.

Drones Spot Sharks That Wander Too Close to Busy Beaches

Ongoing tests show that the technology is an effective way to track the animals and monitor for threats

Pure Structural Color is made of several extremely thin sheets of non-conductive material. These layers are stacked together and imprinted, or stamped, with a nano-scale pattern of rods with curved ends. This pattern scatters light into colors that are visible from all directions, and different hues can be produced by changing the dimensions of the pattern.

Art Meets Science

This British Zoologist Wants to Reinvent Color

Andrew Parker has produced some of the brightest hues in the world. So, what’s his secret?

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