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An aerial image of Kilauea volcano erupting, June 3, 2024.

Hawaii’s Kilauea, One of the World’s Most Active Volcanoes, Erupts Again

The short-lived eruption occurred in an area of the volcano that had not erupted since December 1974

The fern Tmesipteris oblanceolata, which scientists just discovered has the longest known genome of any organism. Ferns are known among scientists for having particularly large genomes.

This Tiny Fern Has the World’s Largest Known Genome

The plant’s genome has about 50 times as many base pairs as a human’s, and its DNA from a single cell would stretch longer than a football field

Lego enthusiasts can now build their own Notre-Dame Cathedral, complete with rose windows and the iconic spire.

The Paris Olympics

Builders Haven’t Finished Reconstructing Notre-Dame Cathedral—But Lego Fans Can

Lego is selling a 4,383-piece model of the historic structure ahead of the upcoming Paris Olympics

A 3,000-year-old canoe at the bottom of Lake Mendota

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Discover Ancient Canoes Hidden Beneath a Wisconsin Lake

One of the vessels dates back around 4,500 years, making it the oldest ever found in the Great Lakes region

Poppy Field, Claude Monet, 1873

Climate Activist Vandalizes a Monet With an Apocalyptic Image

A protester was arrested on Saturday after plastering a poster over “Poppy Field” at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris

An illustration of our solar system's planets in a line. This week, six planets appeared to be in a line from Earth's perspective, but they did not acutally align in space.

Missed the ‘Parade of Planets’? These Upcoming Alignments Will Likely Be Better, Anyway

Astronomers tempered expectations of the celestial event this week, pointing to others in the near future as more exciting opportunities for sky watchers

A partially dried bed of Lake Pátzcuaro in Michoacán, Mexico. Rising temperatures and decreased rainfall are contributing to droughts in the area.

Mexico City’s Reservoirs Are at Risk of Running Out of Water

Amid climate change, drought and aging infrastructure, the largest metropolitan area in North America is struggling to conserve water in a major reservoir system

The graves were found in central France during an excavation of a site containing mostly fifth- and sixth-century development.

Cool Finds

These 28 Horses Were Buried in an Ancient Mass Grave. How Did They Die?

Archaeologists are puzzled by the 2,000-year-old burial site uncovered in central France

Bufoceratias wedli, a deep-sea anglerfish

Bizarre Sex Helped Anglerfish Diversify and Dominate the Deep Sea, Study Suggests

Some of these fish perform obligate parasitism, in which males attach to—and then fuse bodies with—the much-larger females

Rania Matar, Farah, 2020

This Woman-Led Photography Exhibition Showcases the Diversity of Middle Eastern Femininity

The Middle East Institute show, “Louder Than Hearts,” explores portraits of Arab and Iranian women through the lens of ten celebrated female artists

A blue-eyed cicada that's on exhibit at the Field Musum in Chicago. Four-year-old Jack Bailey found the bug in his yard, and his family donated it to the museum.

People Are Spotting Rare, Blue-Eyed Cicadas Around Illinois

As two broods of periodical cicadas emerge across the U.S. this spring, people have discovered a few of the bugs that don’t have their trademark red eyes

American authorities rounded up all 600 of the artifacts in a single year.

Trove of 600 Looted Italian Artifacts Worth $65 Million Comes Home

The collection includes artifacts spanning the ninth century B.C.E. to the second century C.E.

One of the lost works discovered in AMU's University Library with annotations from the Brothers Grimm

The Brothers Grimm Did Much More Than Tell Fairy Tales

A recent discovery in a Polish library of 27 books that were thought to have been lost sheds light on the breadth of the German scholars’ work

From 1979 to 2020, severe turbulence in some locations increased by as much as 55 percent, according to a 2023 study.

Climate Change Is Making Airplane Turbulence More Common and Severe, Scientists Say

Following turbulence on a flight last week that led to one death and dozens of injuries, researchers, flight attendants and transportation officials alike are warning about links between warmer air and turbulence

The 311-foot-long vessel was built in Connecticut starting in 1941 and made six war patrols in search of Japanese warships.

Wreck of WWII Submarine Found After 80 Years

The USS Harder, known by the nickname “Hit ’em Harder,” was led by a commander known for his ‘particularly audacious attacks’ on Japanese warships

A 1905 illustration of Jamestown from Harper's Encyclopaedia of United States History 

Research Reveals Early Jamestown Settlers Ate Indigenous Dogs to Survive

Cut marks on canine bones demonstrate that English colonists relied on dogs for meals

A helicopter photographs lava and ash from the May 29 eruption in Iceland. The surrounding area has been evacuated.

Another Volcanic Eruption Hits Iceland, Launching Lava More Than 160 Feet Into the Air

It’s the fifth eruption near the town of Grindavik since December, signaling a new era of volcanic activity for the region

The researchers used drone footage and tracking devices to analyze the behavior of 11 orcas in the northern Pacific Ocean.

Between Dives, Orcas Take Only a Single Breath

A new study finds the black-and-white marine mammals tend to make shorter, shallower dives compared to humpback and blue whales, making orcas the “sprinters” of the ocean

The sympathetic nervous system was thought to have evolved with jawed vertebrates. But lampreys—jawless, parasitic fish that suck out the blood of their hosts—have a simple one, per recent research.

Eerie Lampreys Hint at the Origins of Our ‘Fight-or-Flight’ Response and Sympathetic Nervous System

The jawless, parasitic fish largely haven’t changed over the last 340 million years, but they might be better sources for studying our own evolution than thought, a recent study suggests

Measuring more than five and a half feet long and three inches thick, the fragment represents almost an entire wall of the sarcophagus.

Ramses II’s Long-Lost Sarcophagus Has Finally Been Identified

An Egyptologist recently concluded that a fragment of an overlooked granite coffin bears the great pharaoh’s name

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