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In the U.S., affordable housing units along the coast tend to be built in flood-prone areas where the land is cheaper and developers cannot build.

Affordable Housing Units Prone to Floods Could Triple by 2050

Without swift action to reduce carbon emissions, nearly 25,000 low-income houses will face annual flooding in the next 30 years

Russian physicist and engineer Lev Sergeyevich Termen—who later came to be widely known as Léon Theremin—invented his namesake instrument around 1920. Here, he's pictured in 1928.

Art Meets Science

The Soviet Spy Who Invented the First Major Electronic Instrument

Created by a Russian engineer, the theremin has delighted and confounded audiences since 1920

The winner (and one guest) will be invited to attend the Mona Lisa's annual inspection—one of the few times the work emerges from behind bullet-proof glass.

How You Could Be One of the Only People in the Room With the ‘Mona Lisa’

A Christie’s auction benefitting the Louvre offers a winning bidder the chance to attend the painting’s annual inspection

AlphaFold's protein structure in blue is shown overlaid with the lab results in green for two kinds of proteins.

New Research

Breakthrough A.I. Makes Huge Leap Toward Solving 50-Year-Old Problem in Biology

Proteins are vital biological molecules, and it can require years of lab-based experiments to tease out the 3-D shape of just one

Early Puebloans wove turkey feathers into yucca fiber to make the blanket.

In the Ancient American Southwest, Turkeys Were Friends, Not Food

An 800-year-old blanket made out of turkey feathers testifies to the bird’s significance in Pueblo culture

A great blue heron seen wading in front of an oil refinery. Burning and producing fossil fuels are major sources of air pollution. A new study estimates that over the last four decades environmental regulations aimed at improving air quality have saved the lives of some 1.5 billion birds across the United States.

New Research

Study Estimates Clean Air Act Has Saved 1.5 Billion Birds

Over the last 40 years, bird populations across the U.S. did the best in places with the most stringent air pollution regulations

A map of Doggerland, which once connected Britain to mainland Europe

Study Rewrites History of Ancient Land Bridge Between Britain and Europe

New research suggests that climate change, not a tsunami, doomed the now-submerged territory of Doggerland

Over the last 30 years, rainfall on Hawai'i's islands has decreased by 18 percent while the number of residents has doubled since the late 1950s, leading to a high demand for an already scarce resource.

New Research

Newly Discovered Underground Rivers Could Be Potential Solution for Hawai’i’s Drought

The reservoirs could provide twice as much fresh water to tap into

The Chicken Soup Manifesto features delightful dishes from Ethiopia, Vietnam, Greece and other countries across the globe.

A Journey Around the World, as Told Through Chicken Soup

In her latest book, Portland-based chef Jenn Louis catalogs more than 100 recipes from 64 countries

A keyhole wasp can block up an airplane's external sensor in as little as 30 minutes.

New Research

In Australia, Just One Wasp Can Ground an Airplane With a Strategically Placed Nest

Invasive keyhole wasps were building nests in the equipment pilots use to measure how fast they’re flying

Ancient artists created the works between 12,600 and 11,800 years ago.

Cool Finds

Tens of Thousands of 12,000-Year-Old Rock Paintings Found in Colombia

The images—heralded by researchers as “the Sistine Chapel of the ancients”—depict animals, humans and geometric patterns

A male bottlenose dolphin used in the study, seen here with electrocardiogram suction cups attached to monitor its heart rate.

New Research

Dolphins May Be Able to Control Their Heart Rates

New study finds trained dolphins slow their hearts faster and more dramatically when instructed to perform long dives than short ones

Kazumasa Ogawa, Chrysanthemum from Some Japanese Flowers. ca. 1894

Art Meets Science

How Has Photography’s Relationship With Nature Evolved Over the Past 200 Years?

A new exhibition at London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery features more than 100 works documenting the natural world

The wildlife crossing is about 50 feet wide and 320 feet long and is covered in rocks and logs.

Animals Are Using Utah’s Largest Wildlife Overpass Earlier Than Expected

The state will conduct a full analysis of the bridge after three to five years, but early results are promising

Researchers analyze the microbiome of Leonardo's Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk (circa 1490). Housed at the Royal Library of Turin, the detailed sketch is considered by some scholars to be a self-portrait.

Art Meets Science

Hidden Microbes and Fungi Found on the Surface of Leonardo da Vinci Drawings

Researchers used new DNA sequencing technology to examine the “bio-archives” of seven of the Renaissance master’s sketches

This discovery offers a new theory to how the world's most ferocious predator went extinct more than 3 million years ago.

Megalodons, the Ocean’s Most Ferocious Prehistoric Predators, Raised Their Young in Nurseries

The fossils shed light on how these sharks were raised and what led to their ultimate demise

The cold and isolation of the Svalbard archipelago helps preserve the Arctic World Archive's contents.

Norway Preserves ‘The Scream’ for Future Generations by Burying Digital Copy in Arctic Coal Mine

The Munch masterpiece joins digitized art and artifacts from more than 15 countries in the “futureproof” Arctic World Archive

A helicopter crew discovered this odd monolith in the middle of the Utah desert on November 18.

Cool Finds

A Mysterious Monolith in the Utah Desert Vanished Overnight

Theories regarding the 12-foot-tall metal structure’s origins—and ultimate fate—abound

The Langfonne ice patch has shrunk dramatically over the past 20 years.

Cool Finds

Melting Ice in Norway Reveals Ancient Arrows

Finds from reindeer hunts span 5,000 years, from the Stone Age to the medieval era

The giraffe's white color comes from a genetic condition called leucism.

World’s Only Known White Giraffe Now Has a GPS Tracker

The young bull used to be one of a trio of white giraffes, but the two others were found dead in March

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