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Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park huddled together, facing outward, in a behavior called an "alert circle" after an earthquake hit.

Watch These Elephants Form an ‘Alert Circle’ as an Earthquake Shakes San Diego, Protecting Their Young at the Center

Footage from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park shows the large mammals huddling together around the herd’s calves

LaBrea Letson, 8, sells lemonade made with bottled water outside her grandmother’s home near the derailment site. A van passing by tests the air for hazardous chemicals.

See 26 Captivating Images From the World Press Photo Contest

In stark black-and-white and stunning color, this year’s winning photographs capture global events on a human scale

Researchers recently captured the first-ever confirmed video of the colossal squid in its natural habitat.

Check Out the First Confirmed Footage of the Colossal Squid, a Rare and Enigmatic Deep-Sea Species

Most of what we know about the elusive creature comes from research on its remains found in whale stomachs, but scientists just filmed a one-foot-long juvenile in the South Atlantic Ocean

The far side of the moon—seen here, captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—could be much drier than expected.

The Moon’s Far Side Is Strangely Dry—Lunar Samples Suggest It’s Much More Parched Than the Side That Faces Earth

Chinese researchers analyzed the first-ever soil samples returned from the far side of the moon, but further samples will be needed to verify their findings

The North Wind, Emily Brontë, 1842

Rare Watercolor by ‘Wuthering Heights’ Author Emily Brontë Will Go on Public Display for the First Time

“The North Wind,” painted while Emily and her sister Charlotte were studying in Belgium, is now heading to the Brontë family home in Yorkshire

Researchers Daniel Cerveny and Marcus Michelangeli collecting salmon from the Dal River in Sweden.

Salmon Are Being Exposed to Our Anti-Anxiety Medication, and It’s Making Them Take More Risks, Study Suggests

Atlantic salmon exposed to a common anti-anxiety drug migrate faster, according to new research. That’s not necessarily a good thing

The interior of the Sagrada Familia, the unfinished basilica in Barcelona, Spain

As His 143-Year-Old Church Nears Completion, Architect Antoni Gaudí Is Placed on the Path to Sainthood

Gaudí, nicknamed “God’s architect,” was declared “venerable” by Pope Francis this week, putting him one step closer to canonization

Neil Frye was just 20 years old when he was killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

A Young Sailor’s Remains Return Home 84 Years After He Was Killed at Pearl Harbor

Neil Frye was 20 when Japan launched its surprise attack on December 7, 1941. He has been laid to rest with full military honors in his home state of North Carolina

Matteo Paz with Caltech President Thomas F. Rosenbaum after winning the Regeneron Science Talent Search award.

High School Student Discovers 1.5 Million Potential New Astronomical Objects by Developing an A.I. Algorithm

The 18-year-old won $250,000 for training a machine learning model to analyze understudied data from NASA’s retired NEOWISE telescope

Ronin the African giant pouched rat is one of more than 100 rats trained by a Belgian nonprofit to sniff out deadly land mines.

Super-Sniffing Rat Sets a New World Record for Discovering Deadly Land Mines—and He’s Just Getting Started

Ronin, a 5-year-old African giant pouched rat, has found 109 land mines and 15 other unexploded ordnances in Cambodia

One of the wall paintings discovered at the Ashes, a Tudor-era guest house in northeastern England, depicts a dog's head.

Cool Finds

See the ‘Fantastical Beasts and Foliage’ Featured in These Rare, Newly Discovered Tudor Wall Paintings

Created in the Grotesque style, the 16th-century images—revealed by renovations at a lodge in England—mimic historic textile designs

An aerial view of dredges at an illegal gold mining area in the Amazon region of Peru.

Tree Rings Bear Witness to Illegal Gold Mining Operations in the Amazon, New Study Finds

Mercury concentrations in fig trees could provide useful information about mining activity in the rainforest over time

Glowing "milky seas," seen here from a satellite, have confused and captivated sailors for centuries.

Glowing ‘Milky Seas’ Have Baffled Sailors for Centuries—New Research Brings Scientists One Step Closer to Solving the Mystery

Historical accounts of vast ocean waters glowing in the dark go back hundreds of years, and researchers are still trying to determine exactly what triggers the phenomenon

The boxcar was part of the Merci Train, which France gave to the United States in 1949.

Cool Finds

Long-Lost ‘Merci Train’ Given to New Jersey After World War II Has Been Found

To thank America for its support during the war, France sent a boxcar stuffed with gifts to each state. But in the late 1950s, New Jersey’s disappeared without a trace

Carrion crows (Corvus corone) can tell the difference between geometric shapes, according to new research.

Crows May Grasp Basic Geometry: Study Finds the Brainy Birds Can Tell the Difference Between Shapes

Scientists tested crows on their ability to recognize “geometric regularity,” a skill previously assumed to be unique to humans

A Bigger Grand Canyon (1998) is a 25-foot-long work spread out across 60 canvases.

At a Massive New David Hockney Retrospective, Spring Never Ends

The exhibition features more than 400 of the 87-year-old artist’s works, which are spread throughout the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris

In hopes that they could control destructive cane beetles, people introduced cane toads to Australia in 1935. Instead, the amphibian's population exploded, and today, cane toads number roughly 200 million.

Scientists Create Gene-Edited ‘Peter Pan’ Tadpoles That Could Control Invasive Cane Toads Through Cannibalism

To combat one of Australia’s most troublesome species, researchers are developing hungry tadpoles that never grow up

 An artist's rendering of the altar

New Research

Archaeologists Unearth Intricately Decorated Altar That May Have Been Used for Ancient Sacrifices in Guatemala

Discovered in the ruins of Tikal, the altar sheds light on strained relations between the Maya city and Teotihuacán—which was located more than 600 miles away

Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN) captured from California. 

A Newly Discovered and Brilliantly Green Comet Is Dazzling Astronomers. Here’s What to Know About the Glowing Celestial Visitor

Initial observations suggest the comet, called C/2025 F2 (SWAN), will continue getting brighter as it approaches the sun. Northern Hemisphere viewers with binoculars can currently spot it in early morning skies

The bow of the Titanic

See the Titanic in Remarkable Detail With a 3D Scan That Reveals New Secrets of the Doomed Ship’s Final Moments

A documentary called “Titanic: The Digital Resurrection” will unveil the most detailed digital reconstruction of the shipwreck ever created. Experts are using the model to study the vessel’s demise

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