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Biology

Revolution is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California.

Cool Finds

Fly Through Space With This “Mixed Reality” Coaster

The park promises it won’t give you motion sickness—well, more than on a regular rollar coaster, that is

The Extraordinary Life Cycle of a Hornet Colony

After a hornet queen lays hundreds of eggs, her workers set about feeding the larvae chewed-up prey. With tiny waists, the workers can’t digest solid food

Deciding when to get divorced is a difficult calculation—even for birds.

Age of Humans

Birds Struggle to Keep Their Marriages in Rapidly Changing Urban Environments

Deciding whether to get divorced is a complex calculation, even for birds

Australia Wants to Streamline Its Border Control Using Biometrics

The country envisions a system that would eliminate the need for paper passports or identity cards for a number of the 35 million who visit each year

Peregrine falcons are found on every continent except Antarctica

Super Bowl

Ten Fun Facts About Falcons, the Birds

As the Atlanta Falcons prepare to play in the Super Bowl, learn about the remarkable raptors behind the name

This 195-million-year-old rib bone may still have bits of protein clinging to its crevices.

New Research

Meaty Finds: Two Studies Claim to Have Isolated Dinosaur Proteins

Scientists have long thought soft tissues couldn’t survive over millennia—but new research suggests that isn’t the case

Gotcha! A frog's tongue can be five times faster than the blink of a human eye.

New Research

Inside Every Frog’s Mouth Is a Sticky, Grabby Bullet

Investigating frog tongues—and some human ones!—in the name of science

Astronaut Twin Study Shows How Hard Space Is on the Body

The study’s first results suggest that space travel can cause changes on the molecular level

An artist's recreation of what the ancient creature looked like.

Bag-Like, Big-Mouthed Sea Creature Could Be Earliest Human Ancestor

This minute wriggly sea blob could represent some of the earliest steps along the path of evolution

From top left: (A and B) The new species Pylopaguropsis mollymullerae in Bonaire; (C and E) the new species in a den with a broad banded moray (D) the new species' coral ledge habitat.

Smithsonian Scientist and a Reef-Diving Grandmother Team Up in Discovery of New Hermit Crab

A new species of hermit crab is named to honor her 7-year-old granddaughter Molly

Earwax: Coming To a Home Air Filtration System Near You?

A clogged ear on a scuba trip led a Georgia Institute of Technology engineer to study the dust-filtering properties of the waxy substance

A gecko uses millions of tiny hairs to cling powerfully to surfaces. A new device exploits this adaptation by using ultraviolet light as a switch.

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Scientists Can Turn This Gecko-Inspired Gripping Device On or Off With the Flick of a Light

The mighty lizard inspires yet another innovation that could prove a boon to robotics and manufacturing

Victorian mores influenced ideas not just about men and women but animals too.

How Victorian Gender Norms Shaped the Way We Think About Animal Sex

No, females aren’t always choosy and males don’t always get around

This aerial view shoes the weird wonder of "fairy circles" in the Namibian desert.

New Research

Dueling Theories on the Cause of “Fairy Circles” Could Both Be Right

New research brings together competing concepts to describe how the mysterious features form

Stanford researcher Michael Snyder led a study on how wearable sensors could help predict illnesses.

What If an App Could Tell You When You’re Getting Sick?

A Stanford geneticist may be onto something. Body data collected by smartwatches and other sensors can tip us off to brewing colds or infections

Have Scientists Found a Way to Actually Reduce the Effects of Aging?

Researchers at the Salk Institute in California have successfully induced cells to behave like younger cells

Creatures so small that they had been overlooked in the past—sea urchins, Echinometra viridis, (above) the size of ping-pong balls and a diminutive species of parrotfish, Scarus iseri, were grazing algae on the reef.

These Itsy-Bitsy Herbivores Could Stage a Huge Coral Reef Rescue

Tiny parrotfish and sea urchins can take over the job of their larger cousins to keep a reef free of algae

Are stem cells the solution?

The Innovative Spirit fy17

Tear Your Meniscus? This “Living Bandage” May Help

British researchers are using a newly patented technique involving stem cells to repair the common knee injury

Incredible: This Underwater Spider Has an Actual Scuba Tank

The scuba spider is the only arachnid to live exclusively underwater, despite lacking gills. Its secret is a makeshift oxygen supply

Anna's hummingbirds have brains uniquely adapted for hovering precisely while feeding.

New Research

For Hummingbirds, the World Moves as Fast as They Do

New research shows how the hummingbird brain allows them to hover and fly precisely

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