Drones

A tornado churns up dust at dusk near Traer, Iowa.

How and Why Do Violent Tornadoes Form?

Scientists hope new technology and computing power will help them understand destructive twisters

Tank convoy through the Ardennes, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge in January 1945

Drone Scans Reveal New Details About the Battle of the Bulge

Researchers used lidar to uncover nearly 1,000 previously unknown features of the famous battlefield

A drone made from a taxidermy bird.

Scientists Are Making Drones From Taxidermy Birds

They want to use the devices for less disruptive wildlife monitoring and to learn more about avian flight

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

The Quadcopter Mines Detector uses a metal detector to find land mines as it flies above them.

A Ukrainian Teenager Invents a Drone That Can Detect Land Mines

Seventeen-year-old Igor Klymenko worked on his invention while sheltering in a basement from Russian attacks

ElSa is a prototype of a machine-learning-driven software that analyzes movement patterns in videos of humans and elephants.

This Teenager Invented a Low-Cost Tool to Spot Elephant Poachers in Real Time

Seventeen-year-old Anika Puri created a machine-learning-driven model that analyzes the movement patterns of humans and elephants

A pair of rock reliefs found at Rabana-Merquly may depict Natounissar, an ancient Adiabene king linked to the lost city of Natounia.

Why Archaeologists Think They've Found the Lost City of Natounia

New research draws on rock reliefs and ancient coins to link the Rabana-Merquly fortress in Iraq to a vassal state of the Parthian Empire

Recreational fishers have discovered a new way to scout for fish and cast a line.

Is Fishing With a Drone the Way of the Future?

Not everyone is on board. The technology is dividing the fishing community and drawing the ire of some politicians and scientists

Bottlenose dolphins swim in the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation off Scotland. The photo was taken by an aerial drone.

In a First, Scientists Use Drones to Detect Pregnant Dolphins

Researchers say the new tech will help them better understand bottlenose dolphin reproduction

A CT scan of the spiral intestine of a Pacific spiny dogfish shark (Squalus suckleyi). The organ begins on the left and ends on the right.

Ten Scientific Discoveries From 2021 That May Lead to New Inventions

From nanobots to cancer treatments, nature inspires a wide variety of innovations

In this long exposure picture, trees burn on a hillside behind Honey Lake campground during the Dixie Fire on August 18, 2021 in Milford, California. The wildfire in Northern California continues to grow, burning over 626,000 acres according to CalFire.

From Supercomputers to Fire-Starting Drones, These Tools Help Fight Wildfires

As climate change worsens wildfires in the West, agencies are tapping into new technologies to keep up with the flames

Zipline has started to deliver Covid-19 vaccines in Ghana.

Drones Are Delivering Covid-19 Vaccines to Underserved Communities

The company Zipline is using the technology to provide medical resources to rural areas in markets around the world

Susie and Paul Sensmeier of Christiansburg, Virginia, got front row seats to the arrival of the first drone-shipped home delivery in the fall of 2019.

This Drone Made the First Home Delivery in the United States

Wing’s tether-toting drone delivered a winter vest to a retiree in Virginia and now its headed to the Air and Space Museum

Google's Wing drones can carry packages weighing up to three pounds.

Virginia School District Will Use Drones to Deliver Summer Reading

Montgomery County has partnered with Google's Wing service to distribute library books

Nearly a century ago, archaeologists started to shift the focus of human origins research from Europe to Africa’s ‘cradles of humankind’ like Oldupai (Olduvai) Gorge in Tanzania.

Archaeologists Are Unearthing the Stories of the Past Faster Than Ever Before

Recent research helps reveal the origins of humans, determine what ancient people ate and monitor historical sites from the sky

How Drones Are Helping Scientists Figure Out Whales’ Weight

Because it is so difficult to weigh the huge marine mammals, whale body mass is often not included in studies

The remote-controlled 3-D-printed raptor known as RoBird, built by a Dutch firm, swoops and soars.

These High-Tech Scarecrows Will Keep Pesky Creatures Away

From robots to digitized recordings, farmers are upping their game when it comes to protecting their crops

Green Monkeys Borrow Their Cousins' Eagle Warning Call When Drones Are Near

Intriguingly, the call is very similar to the one produced by East African vervet monkeys, suggesting that these responses are evolutionarily hard-wired

Specially-designed attachments make it possible for drones to balance on all kinds of surfaces.

These Drones Can Perch and Dangle Like Birds and Bats

Scientists have designed adaptable landing gear that enables UAVs to "rest" and save power

These Ecologists Borrowed Tricks From Astrophysicists to Count Endangered Orangutans

The thermal-imaging expertise of astronomers helped researchers find the great apes in the hot, humid jungles of Borneo

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