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New Research

Illustration of Macrauchenia from the forthcoming book "Biggest, Fiercest, Strangest" W. Norton Publishers (in production)

New Research

Mystery Mammals’ Ancestry Was Revealed by Proteins, Not DNA

The huge rhino-like animal and trunked llama-like animal posed a mystery until now

New Research

There’s a Good Reason Why People Really Hate Paying Their Taxes

In a word: corporations

Center pivot irrigation in Blythe, California

New Research

We’re Taking All the Water Out of the Ground And Causing Sea Levels to Rise

Pumping water out of aquifers at the rate we do doesn’t just threaten the water supply, it also exacerbates the effects of climate change

Walruses in Svalbard

New Research

It’s Hard to Protect Arctic Mammals When We Don’t Know How Many Live There

Only a handful of animal populations are well counted — leaving researchers in the dark about how threatened the others are

New Research

Too Much Tech Could Be Causing Nearsightedness…But Not in the Way You Might Think

Forget eye strain—too much time indoors could cause myopia

It's a beetle invasion! These lady beetles (also known as lady bugs) are just one of Earth's family of beetles.

New Research

Beetle Species, Weirdly, Almost Never Go Extinct

The world is disproportionately filled with beetles—now, a new study suggests that’s because few species have ever been wiped out

New Research

Wikipedia Editing Shows That Different Countries Have Different Sets of Interests

New analysis shows that interests are local, not global

New Research

You Can Thank the Ancient Maya for Your Grocery Store’s Papaya

New research suggests the Mesoamerican civilization was responsible for first cultivating the hermaphrodite version of the plant favored by growers

New Research

Could Your Browser Make You a Better Employee?

The answer could be yes…if you use Firefox or Chrome

35-year old male chimp Frodo enjoying Mbula fruit he collected in Gombe National Park, Tanzania

New Research

Chimps Will Work Harder to Get Their Favorite Foods

An experimental setup shows that chimps will travel farther to get a more preferred reward

New Research

Watching Cooking Shows Could Make You Fat

Put down the remote—new research links cooking shows, higher BMI

This detail from Rome's Trajan's Column hints at what the Roman soldiers who built the fort recently discovered near Trieste may have looked like.

New Research

The Oldest Known Ancient Roman Fort Has Been Discovered in Italy

Researchers use laser scanners to identify a Roman military camp that may have initiated the settlement of the modern Italian city of Trieste

New Research

Parasites Linked to Cannibalism

A tiny creature makes shrimp more likely to eat their own

New Research

People Ate Pork in the Middle East Until 1,000 B.C.—What Changed?

A new study investigates the historical factors leading up to the emergence of pork prohibition

Researchers strapped electronics onto giant flower beetles to better understand how they direct themselves during flight.

New Research

Remote Controlled Bug-Bots Could be First Responders of the Future

Scientists studying how beetles steer themselves in flight gather research that may have implications far beyond understanding bug biology

This shot of a statue from the Louvre is one of the least-shocking anus-related image we came up with.

New Research

Science Is Still Unclear About the Evolutionary Origin of the Anus

A newly published scientific review attempts to “get to the bottom” of how animals acquired what some might call the most indecent part of the body

The slime mold, physarum polycephalum

New Research

Slime Mold Has an Uncannily Accurate Sense of Where Rome Built Its Roads

The strange organisms are remarkably good at mapping the most efficient route from place to place—and that’s exactly what roads do

Replicas of English sailing ships on the James River — similar ships would have brought English colonists to Jamestown in 1607

New Research

Did the Age of Humans Begin in 1610?

Debate over when the Anthropocene began is starting to narrow in on a few dates — 1610, when the Old World met the New, is one promising candidate

A computer that passes the new test would be able to say which people in this scene from Pushkar, India, are carrying objects and which are riding bikes

New Research

Now the Turing Test Goes Visual

A proposed test would have computer programs not only pick out what is in a photo but what is happening

These coppery titi monkeys have a red beards similar to those sported by the newly discovered Milton’s titi monkey. The new species can be further identified by a light gray stripe across their foreheads and a bright orange tail.

New Research

Adorable Monkey New to Science Identified in Threatened Rainforest

Researchers in the Brazilian rainforest describe a previously undocumented species of titi monkey whose habitat faces man-made threats

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