Ancient Moon Melt Event May Explain 150-Million-Year Gap in Age Estimates
The moon may have melted 4.35 billion years ago—explaining a lunar age mystery
Penguins Help to Map Antarctica’s Growing Mercury Threat
Mercury is a common by-product of gold mining, a growing industry in several southern countries. The toxic metal accumulates as it moves up the food chain by binding with amino…
Nectar-Eating Wolves May Be Pollinating Flowers
There are fewer than 500 Ethiopian wolves, and they may be the first large carnivore known to act as a pollinator
The Unbelievable Slowness of Thinking
The brain is sometimes called the most complex machine in the known universe. But the thoughts that it outputs putter along at a trifling 10 bits per second, the pace…
How Corals Fight Back against Warming Seas
Most corals can’t relocate, but they’re finding ways to beat the heat
New Nasal Vaccines Offer Stronger Protection from COVID, Flu, and More—No Needle Needed
Despite the bureaucratic and scientific hurdles, the sheer number of nasal vaccines now in clinical trials encourages Iwasaki and other scientists pursuing the needle-free route. They say it seems like…
How the Famous Lucy Fossil Revolutionized the Study of Human Origins
Half a century after its discovery, this iconic fossil remains central to our understanding of human origins
Tardigrade Fossils Reveal When ‘Water Bears’ Became Indestructible
The resulting family tree recalibration allowed the researchers to calculate when the two tardigrade lines that perform cryptobiosis could have diverged—putting a latest date on the likely acquisition of that…
Iron Chompers
There aren’t many scenarios in which getting a good look at a bunch of Komodo dragon teeth ends well. The massive lizard’s mouth holds 60 serrated teeth, each up to…
Tiny Babies Who Can Smell Their Mother Recognize Faces Better
Babies experience a torrent of sensory information from the moment they are born. Knowing nothing about the world, they must learn to sort this deluge into categories of things—especially faces.…