Science
Pandas Bounce Back in Spite of Their Critics
Protecting the cuddly bear is expensive, but worth it.
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Andrew Cullen / Reuters The Obama Administration Temporarily Blocks the Dakota Access Pipeline
The surprise move came after a federal judge declined to stop the 1,100-mile fossil fuel project’s construction.
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Mladen Antonov / Getty Flat-Earthers Have a Wild New Theory About Forests
What it means to believe that “real” trees no longer exist.
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Jim Young / Reuters A Worrying Trend for Psychology’s “Simple Little Tricks"
In yet another setback for the field, researchers have failed to replicate two studies showing that basic techniques can reduce racial achievement gaps and improve voter turnout.
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Michael Baym Stunning Videos of Evolution in Action
The MEGA-plate allows scientists to watch bacteria adapting to antibiotics before their eyes.
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Regis Duvignau / Reuters Feed a Cold, Don’t Starve It
Sometimes sugar causes inflammation. Sometimes it does the opposite.
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Danny Balete / Field Museum Mountains Are Home to More Species Than Scientists Ever Imagined
New research contradicts the longstanding belief that diversity drops as elevation gains.
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New Hope for the Devil
No, despite the title, this is not a U.S.-politics item. Three years ago I did an…
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John Locher / AP Not Doomed Yet: The Audacity of California's New Climate Policy
The state is on the verge of adopting the most stringent carbon-emissions bill ever.
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Edgar Su / Reuters How Does Zika Affect the Toddler Brain?
Scientists know the virus can be devastating to a developing fetus, but there are lingering questions about the risks of infection among newborns and young children.
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Jay Pasachoff / NASA How Artists Have Depicted Eclipses Across History
In some cases, their paintings have improved our scientific understanding of these strange cosmic events.
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Denis Sinyakov / Reuters Apeirophobia: The Fear of Eternity
Which is scarier, death or everlasting life?
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NASA What Happened to SpaceX's Falcon 9?
The rocket, which was meant to launch a satellite this weekend, exploded on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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Bob Strong The World’s Oldest Fossils Are 3.7 Billion Years Old
The newly discovered rocks suggest that life arose very quickly after the Earth was formed.
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Tatan Syuflana / AP Living Russian Dolls
They have bacteria in their cells, and smaller bacteria in those bacteria—and that’s not even the weirdest bit.
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Art G / Flickr Captivity Makes Monkey Microbiomes More Human-Like
Our microbiomes winnowed when we swapped hunting and gathering for cities—and a few months in a zoo will do the same to a monkey.
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Clarissa Cavalheiro / Reuters How Sunflowers Follow the Sun
The secret is in their stems.
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Ivan Alvarado / Reuters The Multiverse Idea Is Rotting Culture
What looks at first glance like an opening up of possibilities is actually an attack on the human imagination.
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Marsha Miller / UT Austin What Killed the World’s Most Famous Fossil?
A new analysis of Lucy’s bones suggests that she may have fallen to her death from a tall tree.
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Valentin Flauraud / Reuters What a Bad Decision Looks Like in the Brain
Economics hasn’t been able to explain irrational choices. Can neuroscience?
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Anthony Lee / Getty / Zak Bickel / ... Don't Try to Win the Argument
What to do if you’re a Hillary fan seated next to a Trump supporter at a wedding
