A rare breed of black hole, 15 million light years away, sheds light on a cosmic mystery
Save the Polar Bear—Today Especially
One of the planet’s most charismatic creatures is being driven into the sea—literally. But there are ways to save the species
Researchers 3D Print a Whale Graveyard So They Can Study It Later
After road construction on the Pan-American Highway revealed a mysterious whale graveyard in Chile, researchers scrambled to figure out why so many of the mammals died in the same spot. After ongoing construction threatened to …
How Uncle Sam Is Helping to Feed the Honeybees
A new program at the USDA will pay farmers and ranchers to plant bee-friendly crops. It’s about time
715 New Planets Found (You Read That Number Right)
A major haul by the Kepler space telescope has astronomers cheering
Waterworld Found! (No, Not the One With Kevin Costner)
It’s not easy to tell if a distant planet orbiting a distant star is habitable, but researchers have developed a new way
Report: Camels Play Key Role in Spread of Deadly Virus in Middle East
Researchers remain stumped about the origin of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome but now say the virus (or a close relative) has been circulating in camels for more than two decades
Volcanoes May Be Slowing Down Climate Change
The planet hasn’t been warming as much as climate models predicted—and it could be that sulfur emissions from volcanoes are blocking sunlight, cooling the Earth
Japan Mulls Nuclear Revival Not Even 3 Years After Fukushima
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposes re-opening plants shuttered after disaster
These are 11 of the Oldest Things in the World
All that lives must die—but some organisms get a little more time on this Earth than others. For nearly a decade, the photographer Rachel Sussman has been traveling around the world, capturing images of the oldest continuously …