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Neuroscientists have long sought to explain how the brain correctly recognizes a stimulus despite the stimulus appearing under different circumstances with widely variable external factors. For example, with regard to olfactory stimuli, humans can…

Renowned as adept fliers and as some of the first insects to have ever developed wings, with a fossil record going back more than 300 million years, dragonflies (class Odonata) have long interested scientists across interdisciplinary lines. A recent…

Studies have shown that all classes of vertebrates—and even some invertebrate species—have the cognitive ability to discriminate among different quantities. For example, many kinds of studied animals can distinguish specific numbers of objects in…

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), of all the food produced worldwide, 14 percent—estimated at approximately USD$300 billion—goes to waste each year along the food supply chain, from farms to the retail…

Among the non-human animals that can be infected with—and become sick from—humans who have the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 are deer, mink, hyenas, pigs, ferrets, dogs, cats, and primates such as rhesus macaque monkeys, baboons, and…

Food packaging prevents contamination and extends the shelf-life of food products, making food safe and available to the public. Common food-packaging materials include metals, glass, paper, and plastics. Of these, metals, glass, and recyclable…

Bats are members of the order Chiroptera, which is the second-largest order of living mammals. The geographic distribution of these flying mammals is tremendous as well, ranging from the limit of trees in the Northern Hemisphere to the southern tips…

Although cats are the number one lethal threat to birds, collisions with building glass are not far behind. The number of birds killed each year by glass collisions worldwide is estimated to be in the billons. In the United States, the U.S. Fish &…

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) exclusively consume milkweed plants (genus Asclepia) both for nutrition and to help deter predators. Milkweed plants contain toxins that accumulate in the butterfly larva, or caterpillars, as the insects feed;…

Genealogists and anthropologists have long disputed the provenance of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris). Although genetic analyses and fossil evidence indicate that the domestic dog descended from the gray wolf (Canis lupus), the exact location…

Food waste occurs at all levels of the supply chain and beyond, from farm to table, for reasons ranging from spoilage to over-buying. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service defines food waste as “the edible amount of…

Pasta comes in various sizes and shapes, ranging from long and flat (such as linguine and spaghetti) to short types in the shape of shells (conchiglie), corkscrews (fusilli), and many others. Shaped pastas contain a larger volume of air, resulting…

Black holes pack an extraordinary amount of mass into a small spatial volume, resulting in gravitational fields so powerful that not even light can escape. These extreme objects occur as two distinct populations in the universe. The first, called…

The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)—one of three species of hyenas found in Africa—is a highly social mammal that lives in large groups, or clans, containing at least 90 individuals. The social organization of spotted hyenas is more complex than the…

In the future, will global demand for coffee outstrip supply? The International Coffee Organization thinks so, based on droughts in Central America, crop-destroying freezing weather in Brazil, and global climate change. In general, coffee is a very…

The American bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) was once on the brink of extinction in North America. As a result of concerted conservation efforts, including the elimination of use of the pesticide DDT in the United States in 1972, the bald…

The taxonomic classification of whales continues to evolve as marine biologists glean new insights from investigations of the largest of all animals on Earth. Two recent whale discoveries—one concerning a new species, and the other dealing with…

For the first time, researchers have used the spin rates of black holes in the wide-ranging and ongoing search for dark matter. A recent study proposed that if a certain kind of dark matter particle, known as an ultralight boson, existed in a…

A new study has offered a possible explanation for a mysterious drop in brightness exhibited by the star Betelgeuse, an event known as the Great Dimming. Betelgeuse is an aged, red supergiant star located relatively close to Earth and readily…

The fossil record of sharks (members of the subclass Elasmobranchii within the class Chondrichthyes, or cartilaginous fishes) dates back more than 420 million years. Over the course of this time, sharks have been among the top predators found in the…

The discovery of gravitational waves in 2015 revolutionized astronomy by opening up an entirely new way of studying extreme cosmic phenomena. Now researchers have reported the first evidence for a previously theorized but never-before-seen kind of…

Astronomers have found oddly synchronized star formation rates in 36 dwarf galaxies scattered around the Milky Way Galaxy. These dwarf galaxies all showed declines in star formation rates starting around six billion years ago, and then showed…

After a 203-day journey covering 472 million kilometers (293 million miles), NASA's Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars on February 18, 2021. Perseverance is the largest and most sophisticated machine to ever land on another world.…

An investigation of 890-million-year-old limestone rocks excavated from the mountains of Canada's Northwest Territories has revealed possible evidence of the oldest animal life on Earth. Prior to this study, the oldest undisputed fossils of animal…

With a fossil record dating to the start of the Mesozoic era, approximately 250 million years ago, the tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) is the sole extant representative of the reptilian order Rhynchocephalia. This unique reptile has an unusually long…

A clade of ancient birds known as lithornithids (chicken-sized, long-beaked birds), who lived approximately 40–70 million years ago, possessed a unique vibrotactile bill-tip organ that allowed these birds to detect vibrations in the ground. The…

In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first humanmade object to leave the solar system when the space probe traversed the heliopause—the boundary at which the outflow of plasma from the Sun, known as solar wind, gives way to the collective solar winds from…

Ample evidence—from lake-, river-, and delta-like geological features to aqueous mineralogy—supports the inference that Mars once had vast quantities of water pooling and flowing across its surface. A longstanding question has centered around what…

Cosmochemists have discovered the oldest solid material known to exist on Earth. The material, stardust, consists of silicon carbide grains measuring around one micrometer in size. The grains date back approximately 7 billion years, or about 2.5…

In September 2020, researchers answered a longstanding question about why planetary nebulae display such a rich variety of shapes. Winds from aging stars produce planetary nebulae as the winds eject the stars' outer layers, shrouding the stars in…

Wildfires, also termed bushfires or forest fires, are currently devastating large swaths of land in Australia. Detrimental ecologic consequences of these uncontrolled combustions of forest fuels and vegetation are numerous. One of the most serious…

The nearest images of the Sun obtained to date have revealed a new phenomenon, dubbed campfires, which appear as small, bright flickers of light all over the Sun's surface. The Solar Orbiter, a European Space Agency spacecraft launched in February…

Astronomers have discovered the closest black hole on record, located 1,100 light-years away from our solar system. This black hole is part of the star system HR 6819, which consists of two bright, bluish stars. On a clear, dark night, these stars…

Obscured by a hazy atmosphere 100 times thicker than Earth's, Venus is a notoriously difficult world to study. Ground temperatures on Venus exceed 450°C (842°F)—enough to melt lead and to have quickly degraded the Soviet robotic landers last placed…

Scientists have suggested a possible connection between ancient Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) and the severity of disease in patients affected by COVID-19. In short, certain genes acquired from Neandertals during instances of interbreeding…

The world’s oceans and coasts provide a natural sink for excess carbon in the atmosphere. Scientists refer to carbon that is captured and stored this way as blue carbon. Well-known blue-carbon examples include mangroves and salt marshes—wetland…

Observations from the Hubble Space Telescope have solved a significant cosmic mystery that will help scientists better understand dark matter, an enigmatic substance theorized to outnumber normal matter at least fivefold. In 2018, astronomers were…

Using an artificial intelligence technique known as deep learning and high-resolution remote sensing, scientists have counted and mapped the location of trees in 11,000 satellite images covering more than 1.3 million square kilometers (500,000…

Astronomers have observed a galaxy from when the universe was only 1.4 billion years old that is remarkably similar to our Milky Way. Although lacking spiral arms like our galaxy, this distant galaxy does display a rotating disc and a starry,…

The earliest representatives of modern humans—those belonging to Homo sapiens—evolved from more archaic humans approximately 150,000–300,000 years ago in eastern Africa. During succeeding years, the geographical range of anatomically modern humans…

Mucus produced by the common garden snail (Helix aspersa) is green. The slime is not actually green in color but is “green” in terms of its environmentally friendly chemistry. It turns out that this snail’s mucus has chemical properties as a…

The ExoMars orbiter has detected a green glow emanating from excited oxygen molecules in the dayside atmosphere of Mars. The observations, gathered over a six-month period last year, confirm a four-decades-old prediction and represent the first time…

Life on Earth has been punctuated by a number of catastrophic mass extinctions throughout history. During these events, diverse taxonomic groups collapsed from the relatively rapid and widespread extinction of large numbers of species. Precipitated…

Conservationists are alarmed by significant reductions in insect populations worldwide. Based on recent biodiversity surveys and entomological studies, scientists estimate that more than 40% of the world's insect species (class Insecta, phylum…

Highly energetic light emitted by aged stars causes asteroids to keep spinning faster and faster to the point of disintegration, a new study finds. The findings help explain why white dwarf stars—remnants of Sunlike stars—often have metallic…

Of the three extant elephant species, two inhabit Africa: the African bush or savanna elephant, Loxodonta africana; and the smaller African forest elephant, L. cyclotis. The African bush elephant is the largest living land mammal and is primarily…

All of the many diverse breeds of dogs, including both domestic and wild dogs (wolves, coyotes, foxes, jackals, and dingoes), belong to the genus Canis in the mammalian family Canidae. One intriguing example of an obscure wild dog is the New Guinea…

Using old data from the NASA spacecraft MESSENGER, researchers have demonstrated how to measure the average lifetime of a neutron from space. This finding is important because, despite decades of efforts, physicists still cannot definitively say how…

With the launch of the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope in October 2021, astronomers will finally be able to perceive distant galaxies that host quasars—the most luminous objects in the universe. Quasars shine forth with the equivalent…

Scientists have identified the earliest known fossil of a modern bird. The fossil remains—comprising an almost-complete skull and a few limb bones embedded in rock—were discovered in a limestone quarry in Belgium. Estimated to be approximately 66.7…

In a surprising find, researchers have detected phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus. This poisonous, colorless, flammable gas is nonetheless considered a strong sign of life, or "biosignature." Biosignatures are gases or combinations of gases…

In December 2019, a new solar cycle started. Solar cycles are the roughly 11-year periods—documented going back nearly 270 years—over which the Sun’s magnetic activity peaks and troughs. This activity is marked by the formation of sunspots on the…

Over the course of history, smallpox has been among the most feared diseases of humankind. Caused by the variola virus (a DNA-containing member of the Poxviridae family) and spread by transfer through respiratory droplets during face-to-face…

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way serves as a unique laboratory for testing predictions of general relativity. In a new study, researchers report that a long-studied star—called S2 or sometimes S-02—moves in a rosette-shaped…

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is the world's largest living marsupial carnivore. For tens of thousands of years, this fierce animal could be found throughout the continent of Australia, as well as inhabiting the island of Tasmania.…

After a 40-year search, astronomers have identified the first star shown to pulsate on only one side. Many kinds of stars, called variables, undergo natural pulsations, or periodic changes in brightness that are visible across the whole star. The…

Molten iron rains from the evening skies of an exoplanet designated WASP-76b, according to a new study. WASP-76b is a gas giant—a large planet with a vast gaseous envelope, like Jupiter—located about 390 light-years from Earth. Astronomers used an…

Stellar explosions known as supernovae may be behind several anomalous rises in radiocarbon captured in tree rings over the past 40,000 years, according to a recent study that adds mounting evidence to the hypothesis that supernovae can impact…

Members of the order Pristiophoriformes within the vertebrate subphylum comprise an unusual group of sharks. Collectively known as sawsharks, these marine fishes are distinguishable from other elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays) by a number of…

On July 20, 1969, the bulkily space-suited figure of astronaut Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of Apollo 11’s lunar lander, planted his boot in the Moon's gray dust, and declared: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."…

Collectively, members of the class Amphibia are facing massive reductions in total numbers, and the overall biodiversity of amphibians across the globe is under threat. Scientists have determined that global climate change and habitat destruction…

Sea-level rise is caused by adding mass (water) and heat to the ocean. The Antarctic ice sheet represents a potentially large source of water. Knowing the speed and direction (velocity) at which the Antarctic ice sheet is flowing to the ocean is…

Researchers recently discovered a black hole with a mass estimated at 3.3 times the mass of the Sun, which is significantly less than the lowest-mass black holes previously detected with approximately 5 times the Sun's mass. The new finding opens…

It has been a long-held belief that, as a result of hunting habits, early humans were partly or even primarily responsible for the decline and eventual extinction of most of the largest mammalian species that inhabited ancient Africa. These large…

The critically endangered northern white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is a subspecies of white rhino that is on the brink of complete extinction, with only two individuals left in captivity and no known members reported in the wild. The…

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—the global authority on the status of the natural world—estimates that approximately 5–10% of the world's insect species (class Insecta, phylum Arthropoda) are threatened and facing…

After a decades-long search, astronomers have detected the signature of a molecule predicted as the first type to have ever formed in the universe. Called helium hydride and symbolized HeH+, this positively charged ion consists of a helium atom that…

At the Woranso-Mille paleontological site in northern Ethiopia, researchers have discovered a 3.8 million-year-old cranium (skull) belonging to a primitive hominin known as Australopithecus anamensis. Initially unearthed in 2016, but not reported…

Researchers recently announced the discovery of the farthest object ever identified within our solar system. Designated 2018 VG18 and nicknamed Farout, the object is located about 120 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, or 120 times the average…

Eastern equine encephalitis is a rare infectious viral disease that primarily affects humans and equines (horses, mules, donkeys, and zebras). It is caused by a mosquito-borne virus (arbovirus) that is native to the eastern half of the United…

In a breakthrough for astronomy and physics, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has obtained a direct image of a black hole. The first black hole captured in this manner is a supermassive one at the heart of a nearby galaxy, Messier 87. Further study…

Researchers have reached a key new milestone in the continuing search for worlds like Earth that could support life elsewhere in the universe. For the first time, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet that resides within…

Researchers Chi Ma of Caltech and Alan Rubin of the University of California at Los Angeles reported in the journal American Mineralogist (September 2019) the discovery in a meteorite of the first natural occurrence of the iron-carbide mineral…

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), a type of monitor lizard belonging to the reptilian order Squamata, is a tremendously powerful carnivorous predator. The creature is indigenous to a small number of Indonesian islands, including Komodo, and…

Marburg hemorrhagic fever (also referred to as Marburg virus disease) is a rare, exotic viral disease that affects both humans and nonhuman primates. The reservoir hosts of Marburg virus are African (or Egyptian) fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus),…

Researchers have recorded the most massive neutron star on record, weighing as much as 2.17 Suns but packed into a city-sized sphere just 30 kilometers (19 miles) across. This astonishingly dense object is seemingly at the limits of the maximum mass…

New research from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) predicts that the next decade will be a favorable period for human exploration due to lower risks of inclement "space weather"—a term that refers to radiation conditions…

Astronomers have arrived at a new, precise measurement of the mass of the Milky Way. Historical estimates have varied widely, from 500 billion times the mass of the Sun—a quantity known as a solar mass—to as high as three trillion solar masses. The…

A report by a team of conservation biologists concludes that the total number of birds in North America has dropped precipitously since 1970. Annual surveys monitoring the biodiversity and abundance of bird populations across the North American…

Among the most remarkable geophysical features in the solar system are four fissures—nicknamed tiger stripes—that streak across Saturn's moon Enceladus. Liquid water from this moon's interior erupts from these 130-kilometer- (80-mile-) long clefts…

Pesticides—including insecticides and herbicides—are chemical products used to control, reduce, or eliminate organisms that are harmful to cultivated plants. However, the use of pesticides on plants that provide foods for human consumption is often…

The killer whale, or orca, is a predatory cetacean typically found in cold ocean waters. With its easily recognizable black body and distinct white patches over the eyes and around the belly, the orca is a top (apex) predator in the marine…

The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is the most widely distributed jackal in the world, populating widely diverse habitats across extensive ranges. In particular, this canine predator occupies large areas of northern and eastern Africa, the Middle…

After exploring Mars for almost 15 years, the Opportunity rover has roved its last. In February 2019, NASA announced the end of any further attempts to communicate with the machine, which has been unresponsive since stricken by a planet-wide dust…

New research involving the analysis of spectra obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that the vast, yellow patches on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa are made of table salt, NaCl. The results, which overturn a prevailing view of…

A star encircling the supermassive black hole at the core of the Milky Way Galaxy has offered a new, precise test of general relativity. Put forth by German-born U.S. theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in 1915, the theory of general relativity…

A large sampling of the first galaxies to have formed in the early universe reveals that these vast collections of stars and gas shone brighter than their modern-day counterparts. The discovery provides vital new clues about how the cosmos underwent…

The Asian longhorned tick (Haemaphysalis longicornis), also known as the bush tick, is a troublesome parasitic species and is an important vector of disease agents. (Note that vectors are capable of biologically transferring a pathogen from one…

Neonicotinoid insecticides are the most used insecticide worldwide and have been linked to the decline of pollinator insects. In 2018, the European Union banned the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, imidacloprid, and…

Among the most compelling exoplanets discovered to date is a "super-Earth" around Barnard's star, the closest single star to our solar system. This star, a cool red dwarf significantly smaller than the Sun, is located only six light-years away—just…

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a baffling detrimental condition in colonies of honeybees (Apis mellifera). It is characterized by a rapid loss of the adult bee population, with an absence of dead bees in and around affected colonies. No single…

Dawn, a pioneering mission to our solar system's asteroid belt, has gone silent. In late October 2018, Dawn ran out of hydrazine, the thruster fuel needed to orient the spacecraft for communication with Earth and the generation of solar power.…

NASA's Curiosity rover has produced new key evidence in determining whether Mars has ever hosted life. While drilling in an ancient lakebed, Curiosity recently discovered organic material more complex and abundant than previously found on the Red…

Astronomers have detected light from the “cosmic dawn,” the primordial epoch when the universe’s first stars began to shine. The long-sought discovery could throw open a window onto a previously inaccessible era, revealing the rise of stars and…

Conservationists have determined that the Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) is disappearing much more rapidly than previously thought. Since 1999, the total number of Bornean orangutans declined by at least 148,000 individuals. The chief culprits…

The warming temperatures attributed to global climate change are making it more difficult for sea turtle populations to survive. As a result of the unusual developmental processes found in many reptiles, including some species of turtles, the sex of…

In July 2018, researchers reported the first definitive detection of a radioactive molecule outside of the solar system. The molecule, aluminum monofluoride (AlF), contains the radioactive isotope aluminum-26, forged deep inside a star through…

On February 6, 2018, the Falcon Heavy rocket passed its first launch test, lifting off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a bright pillar of fire. Built by the California-based, private aerospace company SpaceX, the Falcon Heavy is the…

The fate of our Sun, along with 97 percent of the universe’s stars, is to become a white dwarf. These stellar relics are what is left when an aging star sheds most of its mass, ending up as a dense, shrunken, Earth-size core composed of carbon and…

The ice-covered moon Europa has long intrigued researchers as a potential abode for extraterrestrial life. Although its orbit around Jupiter is frigidly far from the Sun, Europa harbors an internal ocean. Furthermore, this inner liquid reservoir…