NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter officially ends its mission on Mars
After nearly three years, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter, the first spacecraft to undertake a powered flight on another world, has ended…
How an invasive ant changed a lion’s dinner menu
How did the ant steal the lion’s dinner? This isn’t the beginning of one of Aesop’s Fables. It’s the finding…
A predicted quasicrystal is based on the ‘einstein’ tile known as the hat
The “hat” wowed mathematicians. Now the shape is shaking up physics. In 2023, mathematicians reported that the 13-sided tile was…
A bird flu outbreak is sweeping the globe. Its long-term effects are unclear
As I step among poop-covered rocks toward the plateau of a small island in the Galápagos, a part of me…
Many but not all of the world’s aquifers are losing water
The world’s precious stash of subterranean freshwater is shrinking — and in nearly a third of aquifers, that loss has…
What happens when lawn sprinklers suck in water? Physicists answer that quirky question
Physicists are fascinated with heady puzzles, from the nature of space and time to how the universe came to be.…
Some honeybees in Italy regularly steal pollen off the backs of bumblebees
Honeybees rely on plant pollen as a protein-packed food source. And some are even willing to steal from other bees…
This first-of-its-kind palm plant flowers and fruits entirely underground
Palm trees are often associated with Hollywood Boulevard and tropical resorts, but their relatives in the palm family Arecaceae can…
These snails give live birth, and it’s the babies that may do the labor
The oddball minority of animals that don’t lay eggs includes a tough little snail called a rough periwinkle. Unlike mammals…
Megalodon, the largest shark ever, may have been a long, slender giant
The largest shark discovered to date — the monstrous Otodus megalodon — may have been a sleek, long-bodied leviathan. A…
