Biology
Water Bears Frozen During the Reagan Administration Wake Up and Lay Eggs
One of the cutest organisms on Earth is also one of the toughest, as three water bears' intrepid 30-year voyage through deep-freeze has proved once more
Stories by Jennifer Frazer
The Sciences
Uneven Distribution of Viruses Suggests Surprising Evolutionary Power
Did viruses help spur the evolution of complex life?
The Sciences
Beams Built of Diatom Boast Record-Setting Strength
How scientists fabricated the beams is almost as extraordinary as their toughness.
The Sciences
Casper, the Friendly Deep Sea Octopus Who's Entirely New to Science
On its very first dive of the season, NOAA's Okeanos Explorer encountered something unexpected while collecting rocks.
The Sciences
Made by Rain, Mushrooms Also Make It
Millions of tons of mushroom spores may seed rain over forests
The Sciences
Sleeping Sickness Parasite Secretes Strange String of Beads [Video]
A sinister string of beads made by the organisms that cause sleeping sickness helps the parasite both elude our defenses and make us sick
The Sciences
The Venus Flytrap Can Count Past 2
A new Sesame Street star in the making?
The Sciences
What Lives in Your House (Besides You)
Although scientists have intensively studied household pests, almost nothing has been done to survey everyone else—and everyone else turns out to be the silent majority
The Sciences
Puzzling Parasite Makes Rare Appearance as Fossil
Enigmatic tongue worm found fossilized together with a 425-million-year-old host for the first time
The Sciences
This Immaculately Preserved Beetle Walked with the Dinosaurs
You will not look this good in 99 million years
The Sciences
134 New Beetles and Dragonflies, Hiding in Plain Sight
Dozens of new sparkling dragonflies and sculpted beetles were easy to find. We just had to look
The Sciences
First-Ever Fossil Mud Dragon Appears to Be Inside-Out Sarlacc
Modern mud dragons are kind of cute. At least one of their ancestors, however, was not
The Sciences
Are These Dinosaur Blood Vessels?
Scientists claim proteinaceous blood vessels from a hadrosaur that roamed proto-Montana 80 million years ago somehow survived
The Sciences
The Sex Life of Christmas Trees
What happens when they take off those ornaments is more complicated than you'd think.
The Sciences
When Jellyfish Became Parasites, Strange Things Happened
Once upon a time, a jellyfish became a parasite, and its descendants became unrecognizable.
The Sciences
An Anglerfish Discovered, Thanks to an Oil Spill
Let it not be said that nothing good ever came from an oil spill, as this newly described species of deep-sea anglerfish shows
The Sciences
Leaping Nematodes! Tiny Worms Jump to Reach Next Victim
A tiny worm called Steinernema can fling itself nearly ten times its own length and seven times its height in pursuit of a new host.
The Sciences
The Adorable Alabama Whirligig Beetle That Eluded Entomologists
Whirligig beetles are not obscure -- not only are they abundant and widespread, they call attention to themselves in the boldest possible way. And yet a new species has just been discovered in our very own back yard...
The Sciences
The World's Largest Mining Operation Is Run by Fungi
If you sift the mineral particles from conifer forest soil, wash them, and examine them under a microscope, you will discover a startling detail: tiny tunnels.
The Sciences
Wonderful Things, Hallween Edition: The Gigantic Underworld Medusa [Video]
Stygiomedusa gigantea is a titanic jellyfish seen only about 100 times in the last 100 years which lacks tentacles entirely but appears to be hauling four 33-foot long bolts of funeral bunting instead...
