Evolution
Bird Nests Used to Look More Like Fortresses
The standard cup nest predominates today, but bird nests evolved from a more complex roofed structure
Stories by Kat Long
Engineering
Blasts from the Past: Old Nuke Test Films Offer New Insights [Video]
Archival mid-century footage could help physicists certify the safety and effectiveness of modern U.S. nuclear weapons
Biology
Beetles Spark Heated Debate Between Traditional Taxonomists and DNA Bar Coders
The modern definition of a species is still far from settled
Engineering
This Bridge Opens and Closes Like a Japanese Folding Fan
In an engineering first, architects designed the slats of the fabricated steel span into a cascade of cantilevers
Tech
Back to the Future, Part II Predicted Techno-Marvels of October 21, 2015
Mr. Fusion aside, this 1989 time-traveling comedy was spot-on about many devices that we now take for granted
Biology
The Ups and Downs of Sex
A new analysis of fetal records shows that the chances of finding a boy or a girl at conception start out at 50–50 and then change over the course of pregnancy
Medicine
Fleming's Original Penicillin Culture Sold at Auction
Bidder pays big bucks for the revolutionary antibiotic
Sustainability
The Race to Save the Bonneville Salt Flats from a Slushy Demise [Slide Show]
Racing fans, the government and a mining company search for ways to save Utah’s natural salt pan and its world-famous speedway
Mind
Groups of People Spot Lies More Often Than Individuals Do
Is Danny telling the truth? Talk it over with friends
The Sciences
People Who Wear Contacts Have Different Eye Microbiomes
A higher diversity of bacteria lives on the eye surface of lens wearers and could explain higher infection rates
The Sciences
How Scientific Inventions Sparked Population Explosion
A video timeline shows 2,000 years of population growth to projections to 2050
Sustainability
250-Year-Old Eyewitness Accounts of Icier Arctic Attest to Loss of Sea Ice
Centuries-old ships’ logs reveal clues to Arctic warming
