Stories by Meghan Bartels

One in four Labrador retrievers carries a gene that tricks their brain into thinking they’re starving

Pets can’t report their dreams, but scientists have some evidence about what is happening when Sparky and Mittens sleep

People’s perceptions about who gets an abortion and why rely on stereotypes and misconceptions—with potential policy implications

Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will make its closest approach to the sun this April—right after North America is treated to a total solar eclipse

A lunar lander nicknamed Odie carries 125 small moon sculptures by artist Jeff Koons that could become the first authorized artwork on the moon

Four years into the pandemic, many people have had COVID more than once—but the health consequences of repeat infections are not yet clear

Scientists are watching closely to see whether avian influenza will reach Antarctica before this year’s penguin chicks disperse for the season

“We’re still in a pandemic,” says a lead COVID official with the World Health Organization

During close flybys of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured stunning “bonus science” about the nightmarish world

NASA’s enterprising Mars helicopter and its remarkable 72 flights offered a new vision of planetary exploration

Big-headed ants are invading new territories in Kenya—and the consequences are rippling through the whole ecosystem, scientists have found

Scientists built a robotic dinosaur to terrify grasshoppers, all in hopes of understanding how truly pathetic wings could offer prehistoric animals an evolutionary advantage

The last time North Americans caught a total solar eclipse, the sun was in a lull of activity. This year’s eclipse will be very different

Tardigrades are microscopic animals that can survive a host of conditions that are too extreme to ever occur on Earth—and scientists want to learn their secrets

How salt makes roads safer in winter—and why new methods could be better for the environment

This week’s cold snap across the U.S. will be one of “the most impressive Arctic outbreaks of this century,” one climate scientist says

A dinosaur skull first discovered in the 1980s was originally catalogued as a T. rex. Now some scientists argue it represents a new species of tyrannosaur and could shed light on where the massive animals originated

The massive ancient ape Gigantopithecus blacki disappeared in a mystery that scientists are eager to crack

The Navajo Nation has called for a delay in launching the commercial lander Peregrine, which is set to carry human remains on a private mission to the moon

Brain wave studies suggest that when it comes to eating and sleeping, reindeer multitask to survive in the harsh Arctic

As the climate crisis continues, sooner or later the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet will collapse. An unassuming octopus just gave scientists an important clue about how quickly that might happen

Scientific American asked experts about the factors that shape how drunk someone gets during a night out and how bad a hangover they might have the next morning

“Woolly dogs” that were kept by the Coast Salish peoples are now extinct, but researchers were able to see their importance written in the genome of the only known pelt

Mysterious green displays in the sky dubbed “mesospheric ghosts” can sometimes accompany the dramatic red atmospheric lights called sprites