Stories by Meghan Bartels

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

For six seconds tonight, the constellation Orion will appear to lose the vibrant red star at its shoulder—and scientists are thrilled

Veterinarians and researchers are investigating mysterious clusters of severe respiratory disease in dogs

A solar outburst shoots charged particles into space—and toward Earth

Microbes tear up plastic into teeny tiny pieces that are even more dangerous to ecosystems

The International Space Station—larger than a football field and weighing almost 450 tons—must eventually fall to Earth. It’s a delicate, dangerous process

An instrument mounted to the International Space Station was built to map dust in the atmosphere, but it’s also giving scientists a wealth of information about methane and carbon dioxide emissions

Researchers created a monkey that combines cells from two different individuals; a lab technique gave it a strange green glow

Two competing farmers’ almanacs say this winter will be cold and snowy, but NOAA, the top U.S. weather agency, disagrees

Standard English names for North American birds will now focus on the animals rather than people