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A longtime resident of the Dorset countryside, the geoglyph known as the Cerne Abbas Giant has a new estimated age, thanks to novel research.
science

How Do You Date an Ancient Giant? Try Snails and Lasers

The famous Cerne Abbas Giant gets a new birthday thanks to a novel approach for estimating the geoglyph's age.
Keridwen Cornelius August 16, 2021
science

Podcast: Forbes Pigment Collection

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team August 16, 2021
In France, Plaincourault Chapel features a peculiar depiction of the Garden of Eden's Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
science

Does This Medieval Fresco Show A Hallucinogenic Mushroom in the Garden of Eden?

Controversy over what's depicted in the image, and what it may say about early Christians, has raged for decades.
Emma Betuel August 5, 2021
Pelling in the kitchen with asparagus, the veggie that inspired his work on spinal cord injuries.
science

The Biophysicist Transforming Asparagus Into Medical Implants

A horror movie proved an unlikely source of inspiration.
Cari Shane August 4, 2021
In a false-color satellite image, the winding Büyük Menderes is a dark ribbon snaking through the Turkish countryside, with many oxbow lakes—created when the river changed course—visible.
science

The Curious Past and Uncertain Future of the Original 'Meander'

In southwestern Turkey, the winding Büyük Menderes River shaped human history. Now, it's humans who will carve its future course.
Gemma Tarlach August 4, 2021
Receivers on the vessel's aft deck, shown here between deployments, survived rough seas—not one device was lost during the expedition.
volcanoes

The ‘Swell’ Job of Sorting Out New Zealand’s Unusual Earthquake Patterns

Researchers braved storms and monstrous underwater mountains to learn why one region’s earth-shaking is so peculiar.
Gemma Tarlach August 2, 2021
In high alpine terrain, sun and dry air can turn snow straight into water vapor.
science

In Hot, Dry Weather, Snow Can Disappear Straight Into the Atmosphere

A different process than evaporation, sublimation turns snow and ice directly into a gas.
Steven R. Fassnacht August 2, 2021
Planetary Radio Emissions Discovery Site
Poolesville, Maryland

Planetary Radio Emissions Discovery Site

Using a massive antenna made up of five miles of wire, two scientists tuned into organic radio waves from the planet Jupiter.
Nearly a quarter-mile into Spain's Atxurra Cave, Paleolithic people carved scores of animals on a wall eight feet above the cave floor. It's now known as the Ledge of Horses.
caves

Archaeologists Are Seeing Cave Art in a New Light

Prehistoric people may have created 'proto-cinema,' with galloping bison and tail-swishing horses.
Bridget Alex July 29, 2021
Many animals ensnared in trash don't have long to live, but this one appears to have adapted.
science

How Could a Crocodile Spend Years Cinched By a Tire?

One in Indonesia has been carrying a rubber ring since at least 2016. Here’s how the litter might be affecting the animal’s life.
Jessica Leigh Hester February 9, 2022
Captured by a Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite in June 2021, the Aegean Sea takes on a satiny appearance thanks to a combination of strong winds and the optical phenomenon of sun glint.
science

Sun Glint, Bane of Scientists, Has a Silver Lining

This beautiful, satiny optical phenomenon can wreck satellite imaging, but it can also reveal hidden aspects of our planet.
Gemma Tarlach July 16, 2021
A cottage on the Barlow Respiratory Hospital grounds in 2021.
abandoned

Seeing the Pandemic Through the Shuttered Bungalows of an L.A. Sanatorium

Once a haven for tuberculosis patients, Barlow Respiratory Hospital is uniquely suited to the COVID and post-COVID eras.
Elizabeth Svoboda July 15, 2021
Einstein's summer house in Caputh.
Schwielowsee, Germany

Einstein's Summer House

Before he was forced to flee the country under Nazi rule, Albert Einstein spent his summers in this custom-built lakeside house near Berlin.
A cross-section of a juvenile sea urchin reveals its neural network in yellow and muscle fibers in bright blue.
science

This Nighttime Drone Shot of a Futuristic City Is Actually a Sea Urchin

Studying the animal’s nerve network may help scientists understand our own.
Gemma Tarlach July 12, 2021
Marco, part of the beekeeping team at Miel’s D’Anicet, inspects a frame in search of a queen.
science

How a Canadian Beekeeper Breeds New Queens

Honeybees aren't your typical livestock.
Shaun Pett July 6, 2021
science

Podcast: Science That Doesn’t Stop

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange stories.
The Podcast Team June 30, 2021
An adult male jaguar at the Jaguares en la Selva sanctuary in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
science

Can the Jaguar, King of the Forest, Save an Entire Ecosystem?

With a new train line threatening its habitat, the big cat may be the key to protecting this Mexican reserve—and everything else in it.
Emiliano Ruprah June 29, 2021
A granite sarcophagus believed to be that of Ramesses I, on display in Cairo.
mummies

The Thorny Ethics of Displaying Egyptian Mummies to the Public

Mummy exhibits are big draws for museums, but curators are grappling with issues of cultural and racial sensitivity.
Doug Struck June 28, 2021