Illustration of the Kepler spacecraft

Kepler: The Little Telescope That Could

A year after a potentially fatal setback, a rejuvenated Kepler telescope discovered the first exoplanet (outside the solar system) of its new mission.
Ice floes float in icy water

Hidden Ecosystems Under Arctic Ice Reveal Themselves

Thanks to remotely operated vehicles scientists are able to peek at one of the coldest, darkest environments of all: ecosystems deep underneath arctic ice.
Mahogany Valley near Borah Peak Idaho

Can Soil Microbes Help End World Hunger?

Bacteria and genetic research - including soil microbes - may fuel the future of agriculture
A maroon and cream striped octopus on the seafloor

Mimics of the Animal Kingdom

Art Imitates Life? Try Bird Imitates Caterpillar. Animals that mimic to survive
A scale pauses at 190 pounds

Where Does Lost Weight Go? Into Thin Air.

If your resolution is to lose weight this year, have you thought about where exactly that lost fat goes?
A comet moving through a starry sky

Where is Water From? Probably Not Comets

A recently completed analysis of comet 67P/C-G by the Rosetta Space Craft has effectively ruled out comets as the primary source of Earth’s water.
Four lane highway in Nebraska

An Algae Farm for Cleaner Highways

A design firm has come up with an answer to highway pollution, running tubes of photosynthetic algae to absorb CO2 pollution from traffic.
A forest full of thin trees

Overhunting Can Kill Forests, Too

Researchers in Thailand have discovered that overhunting in tropical forests doesn’t just kill animals, it kills also trees.
Robert Louis Stevenson and His Wife, an oil painting, by John Singer Sargent from 1885

The Culture of Tuberculosis

When perusing the biographies of artists, you'll notice that a large number of them had tuberculosis.
A polar bear walks on a frozen tundra

Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act

41 years after the Endangered Species act, what is its legacy?