At center, the cytoskeleton’s actin fibers in mouse connective tissue cells are seen in yellow; cellular DNA is stained blue

Super-Resolution Microscopes Showcase the Inner Lives of Cells

Advanced light microscopy techniques have come into their own—and are giving scientists a new understanding of human biology and what goes wrong in disease.
Sandhill Cranes

How Farmers Can Help Rescue Water-Loving Birds

Cranes, sandpipers, ducks, geese and many other waterbirds have lost essential rest stops along their seasonal migration routes. Bird-friendly agriculture can assist in filling the gaps.
Two broad wedges made of thousands of tiny dots in colorful bands on a black background.

Shifting Forces: The Evolving Debate Around Dark Energy

New evidence suggests the universe might not behave as expected, raising questions about the costs of being wrong.
Saguaro cacti tower over Arizona’s desert landscape.

Saguaro Cactus: A Desert Sentinel’s Prickly Plight

The saguaro cactus has evolved to endure dry days and high temperatures, but even this resilient plant struggles to cope with the effects of climate change.
The golden death mask of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen, 1950

The Pharaoh’s Curse or the Pharaoh’s Cure?

A toxic fungus from King Tutankhamun’s tomb yields cancer-fighting compounds.
These colors are not what Mercury would look like to the human eye, but rather the colors enhance the chemical, mineralogical, and physical differences between the rocks that make up Mercury's surface.

The Mystery of Mercury’s Missing Meteorites

And how we may have finally found some.
Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran sits and talks with American president John F. Kennedy, 1963

The Shah, Our Man in Tehran?

Playing up the threat of the communist incursions, the Shah of Iran gained more and more support—financial and political—from the United States.
stone wheel in a cave

How Was the Wheel Invented?

Computer simulations reveal the unlikely birth of a world-changing technology nearly 6,000 years ago.

Juneberry: A Summer Sweet for People, Pollinators, and Birds

For millennia, Indigenous peoples in North America derived sustenance from the juneberry, known also as the misâskwatômin, serviceberry, shadbush, or saskatoon.