News

  1. Earth

    Earth’s continental plates were moving 3.48 billion years ago

    Magnetic crystals provide the earliest evidence yet of the plate tectonics that likely made Earth habitable, pushing its start back by 140 million years.

    By Douglas Fox
  2. Physics

    A static electricity mystery comes to the surface

    Seemingly random charging of identical materials depends on the carbonaceous molecules stuck to their surfaces

    By Emily Conover
  3. Animals

    Sharks are ingesting drugs in the Bahamas

    Nearly one third of sharks studied near the Bahamas’ Eleuthera Island were found to have caffeine, painkillers and other drugs in their bloodstreams.

    By Joshua Rapp Learn
  4. Animals

    Platypus fur has a surprising feature seen only in bird feathers

    Platypuses are the first mammals known to have hollow melanosomes, pigment-bearing structures found in the hair of many animals.