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Earth

Here’s how ice needles sculpt patterns into cold, rocky landscapes

Striking stone patterns decorate remote, frigid landscapes. The recipe for these naturally forming stripes and swirls: Freeze, thaw, repeat.

Animals

Flamingos dye their sun-faded feathers to stay pretty in pink

During mating season, flamingos rub a makeup-like rouge on their necks to catch the eye of the opposite sex. They don’t bother once chicks are born.

Archaeology

Lidar reveals a possible blueprint for many Olmec and Maya ceremonial sites

An Olmec site forged a building plan more than 3,000 years ago for widespread Olmec and Maya ritual centers across Mexico’s Gulf Coast.

Astronomy

Astronomers may have spotted the first known exoplanet in another galaxy

The spiral-shaped Whirlpool galaxy may be the host of the first planet spotted outside of the Milky Way.

Animals

Jumping spiders’ remarkable senses capture a world beyond our perception

Clever experiments and new technology are taking scientists deep into the lives of jumping spiders, and opening a portal to their experience of the world.

Health & Medicine

What does the first successful test of a pig-to-human kidney transplant mean?

For the first time, a pig organ was successfully attached to a human patient. It’s a step toward vastly increasing the supply of organs.

Life

How these sea-loving mangroves ended up far from the coast

On the Yucatán Peninsula, mangroves trapped nearly 200 kilometers from the ocean are part of a “relict ecosystem” that’s more than 100,000 years old.

Anthropology

Lasers reveal construction inspired by ancient Mexican pyramids in Maya ruins

Archaeologists have uncovered structures in Guatemala that are remarkably similar to La Ciudadela and its temple at the ancient city of Teotihuacan.

Animals

Tuskless elephants became common as an evolutionary response to poachers

After poachers tore through a Mozambican elephant population, tuskless females tripled in number as humans altered the species’s evolutionary trajectory.

Paleontology

Some dinosaurs may have lived in herds as early as 193 million years ago

A fossilized family gathering of long-necked Mussaurus may be the earliest evidence yet of herd behavior in dinosaurs.

Archaeology

Vikings lived in North America by at least the year 1021

Wooden objects provide the most precise dating yet of a Norse settlement in Newfoundland.

Animals

Scientists found modern domestic horses’ homeland in southwestern Russia

Two genes tied to endurance and docility may help explain the horses’ success in spreading across Eurasia.