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Our planet frequently gets dinged with smaller, harmless asteroids like RW1. Planetary defense systems able to detect them should also be able to spot bigger threats.
meteorites

Asteroid 2024 RW1 Just Hit Earth. That's a Good Thing.

The asteroid that exploded over Luzon was not a threat—but it was a victory for our planetary defense systems.
Robin George Andrews September 5, 2024
The vines of Cherokee Trail of Tears beans grow prolifically.
native americans

How Cherokee Trail of Tears Beans Connect a Community to Its Roots

“It’s not just preserving seeds, it’s preserving our culture, our history, our way of life.”
Sarah Lohman August 29, 2024
The Moon now has, essentially, its own time zone, which will allow for precise navigation in the years and decades to come.
space exploration

Moon Time Is a Thing Now—Here's Why It Matters

Physicists recently created Coordinated Lunar Time, a time zone for our Moon.
Rebecca Boyle August 28, 2024
Wilder, with Peter Boyle on the slab, in <em>Young Frankenstein</em>.
horror

The Metamorphosis of the Mad Scientist

An institution of horror movies, this iconic character has evolved along with our views on science itself.
Pat Cassels August 14, 2024
The snow-laden, misty entrance of Iceland's Rauðfeldsgjá Gorge resembles the entrance to Helheim, the realm of the dead who did not make it into Valhalla.
vikings

Viking Hell Is Just as Metal as You'd Expect

Judged unworthy of Valhalla? Welcome to Helheim.
Nicky Nielsen August 8, 2024
The crumbling tracks of the Ozarka Splash ride at Six Flags New Orleans.
abandoned

The Brief Rise and Steep Fall of a New Orleans Amusement Park

Nearly 20 years after Hurricane Katrina, the abandoned Six Flags that became a symbol of the city still bears deep scars.
Matthew Christopher August 5, 2024
Mastodons once roamed over much of North America. One of them died near the future site of San Diego, causing a scientific controversy 130,000 years later.
science

The Wild Tale of the Cerutti Mastodon, a Fossil That Could Rewrite the Human Story

The Cerutti Mastodon, found near San Diego, shows signs of being butchered 130,000 years ago—but by who? Or what?
Gemma Tarlach August 1, 2024
A striking example of airglow, when solar radiation energizes atoms and molecules of air, over the Château de Losse in France.
columns

What Color Is Night?

What you see overhead is a combination of where you are, how our vision evolved, and that flimsy layer of atmosphere that keeps us all alive.
Rebecca Boyle July 31, 2024
A variety of animals, from birds to mammals, including lemurs, have been observed eating fermented fruit, apparently to get a little tipsy.
science

From Naming Each Other to Getting Drunk, Animals Are More Like Us Than We Thought

We're not so special after all.
Robin George Andrews July 24, 2024
Old furniture fills the interior of the Majestic Theatre in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
abandoned

The American Theaters That Have Taken Their Final Bow

There may be no encore in store for these abandoned vaudeville halls and movie palaces.
Matthew Christopher June 14, 2024
death

Bali's Massive Stone Sarcophagi Included Global Grave Goods

Mirrors from China, glass beads from Roman Egypt, and other treasures from far-flung places accompanied ancient Balinese elites to the afterworld.
Nicky Nielsen June 5, 2024
A huge crowd enjoying "base-ball" in May of 1886.
baseball

Before ‘Fans,’ There Were ‘Kranks,’ ‘Longhairs,’ and ‘Lions’

How do fandoms gain their names?
Elizabeth Minkel May 30, 2024
The first ever crossword puzzle was published in December 1913 on the 'Fun' page of <em>The New York World</em>. Since then, millions more have been published around the world.
games

How Crossword Creators Make our Favorite Word Games

We sat down with crossword editors to talk Viking words, pizza rat, and the joy of wordplay.
Adrienne Raphel May 30, 2024
An interferogram of Kathmandu shows the amount of land deformation after a 2015 quake: Each color represents about an inch of deformation. In areas that appear speckled, including the large area on the right, the ground deformed more than three feet.
science

Plate Tectonics Has a Surprise Silver Lining

Without this restless geologic process, which triggers destructive earthquakes, Earth would not be habitable.
Robin George Andrews May 29, 2024
A powerful X3.9 solar flare, visible at lower right, erupts on May 10 in an image captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
science

Why Is the Sun So Active Right Now?

Northern lights in the American South, clusters of huge geomagnetic storms—the Sun is throwing a tantrum right on schedule.
Rebecca Boyle May 14, 2024
Inside Memorial Auditorium in Gary, Indiana. The auditorium was one of several landmarks damaged by fires set in the late 1990s.
abandoned

What Can We Learn From the Ruins of Gary, Indiana?

Exploring deindustrialization.
Matthew Christopher May 3, 2024
A dramatic 2020 eruption of Kīlauea was nothing compared with Indonesia's Toba supervolcano eruption 74,000 years ago, the largest eruption of the past 2.5 million years.
volcanoes

How Indonesia’s Toba Volcano Changed Human Evolution

The massive supervolcano eruption 74,000 years ago has been blamed for nearly killing off our species. The emerging truth is much more interesting.
Gemma Tarlach April 29, 2024
Remains of whalers' wooden coffins and gravestones at Smeerenburg, in the northwest region of the Svalbard Archipelago.
cemeteries

Svalbard's Lonely Whaler Graves Included Burial Kits With Pieces of Distant Homes

For centuries, the cruel industry decimated entire whale species—and claimed countless human lives. Whalers arrived prepared for their own deaths.
Nicky Nielsen April 17, 2024