Admit It, Squirrels Are Just Tree Rats
So why do we love one rodent and hate the other?
Why These Frogs Make ‘the Grossest Blunder in Sexual Preference’
Interspecies mating has long been thought of as a mistake. But in the desert, it may sometimes be the best way to breed.
How Are We Possibly Still Disinfecting Things?
America can’t quit hygiene theater.
The World Is Turning Back to Coal
Two big ways carbon pollution is different this year
We’ve Never Seen Mars Quite Like This
The planet is looking extra sharp in photo dispatches from NASA’s newest rover.
The Future of Mud
A Senegalese architecture firm is championing a lower-tech material than concrete to help cities prepare for climate change.
As if Mosquitoes Weren’t Evil Enough
How viruses alter your scent in a way that attracts the world’s deadliest bug
You Can Spot Climate Change in Old Restaurant Menus
In the 1880s, Vancouver’s seafood joints served lots of salmon. These days they serve squid.
The Supreme Court’s EPA Ruling Is Going to Be Very, Very Expensive
The agency can still regulate carbon pollution, just not in the most efficient, system-wide ways.
‘Greenwashing’ Isn’t About Consumers
Corporate climate action has become an employee perk
Twice a Year, Reindeer Eyes Pull Off a Wonderful Magic Trick
The Arctic can stay perpetually dark for months. Reindeer cope by changing part of their eyes from gold to blue.
This Fall Will Be a Vaccination Reboot
For the first time, COVID vaccines are getting an update in the U.S. But Americans still need to be persuaded to take them.
Full-Bodied With Notes of Band-Aid and Medicine
Climate change is altering wine as we know it.
I Witnessed One of the Ocean’s Rarest Phenomena
During a “milky sea,” trillions of bacteria make the ocean light up glow-stick green.
A Mystery That Took 13,200 Years to Crack
Hidden in the tusk of a 34-year-old mastodon was a record of time and space that helped explain his violent death.
How to Be a Good Person Without Annoying Everyone
There’s a simple trick to provoking better behavior, without seeming like a self-righteous jerk.
Side Effects May Include … A Completely New Hair Color?
An experimental therapy helped patients with a rare disease feel better. It also led to an accidental makeover.
Squirrels Could Make Monkeypox a Forever Problem
If the virus finds a new animal host, it could settle in for the long run—and cause more outbreaks in the future.
Beach Currents Don’t Have to Be This Deadly
Every year, hundreds of people drown after getting sucked into jets of seawater. Warning signs on their own can only do so much.
Will These Be the Last Polar Bears on Earth?
A newly identified population in Greenland is less dependent on the vanishing sea ice. But even they can’t hold out forever.