Here Are the Best U.S. National Parks to See the Northern Lights — and No, They Aren’t All in Alaska

Discover the best U.S. national parks to see the Northern Lights and how often they can occur there. 

Cannibalism in Snakes Is Not Uncommon — but Could be a Behavior That's Tied to Evolution

Cannibalism in snakes is much more widespread than previously thought, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that snakes are evolving to become cannibalistic. Learn more about it. 

Octopuses Don’t Need Eyes to Mate — Their Arms Do the Work

Learn how specialized sensory cells and 500 million neurons help octopuses recognize mates and reproduce through touch alone.

Artemis II Has Successfully Launched and Is Heading for the Moon — What Comes Next for the Mission?

With Artemis II well underway, learn what comes next for this historic mission. 

Magma Formed in Deep "Gold Kitchens" Delivers Traces of Gold to Volcanic Islands

Learn how subduction zones become enriched in gold through repeated melting of Earth's mantle.

Ice Age Humans Played Dice — And May Have Been Gambling 12,000 Years Ago

Learn how bone dice from Ice Age sites in the American West are pushing the origins of gambling back by more than 6,000 years.

539-Million-Year-Old Ediacaran Fossils Push Complex Animal Life Back 4 Million Years

Learn how newly discovered Ediacaran fossils are pushing the origins of animals back millions of years before the Cambrian explosion.

Imagination Isn’t Just Memory Replay — Your Brain Rebuilds It From Scratch

Learn how imagination works in the brain and why it may come from higher-level systems, not just a replay of sensory experiences.

Ancient African Workshop Reveals Ironworking Tradition That Was Used for Nearly Eight Centuries

Learn about the discovery of a 2,400-year-old iron-smelting workshop in Senegal, shedding light on the Iron Age in West Africa. 

Aboriginal Cave Paintings of Now-Extinct Tasmanian Tiger May Shift Extinction Timeline

Discover how Indigenous art from less than 1,000 years ago could reshape what we know about the Tasmanian tiger’s disappearance from mainland Australia.

Human Language May Have Started With Just Two Words

Learn how early human language relied on simple verb-noun combinations, and how these structures still survive today as clues to how speech first developed.

3 Apex Predators — Snow Leopards, Wolves, and Leopards — Coexist by Choosing Different Prey

Learn how snow leopards, Himalayan wolves, and leopards share the same habitat in the Himalayas by hunting different prey, allowing multiple apex predators to coexist without direct competition.

500-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals a Claw That Rewrites the Origins of Spiders

Learn how a fossil from Utah’s Wheeler Formation reveals where early spider relatives lived, how quickly complex animal body plans emerged after the Cambrian Explosion, and why those traits took millions of years to shape ecosystems.

2,000-Year-Old Pompeii Ash Reveals Romans Burned Incense and Wine From Distant Lands

Learn how researchers decoded 2,000-year-old ash from Pompeii incense burners to reveal imported resins from Africa and Asia, wine-based offerings, and how global trade shaped everyday Roman rituals.

Gentle Handling Improves Baby Chick Welfare by Triggering Positive Emotions

Learn how baby chicks choose spaces linked to gentle human contact — and what this reveals about animal welfare on farms.

April's Full Pink Moon of 2026 Won't Have a Rosy Hue but Will Still Glow — Here's What to Know

Learn more about April's full Pink Moon in 2026, how it got the name, and its cultural significance. 

This All-Female Fish Has Been Cloning Itself for 100,000 Years — and Its DNA Is Still Thriving

Learn how the Amazon molly, an all-female fish that reproduces asexually, uses gene conversion to maintain healthy DNA and survive more than 100,000 years without males.

Seals' Intricate and Sensitive Whiskers Could One Day Help Robotics Navigate In the Dark

Learn how seals move their whiskers to pick up tiny movements in the water — and what this might mean for the future of robotics.

Ghost Forests Could Tell Us Which Coastal Regions Are Vulnerable to Environmental Change

Learn how scientists are studying America’s ghost forests to improve the resilience of coastal habitats.

Saturn's Aurora Instigates a Bizarre Spinning Illusion, Driven by a Nonstop Cycle of Wind and Heat 

Learn how winds in Saturn's upper atmosphere power a continuous aurora, creating misleading changes in the planet's rotation rate.