With spikes as long as knitting needles, long-spined sea urchins may look like underwater villains, but their appetite for algae makes them the unsung heroes of Caribbean reefs.

The Valiant Effort to Restore the Caribbean’s Sea Urchins

The very hungry, spiky custodians gobble up the algae that smother coral reefs

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Our Sustainable Future

Can the Noise in Sports Arenas Be Turned Into Electricity?

Seventeen-year-old Gyeongyun Lily Min is hopeful it can someday, after testing the concept on a scale model of an NBA stadium

Rainforests, like this one in Ecuador, only appeared after the mass extinction that ended the Age of Dinosaurs.

No, Dinosaurs Did Not Trudge Through Thick Rainforests

The first jungles dense with flowering plants only formed after an asteroid impact wiped out the giant creatures

The JOIDES Resolution in 2012 off the coast of Costa Rica, on an expedition to understand how earthquakes form

What Will Happen If This Iconic Research Vessel Stops Drilling in the Deep Sea?

After a career marked by major discoveries, the JOIDES Resolution is likely on its last official mission to retrieve rock cores from the ocean floor

A lesser flamingo feeds at Lake Bogoria, in Kenya.

How Will Climate Change Hurt Lesser Flamingos?

Their food supply in East African lakes could collapse as rains increase

A light painting made in Delhi, India, in December 2016 shows high air pollution levels a month after an extreme air quality event.

These Alluring Images Capture the Threats of Air Pollution Around the World

Researchers combined long-exposure photography with pollution sensor data to create representations of pollution in India, the United Kingdom and Ethiopia

Asteroid impacts and volcanism have led to mass extinctions on our planet.

Has Life on Earth Survived More Than Five Mass Extinctions?

Scientists aren’t just arguing whether humans are causing a sixth mass extinction event now, but whether many more occurred in the past

Maidenhair ferns frame the cavernous entrance to a 350-foot-long cave that opens in the backyard of an Auckland suburban home.

Bringing Auckland’s Volcanic Underworld to Light

Scientists are working to map and protect the city’s underground tunnels so they aren’t destroyed during construction

Winged Life Winner

View 11 Breathtaking Images From the BigPicture Photography Competition

This 2024 showcase of life on Earth shines a light on some of our planet’s most amazing species and places

A baby musk ox stands with an adult in the Arctic.

The Quest to Resurrect a Lost Ecosystem in Siberia

A father-and-son team of scientists are trying to revive ancient grasslands by reintroducing large grazers

The giant blocks of a stone jetty stretch out into the water around Galveston.

Galveston’s Texas-Size Plan to Stop the Next Big Storm

In the wake of Hurricane Ike, engineers have been crafting a $34 billion plan to protect the city. Will it work when the next disaster arrives?

While scientists have seen colossal squid before—like this specimen examined by New Zealander researchers in 2014—their interactions have always been with animals that were either pulled from the depths, washed up on shore or otherwise removed from their natural habitat.

Is This the First Recorded Footage of a Colossal Squid Living Freely?

The only sightings of the animals so far have come from corpses or creatures dragged up from the depths

One of the new benthic landers is lowered into the Gulf of Mexico via a system of winches and safety lines. Once released, the autonomous platform sinks at a carefully calculated rate until it lands on the seafloor.

These Innovative Landers Will Examine Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico

Scientists plan to use what they learn to help restore communities harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

The northern lights appear near Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada, on May 11, 2024.

Missed the Auroras in May? Here’s How to See Them Next Time

Three veteran aurora chasers and a NASA scientist share everything you need to know to check these dazzling displays off your bucket list

A couple of atypically colorful logbook pages from the Bengal of Salem, Massachusetts, housed at the Providence Public Library. The ship sailed around the Pacific Ocean from 1832 to 1835.

How a Trove of Whaling Logbooks Will Help Scientists Understand Our Changing Climate

Researchers are examining more than 4,200 New England documents to turn descriptions of the wind into data

Acorns cover the forest floor.

Why Do Trees Drop So Many Seeds One Year, and Then Hardly Any the Next?

A new paper suggests that plants may use slow seed years to prevent the spread of disease

Speleologists in metallurgical “cooling suits” emerge from the extreme heat of a lava tube formed by the eruption in 2021 of Mount Fagradalsfjall.

Journey Into the Fiery Depths of Earth’s Youngest Caves

What Iceland’s volcanoes are revealing about early life on our planet

In the late 1960s, Bob Paine described the Pisaster sea star as a “keystone species” in Pacific Northwest tide pools. The concept has since taken on a life of its own.

Has the Term ‘Keystone Species’ Lost Its Meaning?

More than 50 years after Bob Paine’s experiment with starfish, hundreds of species have been pronounced “keystones” in their ecosystems

A multi-vortex tornado touches down on the town of Patricia, Texas.

Ten Amazing Facts About Tornadoes, Explained

To prepare you for the movie “Twisters,” we’ve compiled some jaw-dropping details about the powerful phenomenon

The earthquake on March 27, 1964, dropped Anchorage’s Fourth Avenue and some cars on it roughly 20 feet below normal.

How the Great Alaska Earthquake Shook Up Science

Sixty years ago, the largest earthquake in U.S. history shocked geologists. It’s still driving scientific discoveries today

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