Science & Tech
7 Vestigial Features of the Human Body
Vestiges are remnants of evolutionary history—“footprints” or “tracks,” as translated from the Latin vestigial.
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Courtesy, NIAID
What Is the Difference Between the Flu and COVID-19?
Influenza and the coronavirus disease COVID-19 appear to be very similar. After all, both are respiratory diseases, and they are transmitted via contact with infectious respiratory droplets.
Courtesy, NIAID
Editor's Picks
Why Is the Ocean Salty?
Why is seawater salty?
Did Dinosaurs Really Have Feathers?
And how did feathers evolve?
Deviously Darwinian: 6 Strange Evolutionary Phenomena
Life will find a way. Usually a gross one.
Do We Really Swallow Spiders in Our Sleep?
You may have heard that spiders crawl into your mouth while you’re sleeping. Is that true?
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
Read about the people and machines that transformed Western society in the 18th and 19th centuries.
A Recent History of Climate Change
Over the past 100 years or so, the weight of human activities has emerged as an important factor in the trajectory of global and regional climates.
Ghost Forests Are Becoming the New Haunts of Climate Change
What are ghost forests? How do ghost forests emerge, and how do they affect the global environment?
5 Unforgettable Moments in the History of Spaceflight and Space Exploration
Finding the final frontier.
Spotlight: Mummification
A team of scientists recently recreated the face of Peru's most famous mummy, "Juanita," or the "Ice Maiden." The girl is thought to have been sacrificed when she was between the ages of 13 and 15 some 500 years ago. Mummified by centuries of ice and snow, the body was well-preserved and is just one example of how mummification can occur naturally.
Quizzes
Name That Magnified Object!
Can you figure out what these common items are when they're extremely magnified?
Guess the Body Part Quiz
Taking this quiz requires guts.
Name That Thing: Science
Do you know the difference between a protractor and a compass?
Guess the Animal Eyes Quiz
Can you tell these creatures just by looking at their peepers?
Videos
How volcanoes work, explained by a volcanologist
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Galleries
7 Wonders of the Natural World
Meteorites
Coral
Life
Tornadoes
The Solar System
Featured Categories
Biology
6 Cell Organelles
A quick refresher course in biology!
How Does the Human Body Maintain Its Temperature?
Human body temperature is regulated by the hypothalamus in the brain.
10 Ways of Looking at Cells
Learn about 10 cutting-edge microscopy tools that scientists are using to explore the internal structure of cells.
13 Questions About How the Human Body Works Answered
Blood, brains, lungs, skin, and more.
Astronomy
9 Ghostly Planets
Were they ever out there to begin with?
Why Are Planets Round?
There are a lot of strange things in the universe, so why are planets round instead of every shape imaginable?
How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?
Learn why the Hubble constant doesn’t seem to be very constant.
Telescopes: Seeing Stars
For the last 400 years, telescopes have changed our view of the universe.
Mathematics
al-Khwārizmī
Al-Khwārizmī Muslim mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics. Latinized versions of his name and of his most famous book title live on in the terms algorithm and algebra. Al-Khwārizmī lived in Baghdad,
Unusual Counting Systems
In everyday life we use a base-10 counting system, but that is not something that has always been used in history.
Euclid
Euclid the most prominent mathematician of Greco-Roman antiquity, best known for his treatise on geometry, the Elements. Of Euclid’s life nothing is known except what the Greek philosopher Proclus (c. 410–485 ce) reports in his “summary” of famous Greek mathematicians. According to him, Euclid
Aryabhata
Aryabhata, astronomer and the earliest Indian mathematician whose work and history are available to modern scholars. He is also known as Aryabhata I or Aryabhata the Elder to distinguish him from a 10th-century Indian mathematician of the same name. He flourished in Kusumapura—near Patalipurta