Ed Yong
The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?
The epidemics of the early 21st century revealed a world unprepared, even as the risks continue to multiply. Much worse is coming.
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Edgar Su / Reuters This Fish’s Eyes Turn Black When It Gets Mad
Guppies have silver eyes, but when they’re ready for a fight, their irises go dark. An experiment with robots shows why.
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AFP / Stringer The Increasingly Intricate Story of How the Americas Were Peopled
For one young scientist, a genetic study of 91 ancient remains yielded fascinating, complicated results—and an ethical quandary.
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Matt Cardy / Getty A New Genetic Clue to How Humans Got Such Big Brains
Three genes that appeared during our early evolution probably increased the number of neurons in our heads—but at a cost.
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San Diego Zoo How to Impregnate a Rhino
Besides the usual way
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Philip Krzeminski The Asteroid That Smote the Dinosaurs Burned the Birds Out of Trees
Forest fires killed off tree-dwelling species and left the ground-dwelling ones to restart the avian dynasty.
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Kenny-Katombe Butunka / Reuters Vaccines Alone Won’t Beat Ebola
A deep understanding of the Congo’s culture and time-honored public-health tactics are the keys to controlling the outbreak.
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Robert Murphy How a Pyramid Scheme Doomed the World’s Largest Amphibians
It turns out that the Chinese giant salamander is actually five different species—and they’re all probably facing extinction.
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Cyrus Sinai Most Maps of the New Ebola Outbreak Are Wrong
Villages, and sometimes whole regions of the Congo, are misplaced—but the ministry of health and a team of cartographers are racing to get better data.
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Kenny-Katombe Butunka / Reuters The First Urban Case of Ebola in the Congo Is a ‘Game Changer’
The stakes are higher now that the virus has reached a city of 1.2 million people.
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Christopher Austin These Lizards Are Full of Green Blood That Should Kill Them
They somehow seem to have evolved this weird trait several times.
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Dan Kitwood / Getty Images Hippos Poop So Much That Sometimes All the Fish Die
Their dung consumes the oxygen around it, creating lethal pulses of suffocating water.
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Mike Segar / Reuters A New Theory Linking Sleep and Creativity
The two main phases of sleep might work together to boost creative problem-solving.
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AFP / Getty Images The New Ebola Outbreak Could Take 'Three, Maybe Four' Months to Control
The DRC's top virologist says the response has been quick, but it started late because of delays in reporting suspected cases.
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Moses Robinson / Getty Ebola Returns Just as the White House Loses Its Top Biodefense Expert
The highly respected Tim Ziemer left the National Security Council earlier this week. Here’s who will be taking over his duties.
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John Wessels / Getty Ebola Returns Just as Trump Asks to Rescind Ebola Funds
Fortunately, the new outbreak is happening in the DRC, a country well versed in fighting the dreaded virus.
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Yuri Gripas / Reuters What Bill Gates Fears Most
The threat of a flu pandemic clouds even his legendary optimism, so he's launching an initiative to prevent one.
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Alex McClelland, Bournemouth University Fossilized Human Footprint Found Nestled in a Giant Sloth Footprint
An incredibly preserved set of tracks tell the story of an ancient hunt.
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Neil Hall / Reuters What's Wrong With Growing Blobs of Brain Tissue?
These increasingly complex organoids aren't conscious—but we might not know when they cross that line.
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Melissa Ilardo How Asia's Super Divers Evolved for a Life At Sea
Scientists are starting to uncover the genetic basis of the Bajau people’s incredible breath-holding abilities.
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Portra / Getty Images When Will the Gender Gap in Science Disappear?
A new study estimates that it will take 16 years for women and men to publish papers in equal numbers. For physics, it will take 258.
