Operation Chinchilla Is a Go
Twenty-five of the endangered rodents are living on top of a multibillion-dollar Chilean gold reserve. Miners are going to great lengths to relocate them.
Life Up Close
The Tree That Could Help Stop the Pandemic
The rare Chilean soapbark tree produces compounds that can boost the body’s reaction to vaccines.
A Handful of Asteroid Could Help Decipher Our Entire Existence
A NASA mission to a distant space rock could reveal clues about the early solar system.
The Weekly Planet: The Question That Haunts Climate Advocates
It’s not “Will Donald Trump win?”
The Third Coronavirus Surge Has Arrived
This week’s COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations make clear that the U.S. is once again sinking deeper into the pandemic.
A New Way of Thinking About Climate Change
Introducing Atlantic Planet
Kill Your Gas Stove
It’s bad for you, and the environment. If you can afford to avoid it, you probably should.
Scylla and Charybdis
Beyond climate denial and despair
NASA Finally Made a Toilet for Women
The new lavatory is a symbol of the agency’s growing recognition of female astronauts’ needs.
The Cerebellum Isn’t What We Thought
Scientists long believed its function was simply to coordinate movements. Now they suspect it could do much more.
No One Lasts Long on St. Matthew Island
A journey to Alaska’s most isolated place
The President’s Latest Silver Bullet
Trump claims his illness has led him to a coronavirus “cure.” Antibody therapy is still far from that.
Trees Are Time Machines
Arborists are planting trees today that must survive decades of global warming. The health, comfort, and happiness of city dwellers hang in the balance.
What Earth Owes to Black Holes
The cosmic objects have a reputation as monstrous maws, but without them the universe would make less sense.
The Molecular Biologist Who Exposed the Soviet Union
Jacques Monod saw chance as one of the “secrets of life,” an idea he used to tear down all sorts of dogmas.
Why We’re Afraid of Bats
On how we know—and how we learn—what to fear
Can We Still Go to Mars?
The pandemic is making a journey to the red planet feel further away than ever.
Trump’s Climate Self-Own
At last night’s debate, the president got confused about his own policy—and Joe Biden’s.
The Loss That’s Killing the West’s Wildlife
The patchwork of burnt lands that once characterized fire-prone forests is disappearing.
Vaccine Chaos Is Looming
The COVID-19 vaccines furthest along in clinical trials are the fastest to make, but they are also the hardest to deploy.
The Plant Pandemics Just Keep on Coming
How the world’s trees got so sick
Wisconsin Is on the Brink of a Major Outbreak
The state’s coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are at an all-time high.