When baby Atlantic puffins in Iceland venture out of the cliffside burrows where they had hatched, they look for the light of the moon. It will guide them to the…

Objective: To measure how much mass eggshells can support Areas of science: Materials science Difficulty: Medium intermediate Time required: 2–5 days Prerequisites: None Material availability: Readily available Cost: $20–50 Safety:…

Vampire bats live on a strictly blood-based diet. So strict, in fact, that they seem to process their food more like some blood-feeding flies than like other known mammals. Researchers…

Organoid (noun, “OR-guh-noid”) An organoid is a model of an organ made from living cells. Organoids are lab tools that mimic the functions of real organs. Organs carry out specific…

Trees are important for the health of our planet. For one, they pull carbon dioxide, a planet-warming gas, out of the air. But they also take up methane gas, scientists…

Brains are usually thought of as a bacteria-free zone. But that’s not the case for some fish. Wild and lab-grown members of the salmon family harbor active microbial communities in…

One of the biggest superstars in human history lies in the National Museum of Ethiopia. Here, in Addis Ababa, sit the fragile remains of the world’s most celebrated human ancestor:…

To Sally Warring, protists are an absolutely underrated type of wildlife.   “Protists are very charismatic and interesting,” says Warring, who studies these creatures at the Earlham Institute in Norwich, England.…

Mackensey Wilson, 14, never planned on doing a science fair project. But when one of her dogs kept getting rashes that seemed to be linked to what pet food she’d…