Toddlers are the daredevils of the chimp world. Those 2 to 5 years old are more likely than older chimps to free-fall from treetops or leap wildly from branch to…

If you want a glimpse of the future of Antarctica, look at King George Island. It sits at the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. This finger of land, which…

Graphene is a wonder. This single layer of carbon atoms is stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum. It conducts electricity better than many other materials. And recent studies now…

A basketball player’s smooth, nothing-but-net shot. A softball pitcher’s wicked curveball. A football quarterback’s beautiful spiral toss. These aren’t just athletic spectacles. They’re feats of physics. Making a ball take…

Pollination (noun, “pah-lih-NAY-shun”) Pollination is a step in a plant’s life cycle that allows it to make seeds. It is the transfer of pollen from the male parts of a…

Mosasaurs — a fearsome group of ancient predators — once ruled the seas. Now researchers have turned up a 66-million-year fossil tooth from one. And the big surprise: It came…

Around 400,000 years ago, a group of Neandertals camped at a site in what’s now southern England. Near a grassland water hole, they struck chunks of iron pyrite against flint…

Anyone doing math today will use a lot of symbols in addition to numbers. Did you ever wonder why? Or who invented those symbols, such as the signs for plus…

Jessica Talmage played sports for as long as she can remember. She recalls smacking baseballs off tees at age 4. And she loved being on a team. Then, she hurt…