Up close, 'Earth-like' planets are still wildly unfamiliar worlds
Of the hundreds of new planets the Kepler Space Telescope has found, only a handful have been considered very "Earth-like." One of them is Kepler-438b, about 470 light-years from Earth.“At first...
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A Chinese mom has everybody talking about air pollution
It takes a village, as they say. But sometimes all it really takes is a mom. Chai Jing is a 39-year-old mother who seems to have just about everyone in China talking about the issue of air...
View ArticleWhy we: a) laugh b) love TV c) have nightmares
30 Rock makes you laugh uncontrollably. You have nightmares after watching The Walking Dead. And you can’t tear yourself away from the new season of House of Cards. But ... why?Jim Davies is a...
View Article'Merchants of doubt' looks at 'experts' peddling junk science to the public
We see them all the time on the news, on talk shows and on seemingly informative televised debates: The scientists and experts who help us to better understand the big issues facing society —...
View ArticleMount Everest has a problem — with poop
Overcrowding on Mount Everest is always a concern, but there's another problem piling up on the world's tallest mountain: poop.A decade of climbers heeding the call of nature has caused a potential...
View ArticleOne year later, the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is still just that
One year ago today, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared over the Indian Ocean. The plane travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing has still never been found, but the search — even for any bits of...
View ArticleAirports welcome bees as a way to make good use of their required undeveloped...
Urban beekeeping has found an unlikely new frontier: airports.The practice of maintaining beehives on airport property began in Germany a decade and a half ago and has spread, reaching Chicago, St....
View ArticleLife beyond Earth? The best bet may be on moons, not planets
There are billions of planets in the universe that straddle the habitable zones of their stars, but the search for potential life might actually narrow down to their moons.Many of the planets that...
View ArticleConservationists fight off invasive species at Boston's Harbor Islands
On one Saturday, a dozen or so volunteers clambered off a boat onto Grape Island, one of the small bits of land that dots Boston Harbor. It’s one of the least developed of the harbor islands, with lush...
View ArticleNew researchers continue the search for the ancient missing city of Atlantis
From UFOs and the Bermuda Triangle, to crop circles and the Loch Ness Monster, there are many fascinating unexplained phenomena in the world.For author Mark Adams, his obsession of late has been the...
View ArticleIt might be time to put zoos out to pasture
Zoos have a long history. As early as 2500 BC, Egyptian aristocrats created menageries; in 1520, the Aztec Emperor Montezuma II maintained one of the earliest animal collections in the Western...
View ArticleScientists dig in to paleosoil to find out why some civilizations learned to...
A recent discovery of ancient wheat DNA in ocean sediments off the British coast suggests that grain arrived there thousands of years before people actually began to farm. That discovery has...
View ArticleMarco Werman: The tiny item I kept amid a sea of destruction
The grubby, stubby handle lay on its side, a speck of dust, unnoticed in the breathtaking sweep of damage in this fishing city. There was no mistaking the shape: It was a rubber stamp of some sort. I...
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Some of Japan's 'nuclear refugees' can finally go home — but they don't want to
When an earthquake shook Japan on March 11, 2011, followed quickly by a huge tsunami, a young mother named Kazumi packed an overnight bag and some toys for her kids.This was before the disaster at the...
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How hunting lions might actually help save them
In a canvas tent that sits on a scrubby plateau just beyond the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, Philip Briggs deals three lions from a deck of cards.“These females all had cubs in early 2010, right after...
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Toxic algae is on the rise. Now scientists want to know if it's connected to...
You’ve seen the stories on the news every summer. Algal bloom causes mass fish death or drinking water ban, always complete with aerial shots of the blue-green pond scum spread across a lake,...
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'God commanded' family planning, says this Muslim leader in flood-ravaged Malawi
For two villages in southern Malawi, climate change and contraception have become intertwined. So much so, that long-held cultural assumptions are starting to change.Sheikh Mosa is chief of one of the...
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South America's largest city is almost out of water
Imagine this: São Paulo, South America’s largest city and economic hub, running out of water by June. That's what Brazil's federal government predicted just weeks ago.The region is in its worst drought...
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São Paulo residents demand their city take a new attitude about water
Edison Urbano’s toilet isn't just a toilet: It’s a teaching tool.Urbano lives in a middle class neighborhood in São Paulo. A few years ago he wanted to save money on his water bill, so he hacked his...
View ArticleDrought forces Brazilians to curb their addiction to multiple daily showers
Brazil is in the grip of a huge drought, and the country faces a special challenge as it tries to curb water use: showers.Brazilians love their showers. Many shower three times a day, and the AP...
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