HAAD SAI KHAO, TRAT PROVINCE, THAILAND - 2017/12/28: Spraying foam of a wave breaking at a rock at White Sand Beach on Koh Chang. (Photo by Frank Bienewald/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Frank Bienewald/LightRocket/Getty Images
Scientists redid an experiment that showed how life on Earth could have started. They found a new possibility
New research suggests “microlightning” exchanges among water droplets in Earth’s early atmosphere may have sparked the building blocks of life.

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Paul Caiger
They are known as silent killers. Now, unprecedented recordings reveal first known shark sounds
Video ‘I never went outside’: Meet a Cold War-era doctor assigned to live under the ice 1:32
Spread of Australia’s red fire ant population has sent 23 people to hospital
Iguanas floated 5,000 miles from North America to Fiji on vegetation rafts, new study finds
Blobfish overcomes notoriety as ‘world’s ugliest animal’ to win New Zealand’s ‘fish of the year’
Trees in art, as well as life, often follow simple mathematical rules, study finds
Ambitious effort to document marine life reveals 866 new species and counting
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O’Corry-Crowe/FAU; Watt/DFO
Narwhals may be using their tusks to play, new study finds
Genetically engineered mouse with woolly fur is a step toward resurrecting extinct mammoth, company says
Colossal Biosciences
Scientists created a ‘woolly mouse’ with mammoth traits. Is it a step toward bringing back the extinct giant?
QAQORTOQ, GREENLAND - JULY 30: Calved icebergs from the nearby Twin Glaciers are seen floating on the water on July 30, 2013 in Qaqortoq, Greenland. Boats are a crucial mode of transportation in the country that has few roads. As cities like Miami, New York and other vulnerable spots around the world strategize about how to respond to climate change, many Greenlanders simply do what theyve always done: adapt. "Were used to change, said Greenlander Pilu Neilsen. "We learn to adapt to whatever comes. If all the glaciers melt, well just get more land. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Joe Raedle/Getty Images/FILE
Ancient glacier finding reveals clues to how complex life on Earth evolved, scientists say
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• Video 1:31
Getty Images
The shocking science behind staticky hair 1:31

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This photograph taken on September 30, 2022 shows eryngii mushrooms produced by the company Eclo which recycles beer and bread waste to grow organic mushrooms in Brussels. - The company from Brussels recycles beer residues and unsold bread to grow exotic species of mushrooms in a the ancient Anderlecht slaughterhouse cellar which previously held techno parties and exhibitions. (Photo by Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP) (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP via Getty Images)
Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Robot controlled by a king oyster mushroom blends living organisms and machines
Earth core structure. Elements of this image furnished by NASA
forplayday/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Earth’s core has slowed so much it’s moving backward, scientists confirm. Here’s what it could mean
circa 1805: German composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827). Original Artwork: Engraving after painting by Kloeber
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
New analysis of Beethoven’s hair reveals possible cause of mysterious ailments, scientists say
B8C6TT MEXICAN AXOLOTL
Stephen Dalton/Avalon.red/Alamy Stock Photo
Why axolotls seem to be everywhere — except in the one lake they call home

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Rene Martin
Birds-of-paradise are sending secret color signals invisible to human eyes, scientists say
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Ernesto Di Maio
Scientists developed a new method for the perfect boiled egg, and you can test it at home
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Tim Fogg
Newly discovered fungus turns cave-dwelling spiders into ‘zombies’
Turtle hatchlings of the endangered loggerhead (Caretta caretta) species head to the ocean after being released by conservationists who protect them from predators in a nursery on El Puerto beach, in the fishing village of La Sabana, La Guaira State, Venezuela, on July 29, 2022. The Ministry of Popular Power for Eco-Socialism (Minec), together with volunteers and naturalists, are developing a sea turtle conservation project aimed at protecting endangered species by collecting their eggs to nest them in a hatchery and releasing them into the sea after birth. (Photo by Yuri CORTEZ / AFP) (Photo by YURI CORTEZ/AFP via Getty Images)
Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Sea turtles ‘dance’ when their superpower leads them to food
C6WA73 Black tip shark
Dray van Beeck/Alamy Stock Photo
Shark attacks declined sharply in 2024. It’s not clear why
Earth core structure. Elements of this image furnished by NASA
forplayday/iStockphoto/Getty Images
‘It’s almost science fiction’: Scientists say the shape of Earth’s inner core is changing
Voyager 1 at Jupiter - Red spot Image taken on March 5, 1979 This image was re-processed on November 6, 1998 and re-recorded to film on the MDA film recorder, MRPS ID# 93779, from which this file was scanned. Original vidicon image size is 800 lines with 800 pixels per line.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientists make ‘rare advance’ in tackling the oldest unsolved problem in physics
Nyota, a bonobo at Ape Initiative, was part of the experiment.
Ape Initiative/Johns Hopkins University
These apes can tell when humans don’t know something, study finds
Darwin's frog newborn frog metamorph at London Zoo.
Benjamin Tapley
Endangered frog daddies transported 7,000 miles to ‘give birth’ to young
Baby shark mysteriously born in aquarium tank housing only females
Morgan Nix
Baby shark mysteriously born in aquarium tank housing only females
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Brett Lewis/Queensland University of Technology
‘Walking’ coral moves like jellyfish toward blue light, new study finds
Computer illustration showing Earth's internal structure. The core consists of an inner region and an outer region. The mantle consists of the mesosphere, the athenosphere, and the lower part of the lithosphere. The crust is the upper part of the lithosphere. The crust is around 40 kilometres thick in the continents, and as little as 5 kilometres thick in the deep ocean. The mantle is a viscous layer of rock some 2900 kilometres deep. The outer core is a liquid composed of molten iron and nickel. Convection currents in these metals are responsible for producing the Earth's magnetic field. The outer core is around 2250 kilometres thick. Below it is the solid inner core which is a hot, solid sphere of iron and nickel, some 1200 kilometres in radius, at a temperature of around 5500 degrees Celsius.
Tumeggy/Science Photo Library RF/Getty Images
Two buried ‘supercontinents’ hiding inside Earth could be much older than previously thought
Danekræ DK-1295, a regurgitated lump of sea lily fragments from at least two different species of sea lilies that were eaten during the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago.
Sten Lennart Jakobsen
Amateur fossil hunter finds 66-million-year-old animal vomit
‘Buzz me in:’ Bees wearing itty bitty QR codes reveal hive secrets
Penn State
Tiny QR codes help scientists track bee movements
The Lyell shrew was the only mammal in California that had never been filmed before.
Vishal Subramanyan, Prakrit Jain, and Harper Forbes
Elusive Californian mammal captured on camera for first time ever
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Westend61/Getty Images
Men got taller and heavier at twice the rate of women over past century, study shows