Joanna Thompson

A 54-year-old woman in Indonesia was killed and eaten by a massive python

If humans had tails, what would they be like, and how would we use them?

Many fairytales have an evil stepmother who is determined to ruin the lives of her stepchildren. But what are the roots of this age-old trope?

The Bering Sea's snow crab population has been in decline over the last five years, but this season the population has collapsed.

Scientists recently unearthed stunning fossils of sturgeon from Hell's Creek that might have died on the day that the dinosaur-killing asteroid struck.

Here's why cats 'play' with their prey before dealing the death blow.

While researchers have not yet identified the species of an enormous newfound dinosaur, the sauropod is already breaking size records.

Meet Mbiresaurus raathi, the oldest African dinosaur (and one of the world's earliest) whose neighbors lived in Brazil.

A fossil crab was discovered perfectly preserved in Burmese amber.

The cooler climate pattern is predicted to persist for the third winter in a row, bringing an increased risk of powerful hurricanes to the eastern U.S. and flooding to Australia.

Science suggests that words aren't strictly necessary for reasoning.

A hefty abelisaurid is the fourth large, predatory dinosaur discovered in Egypt's Bahariya Formation, alongside other sizable Cretaceous carnivores.

Two sleuths in Norway uncovered the pieces of an extremely rare type of sword from the Viking Age.

Melon-size eggs belonging to an extinct and flightless giant 'thunder bird' were eaten by the first Australians.

Here's a historical look at the U.K.'s longest (and shortest) ruling monarchs.

Auroras don't just exist on Earth. Here's what we know about auroras on other planets in the solar system.

Ghostly imprints of very tiny "nannofossils" can offer a valuable window into our planet's past — and hint at its possible future.

Paleontologists recently excavated a marine reptile known as an ichthyosaur that died while pregnant. The fossil provides a rare glimpse of the life cycle for this extinct ocean species.

A conservation educator caught a record-breaking alligator gar in a bayou near Houston.

Residents of Kommetjie, South Africa were treated to a rare sight this weekend: a giant squid measuring 11.5 feet (3.5 meters) long.

If humans suddenly went extinct, what animals are most likely to develop human-like societies?

A new mechanism for dark matter creation could explain the current six-to-one ratio of dark matter to matter.

Researchers discovered the 100,000 year old tusk of a mammoth off the coast of California

Giving aliens directions to Earth might be tricky, but scientists have some ideas for how to do it.