Latest articles by Stephanie Pappas
Teen sickened with Canada's first human case of bird flu is in critical condition — and the source remains a mystery
A teenager in Canada is critically ill with the country's first human case of H5N1 bird flu. Health officials aren't sure how the youth was exposed.
Pando, the world's largest organism, may have been growing nonstop since the 1st humans left Africa, study suggests
The clonal quaking aspen known as Pando is between 16,000 and 80,000 years old.
'Gravity waves' from Hurricane Helene seen rippling through the sky in new NASA images
Hurricane Helene sent gravity waves rippling through the atmosphere far above the southeastern United States, new NASA images reveal.
Did plate tectonics give rise to life? Groundbreaking new research could crack Earth's deepest mystery.
Feature Emerging evidence suggests that plate tectonics, or the recycling of Earth's crust, may have begun much earlier than previously thought — and may be a big reason that our planet harbors life.
We finally know why dogs shake when they're wet
We now know the nerve responsible for dogs shaking water all over your dry clothes.
Death of alien-hunting Arecibo Telescope traced to cable issues 3 years earlier, 'alarming' report finds
A scathing new report points to unclear protocols and multiple failures to raise alarms at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico before the collapse of the site's radio telescope in 2020.
Indonesia volcano eruption kills at least 10
An eruption of Indonesia's Lewotobi Laki-laki stratovolcano rained debris and ash on villages on the island of Flores.
When did plate tectonics begin?
Earth surface is covered with rigid plates that move, crash into each other and dive into the planet's interior. But when did this process begin?
A meteorite 100 times bigger than the dinosaur-killing space rock may have nourished early microbial life
On a young Earth, giant meteors might have been a harbinger of life, not death.
Father-daughter team decodes 'alien signal' from Mars that stumped the world for a year
A father and daughter team based in the U.S. have decoded a mock "alien signal" beamed from ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter a year ago — but the meaning of the extraterrestrial message remains a mystery.
Earth's mantle is split into two halves thanks to supercontinent Pangaea
The mantle is split up into two domains — the African and the Pacific — that emerged when supercontinent Pangaea broke apart.
Astronauts to grow livers in space, where microgravity might help them thrive
Researchers think that microgravity could help grow liver "organoids" that could be used in medical research and even in transplant surgeries, someday.
Mysterious 'blobs' in Earth's mantle are not what we thought, study claims
Lava that erupts from hotspots around the world seems to come from a similar ancestral magma, new research finds.
Earth's crust may be building mountains by dripping into the mantle
An odd phenomenon called lithospheric dripping might occur wherever mountains form.
How strong can hurricanes get?
There's a theoretical limit to the maximum sustained wind speeds of hurricanes, but climate change may increase that "speed limit."
Scientists restore monkey's vision with a patch made from human stem cells
Scientists were able to treat a "macular hole" in a monkey, helping to restore the animal's vision thanks to human stem cells.
Earth's outer core may hold a hidden 'doughnut'
A newly discovered doughnut shape in Earth's outer core may reveal elements that help drive the formation of the planet's magnetic field.
21 of the best conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories that have taken hold range from a faked moon landing to Barack Obama's birthplace to chemtrails.
Ancient relative of 'living fossil' fish reveals that geological activity supercharges evolution
The ancient coelacanth, which has existed for some 419 million years, never stopped evolving despite its reputation as a "living fossil." A new discovery reveals that it evolved faster when plate tectonics were most active.
'Mega' El Niño may have fueled Earth's biggest mass extinction
Volcanoes spewing carbon dioxide 250 million years ago heated the climate so much that extreme El Niño events became the norm, pushing most life on Earth past its limits.
The oldest evidence of Earth's atmosphere may be hiding in rocks on the moon
The moon hasn't had a magnetic field for 4.36 billion years. That means it could hold fragments of the ancient Earth.
Scientists invent nanorobots that can repair brain aneurysms
Tiny robots much smaller than blood cells could deliver clot-forming drugs where they're needed most, a study in rabbits suggests. The tech has yet to be tested in humans.
MIT scientists build hair-size batteries that can power cell-sized robots
An internal power source could enable the development of tiny robots for applications like drug delivery and remote sensing.
