Stephanie Pappas

The discovery of seemingly home-grown carbon dioxide suggests Europa's ice-covered ocean could be habitable.

Placozoans, animals so simple they look like blobby pancakes, have been found to contain cells that may hold the ancestors of modern neurons.

Researchers analyzed RNA from the 130-year-old tissue of a Tasmanian tiger, a carnivorous marsupial that went extinct nine decades ago.

The Argyle formation in Australia, which hosts 90% of the world's pink diamonds, formed when the first supercontinent broke up.

The risk of a rare type of brain hemorrhage may be transmissible, though the absolute risk is very low.

A two-peaked mountain in northeastern China is the site of the world's first confirmed mountaintop crater.

A new study traces the birth of a tectonic plate.

Using a quantum device, researchers have observed, for the first time, a molecular process called conical intersection that is important in reactions such as photosynthesis.

In humans and several other mammals, brain cells are distributed according to a fundamental mathematical pattern, which could help researchers make better models of the brain in the future.

Under some circumstances, people may become more aggressive when they're overheated. But other decision-making doesn't seem to be affected.

An annual survey started in 1975 suggests that more adults under 50 are using hallucinogens.

Researchers have discovered a pattern where diamonds spew from deep beneath Earth's surface in huge, explosive volcanic eruptions.

The ability of a gene to keep functioning despite mutations shows a surprising link to fundamental math.

A new type of chemistry performed at very cold temperatures on very small particles enables quick, precise reactions.

Black hair? Green eyes? More than 160 genes determine your coloration, and their interactions are incredibly complicated.

A type of immune cell that travels from the gut to the eyeballs may help to explain why some people with glaucoma continue to lose their vision after treatment.

Over 10,000 earthquakes have hit the Noto Peninsula over the last three years. They are believed to be emanating from an long-dead volcano, with fluids pushing through the collapsed system.

When a nuclear bomb goes off, the blast is only the beginning.

Researchers analyzing ancient deposits in Australia found evidence that Earth's layers started to get mixed up — a fingerprint of plate tectonics — about 1.3 billion years after the planet formed.

Much of the moon's surface is 200 million years older than previously estimated, a new analysis suggests.

Scientists detected a peculiar blob of heat-emitting material buried on the far side of the moon. The most likely culprit is a rock that is very rare outside of Earth.

Though Earth's innermost core is solid, new research suggests that it hosts a lot of variation.

Scientists have found a white dwarf that is cooling and crystallizing into a giant diamond.