How “Fire Fungi” Help Put Burnt Landscapes Back Together
Before plants and animals recolonize after a wildfire, fungi get to work.
Discoveries
Latest in Discoveries
Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents
In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold.
Where Art Thou, Little Songbird?
Collaboration and technology are helping scientists solve migratory mysteries.
A Scaredy-Cat Won’t Hunt
To protect imperiled birds, these ecologists are working to put the fear back in New Zealand’s cats.
The Big Picture 2025
From the beautiful to the bizarre, this annual photographic showcase shines a light on some of our planet’s most breathtaking species and places.
Dispatches from the Last Ice Area
The Arctic is losing ice—fast. To better predict the future, scientists headed to the North’s last bastion of multiyear sea ice.
How Penguin Poop Helps Antarctica Keep its Cool
Ammonia wafting from penguin guano contributes to cloud formation.
What a Whale Does Not See
A whale’s grapefruit-sized eye reveals the reason humpbacks keep swimming into fishing gear.
Plant Sex and the City
Plants around the world are adapting their reproductive strategies to survive on an increasingly urban planet.
As the Forest Fries, Brazil’s Formidable Formicidae May Falter
An age-old relationship between ants and plants may unravel in a warming world.
Life Finds a Way, Even on Inactive Hydrothermal Vents
In the darkness of the deep sea, animals flourish on hydrothermal vents that have gone cold.
Where Art Thou, Little Songbird?
Collaboration and technology are helping scientists solve migratory mysteries.
A Scaredy-Cat Won’t Hunt
To protect imperiled birds, these ecologists are working to put the fear back in New Zealand’s cats.
The Big Picture 2025
From the beautiful to the bizarre, this annual photographic showcase shines a light on some of our planet’s most breathtaking species and places.
Dispatches from the Last Ice Area
The Arctic is losing ice—fast. To better predict the future, scientists headed to the North’s last bastion of multiyear sea ice.
How Penguin Poop Helps Antarctica Keep its Cool
Ammonia wafting from penguin guano contributes to cloud formation.
What a Whale Does Not See
A whale’s grapefruit-sized eye reveals the reason humpbacks keep swimming into fishing gear.
Plant Sex and the City
Plants around the world are adapting their reproductive strategies to survive on an increasingly urban planet.
As the Forest Fries, Brazil’s Formidable Formicidae May Falter
An age-old relationship between ants and plants may unravel in a warming world.