The Bee Dance Debate
Can insects communicate? In the middle of the twentieth century, scientists disagreed on whether bees could possess a “language” expressed through motion.
A Massive Eruption 74,000 Years Ago Affected the Whole Planet
Archaeologists use volcanic glass to figure out how people survived.
Underground Conquest: Cave Exploration and Nationalism
As cave exploration became more popular and speleology developed as an academic discipline, cave explorers were drawn into a problematic European nationalism.
Lite Intermediate Black Holes
Meet the supermassive black hole’s smaller, much more mysterious cousin.
Fifty Years of Fractals
A half century ago ago, Benoit Mandelbrot coined the word "fractal" and pioneered a new type of geometry.
Shifting Forces: The Evolving Debate Around Dark Energy
New evidence suggests the universe might not behave as expected, raising questions about the costs of being wrong.
La Brea and Beyond
Pits and seeps full of tar and asphalt offer new insights into old ecosystems and cultures.
Christiaan Huygens and the Scientific Secrets of Saturn
Seventeenth-century science was so competitive that Christiaan Huygens used a cipher to conceal his Saturn observations when sharing them with interlocutors.
Life According to Phosphorus
Phosphorus is essential for fertilizing high-yield agriculture. The US domestic supply, restricted to Florida, is expected to run out in a couple of decades.