Science

By determining the ages of more than 100,000 giant stars, researchers have identified the edge of our galaxy's star-forming disc for the first time, revealing that the most recent star formation is closer to the center than we expected.

By testing the luminescence of ancient bones, an international team of researchers has provided strong evidence that residents of South Africa’s Wonderwerk Cave may have been cooking their breakfast some time between 1.07 and 1.78 million years ago.

As deforestation accelerates across the Amazon, scientists are uncovering a disturbing new consequence: humans are transmitting diseases to wildlife.

Bumblebees may be smarter than we give them credit for, with a new study showing the fuzzy insects demonstrate the cognitive plasticity required to solve problems they've never encountered before to reach a goal.

By starting with the fewest assumptions possible, a team of researchers formed a “bootstrap” rationale suggesting that the properties of a grand theory of everything are likely to look suspiciously string-like.

For captive animals, engaging in natural behavior is a pillar of the animal welfare framework. But when it comes to sex, one important behavior has been largely ignored, and sometimes even punished: masturbation.

We're a step closer to understanding how energy is spread across the Universe, with the most detailed map of intergalactic magnetism ever produced. It's more than five times larger than all earlier surveys combined.

For nearly 200 years, biologists felt they had seen it all when it came to nudibranch species, with only six types identified around the world. Then, scientists in Taiwan chanced upon another, the size of a grain of rice, that no one knew existed.

Last month, tour guides in the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard made a grisly discovery, chancing upon the carcasses of a young male polar bear and an adult walrus in an advanced state of decay.

A pair of stars spiralling around each other. That’s the origin of a new source of repeating radio bursts we’ve detected, called ASKAP J1745.