Elephants are the largest land mammals to roam the planet and some of the most socially intelligent creatures scientists have studied. They’re doting parents, they demonstrate empathy towards their elephant friends, they can imitate human speech — and one baby elephant recently took the news by storm for peeling a banana herself. Yet, there are not many of these stunning animals left on Earth.How Many Elephants Are Left In The World?In the 1930s, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature, ...read more

Certainly, lots of people believe in ghosts – a spirit left behind after someone who was alive has died.In a 2021 poll of 1,000 American adults, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they had personally experienced them. If they’re right, that’s more than 50 million spirit encounters in the U.S. alone.That includes the owner of a retail shop near my home who believes his place is haunted. When I asked what most convinced him of this, he sent me dozens of eerie security camera vide ...read more

For thousands of years, humans have been getting queasy on boats. People have long felt a rumbling in their stomachs and then braced themselves against the side of the ship in hopes the feeling might pass.Hippocrates wrote about motion sickness more than 2,000 years ago, and the word “nausea” stems from the Greek word naus, meaning “ship.”Scientists now understand what causes motion sickness and how it can be prevented. And studies find it’s something almost everyone will have to e ...read more

After a journey of seven years and nearly 4 billion miles, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft landed gently in the Utah desert on the morning of Sept. 24, 2023, with a precious payload. The spacecraft brought back a sample from the asteroid Bennu.(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center via AP) OSIRIS-REx collected a sample from the asteroid Bennu. Roughly half a pound of material collected from the 85 million-ton asteroid (77.6 billion kg) will help scientists learn about the formation of the sola ...read more

We can’t know what Nimbadon looked like for sure, but the fossil record provides us some clues. It shows us that it was likely a curious-looking creature. Weighing in at a whopping 150 pounds, Nimbadon was about five times as large as a koala, a sloth-like figure with oversized claws, sizable hands and feet, and strong arms meant for clinging to the canopy.The species was a type of diprotodontoids to which wombats and koalas are closely related. The similarities between koalas and Nimbado ...read more

Earth is home to more than 7,000 languages, and we use those languages to express ideas as straightforward as the desire for a cup of coffee and as intricate as the details of quantum physics. But how did language start and when did humans first evolve this ability to use language?When Did Humans Develop Language? The development of human language has long fascinated scholars and linguists. These experts have various perspectives and theories for when humans started speaking and the reasons lang ...read more

Soaring with the birds. Teeth falling out. A crazy psychopath is chasing you. For many of us, our dreams transport us to a surreal world where logic and reason have no reign. Some of us may even look forward to sleep — and the adventures we’ll go on in our dreams. What is it about people who don’t remember their dreams that set them apart from the people who do? Is it possible for the brain to stop producing dreams? And could something be wrong in the brains of people who report never dr ...read more

When Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Pluto in 2015, planetary geologists expected a few dull images of a cold, dark icy body on the edge of the Solar System. But Pluto surprised everyone.What astronomers discovered was a complex dwarf planet with a surprisingly varied landscape potted with huge cliffs, deep ravines, enormous mountains all battered by a curious kind of weather with evidence of water plus much more. There is even some evidence of volcanoes on Pluto. These are unlike tho ...read more

Say you’re out walking late at night, and you come across a pair of glowing dots in the distance. Maybe they’ll blink at you, or they’ll just watch quietly. Don’t get too spooked – that’s just an animal looking back at you.It may certainly feel creepy but rest assured that there are no ghostly forces behind those uncanny lights. The reason behind this phenomenon is much simpler: It’s the result of evolutionary mechanisms which allow certain species to see better in the dark.Why Do ...read more

The leaves are changing, a chilly autumn wind is blowing and front porches host bright orange pumpkins. As Halloween or All Hallow's Eve — whichever you prefer — draws near, the pumpkin starts to show itself everywhere. But have you ever wondered why? Take a look at the lore behind Jack-O-Lanterns, the health benefits of pumpkins and how some farmers can grow these massive gourds.Where Did Jack-o'-Lanterns Originate?(Credit:Stock Holm/Shutterstock)Jack-o'-Lanterns get their roots from an I ...read more