Tuataras may look like lizards, but they are more oddballs of the reptile world.These New Zealand creatures have been carving their own evolutionary path for nearly 250 million years. The species they evolved from split off from the group that also gave rise to lizards and eventually snakes.But what exactly makes tuataras so unique? A third eye, a strange skeletal structure, and a different approach to sex, are some traits to start with.What are Tuataras?Tuataras are reptiles, and though they ma ...read more

Scientific research! No, it isn't just a bunch of folks in lab coats shouting "eureka!" and then getting handed a Nobel Prize. Lots of scientific research gets done these days in the United States alone. This work is being done by a widely diverse (but maybe not diverse enough) group of people at universities, labs, companies, you name it. In fact, the average scientist likely spends more time writing than "doing" research. The process to go from research to publication is not well known by most ...read more

Over the long, slow process of natural selection, species survive by adapting to their environments by developing traits suited to those environments. The insulating coat and subcutaneous fat of polar bears allow them to live in the Arctic ice. Kangaroo rats are able to survive in the desert because they don’t need to drink water; they’ve evolved the ability to survive on the small amount of moisture they get from the seeds they eat.But environments can change rapidly. A volcanic eruption mi ...read more

As wildfires have sent palls of smoke streaming across large swaths of North America, some have spawned fire-breathing thunderstorm clouds. As is evident from the image above and others that follow, these pyrocumulonimbus clouds, or pyroCbs, offer a visually dramatic reminder of just how extreme wildfire behavior can get. But they are significant for other reasons as well. PyroCbs can hurl barrages of lightning bolts to the ground, triggering even more wildfires. They also can help spread harmfu ...read more

Black holes are remarkable astronomical objects with gravity so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape them. The most gigantic ones, known as “supermassive” black holes, can weigh millions to billions times the mass of the Sun.These giants usually live in the centers of galaxies. Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, contains a supermassive black hole in its heart as well.So, how do these supermassive black holes become super massive? To answer this question, our teamof astrophysicists loo ...read more

Wildfires have exploded across Canada, sending thick plumes of smoke across a vast territory. At least 525 lightning-sparked wildfires are burning in heat- and drought-plagued British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories — including this one, imaged by the Sentinel-2 satellite on July 17, 2024:A wildfire burns in Canada's Northwest Territories, as seen in this image acquired by the Sentinel-2 satellite on July 17, 2024. (Credit: Modified Copernicus Sentinel data processed by Tom Yul ...read more

Shorter sleep and later bedtimes are linked to potentially harmful functional changes to parts of the brain important for coping with stress and controlling negative emotions, our recently published research found. And children in families with low economic resources are particularly at risk.We are neuroscientists who are passionate about reducing socioeconomic disparities in child development. To better understand how socioeconomic disadvantage affects sleep health and brain development in chil ...read more

Of the more than 74,000 known meteorites– rocks that fall to Earth from asteroids or planets colliding together – only 385 or so stones came from the planet Mars.It’s not that hard for scientists to work out that these meteorites come from Mars. Various landers and rovers have been exploring Mars’ surface for decades. Some of the early missions – the Viking landers– had the equipment to measure the composition of the planet’s atmosphere. Scientists have shown that you can see this ...read more

Mom knew what she was talking about after all: Scratching really does make the itch worse. Good as it feels, the burst of ecstasy you get from clawing your irritated skin only prolongs a vicious itch-scratch cycle, putting true relief farther out of reach. Our natural instinct betrays us.But why? Though itch has bedeviled our species (not to mention many other animals) for thousands of years, scientists have just begun to comprehend the physiological mechanisms behind it. Over the past couple of ...read more

Mount Vesuvius delivered a deadly one-two-three punch to Pompeii in A.D. 79. First, the volcano spewed stones high into the air, which rained down on the city. After that rock shower subsided, an earthquake shook the village. Finally, a swift river of lava, ash, and gasses — what vulcanologists call a pyroclastic flow — essentially finished off life in the village.A new study in Frontiers in Earth Science examines the significance of that second blow —perhaps the least-understood aspect of ...read more