When water levels dropped last year, waterways like the Mississippi River and Lake Mead became shallower than kiddie pools. Although the extreme drought from 2022 has eased in many places, 28 percent of the continental U.S. is still experiencing drier-than-average conditions.Both Lake Mead and the Mississippi River serve as freshwater sources for nearby communities. The threat of drought has prompted many municipalities to consider how wastewater can be reused, and the recent Bipartisan Infr ...read more

Approximately 4,000 years ago, an ancient civilization living in the Indus Valley (today’s India and Pakistan) comprised 10 percent of the world’s population. Though few records remain about this group of people, archaeologists found they were advanced enough to have their own writing system — which has still yet to be deciphered. Known as the Indus script, the mysterious text has puzzled scholars, linguists and even cryptographers for decades. Only a few hundred symbols have been classifi ...read more

You're more likely to be struck by lightning than die from a venomous snake bite. But bites do happen. If you do find yourself on the business end of a snake's fangs, here are a few things you need to know.What NOT to do if You Get a Snake BiteThe first thing to consider — you're probably not going to die (in the U.S.). The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 7,000 and 8,000 people in the U.S. are bitten by venomous snakes each year. And of those who ...read more

Litter — it's the burger wrapper tossed from a moving car, the plastic bottle left behind at the beach and the cigarette butt dropped on the sidewalk. Improperly disposed of garbage doesn't just litter the land. Trash is afflicting the oceans, and the deputy general of the U.N. called marine litter a "ubiquitous global problem."Why can't some people just hold onto that burger wrapper? Or tuck a plastic bottle back into their bag? Researchers call it "littering behavior," and there are mult ...read more

Mindfulness is such a buzzword. We all want it, but our ability to attain it is fleeting. We fear life is passing us by, and as the world moves faster and faster, living in the present moment seems more difficult. But while mindfulness is the key to happiness, mind wandering is the key to our survival as a species.The Evolution of the Wandering MindAccording to Michael Graziano, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Princeton University, we did evolve to have attention, a crucially impo ...read more

It is scientifically proven that lead exposure causes harm, and the impact on children is especially devastating. Depending on the amount and duration of exposure — children can be affected negatively. Issues can range from delayed brain and nervous system development, learning and behavior problems, lower IQ, decreased attention span and hearing or speech issues.Lead Crime HypothesisFor decades, some in the criminal justice, medical and economic communities have believed that lead exposure ...read more

Pushing off from the dock on a boat called the Capelin, Sandy Milner’s small team of scientists heads north, navigating through patchy fog past a behemoth cruise ship. As the Capelin slows to motor through humpback whale feeding grounds, distant plumes of their exhalations rise from the surface on this calm July morning. Dozens of sea otters dot the water. Lolling on backs, some with babes in arms, they turn their heads curiously as the boat speeds by. Seabirds and seals speckle floating� ...read more

Most of us are familiar with the appendix, that worm-shaped tube at the beginning of the large intestine, even if we can’t remember which side of the abdomen it resides. (Hint: It’s not the left side.)It's easy to forget the four-inch-long organ is there at all — until it becomes inflamed or bursts, that is. More than 1 in 20 Americans will develop a case of appendicitis at some point, according to the National Institutes of Health, which can sometimes lead to serious and even fatal compli ...read more

This story was originally published in our May/June 2023 issue as "Blue Marble, Red Planet." Click here to subscribe to read more stories like this one.For the first time in the history of our solar system, humans are collecting rocks from another planet. Since the Perseverance rover landed on Mars in early 2021, NASA scientists have been guiding it across the Jezero Crater, an ancient martian lakebed. When the rover reaches a site of geological interest, it drills out a small rock sample and ...read more

Christian Tryon, a professor of anthropology at the University of Connecticut, knew stone tools, but he didn’t know teeth.He was looking at a photograph of just that, ancient dentition recovered from a decades-old archaeological site in Lebanon. The photograph had come from the papers of a close associate of Rev. J. Franklin Ewing, the original expedition leader.The Trail to EgbertAt first, Tryon thought the teeth belonged to the remains of an ancient child named “Egbert” by Ewing, bones l ...read more