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Experimental archaeology is the practice of recreating past events using knowledge and tools available at the time. Sometimes, it involves elephants.

Bloodcurdling war cries, shrieking elephants, and whistling arrows all made soldiers flee in terror.

De-extinction, if it is ever possible, will not be simple.

People discovered prehistoric fossils long before Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species." The remains of these unknown creatures often puzzled their discoverers.

Tusks suddenly became a liability, even though in natural circumstances, tusks are very useful.

The next time you see your dog sniffing the pavement or another dog’s junk, you should let them. Here’s why.

To the ancient Greeks, exotic animals were proof of mythological creatures. To the ancient Romans, they were oddities and adversaries.

We should not expect aliens to look anything like us. Creatures that resemble octopuses or birds or even robots are legitimate possibilities.

A famous explorer's doomed ship is finally found 107 years after it was lost to the Antarctic deep.

One player’s pawn is another’s farmer. And at one time, the queen was a rather powerless virgin.

That's as fast as a bullet train in Japan.

A biotech startup has received $15 million in funding to genetically recreate woolly mammoths and rewild them in Siberia.

There were at least eight other human species, some of whom existed for far longer than we have. Who were they?

Rock art in northern Australia depicts marsupial lions, giant kangaroos, and other megafauna that populated the Land Down Under long ago.  

Modern robotics are creating a kind of cultural paradox, where the best religion is the one that eventually involves no humans at all.

Elephants mourn the dead, dolphins give names to each other, and insects can recognize faces. The animal world is much smarter than we think.

“I watched closely for the sun or stars to appear, to correct my chronometer, on the accuracy of which our lives and the success of the journey would depend.”

Humanity is never fully in control of its creations. This lesson from Mary Shelley has remained relevant for over 200 years.

The Black, Caspian, and Aral Seas are the last surviving fragments of a body of water that stretched from Austria to Turkmenistan.

In scientific theories, the Multiverse appears as a bug rather than as a feature. We should squash it.

Mary Toft staged an elaborate hoax, but the pain was real.

"This fourth wave will be worse than it’s ever been before."

Mammals have a history stretching back 325 million years. To study that ancient history is to know our own origins.

An elephant at the Bronx Zoo has become a cause célèbre for animal rights activists.

Many animals engage in “zoopharmacognosy” or self-medication.

The new tool may someday be used in work that needs a light touch.

Perhaps we should be searching for “other Mercurys” rather than “other Earths.”

Ideas often taken for granted in the United States and Europe about what it means to be a person are, quite simply, not shared with other cultures.

Revolutionary techniques for understanding brain functions in animals could soon help us understand how emotions guide our lives.

The media sells bad news, but scientific evidence shows that we are making progress toward a greener planet.