Pando is a stand of aspen in Utah that is 14,000 years old and weighs 12 million pounds. Humans threaten to end its long reign.

Imagine Flipper trained in the art of espionage.

Are there any advantages to looking so cumbersome?

When Cameroon's Lakes Monoun and Nyos exploded, they released clouds of carbon dioxide that suffocated everything in its wake.

Organisms respond in similar ways to similar circumstances.

People who rate themselves as highly knowledgeable about cats are more likely to interact with cats in ways they don't like.

Spicy foods are enjoyed the world over, but scientists don't know why people partake in culinary masochism.

A common weed uses uncommon types of photosynthesis.

Horses pranced around the western hemisphere until they went extinct in the late Holocene. They were reintroduced by European colonists — though where, when, and how has remained unclear.

Let's hope that squid don't evolve lungs and legs, or humanity might be in real trouble.

The zebras were originally part of a newspaper tycoon's private zoo. Now they roam the San Simeon grasslands, growing in numbers. 

Turning off a gene called “Myc” has a surprising effect in male fruit flies: They start courting other males.

Livestock now outweighs wild mammals and birds ten-fold.

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

Flies are in no way smart, but they experience time in an almost Matrix-like fashion.

Scuba divers often appear to be swimming through a calm and muffled universe. This couldn't be farther from the truth.

There's a fatal prion infection killing deer and elk across North America.

Sorry, humans.

Back to the drawing board.

More than 90% of human faces are home to mites that live in our skin pores. These friendly guests might be merging with us.

Research sheds light on social behavior of these mysterious predators.

Here's what the weather phenomenon baking large parts of the country actually means.

Yorkicystis lived during the “Cambrian explosion,” 539 million to 485 million years ago – hundreds of million years before the dinosaurs.

All marbled crayfish descended from a single clone discovered in Heidelberg, Germany in 1995. 

It's not about leaves in tall trees.

For 40 years, scientists thought a specific gene was linked to aggression in hamsters. Removing it, however, had violent consequences.

Scientists have discovered enzymes from several plastic-eating bacteria. So, why are our oceans still full of plastic pollution?

We already know animals feel emotions, and that they can understand humans' emotions. But can they understand each other's emotions?

Some astrobiologists believe life is rare, while others believe it is common in the Universe. How can we find out which view is correct?

Cats know more than they let on.