In the central Chinese province of Henan, a farmer discovered a black orb with a vaguely blue tint, about the size of a billiards ball. While he and initial researchers thought they had found a dinosaur egg, it turned out to be something much rarer: a huge fossilized turtle egg—with an intact turtle embryo still
Excerpt and photographs from Flamingo by Claudio Contreras Koob. Copyright © 2022 by Claudio Contreras Koob. Reprinted by permission of teNeues. As spring draws to a close, the long wait finally ends with the birth of thousands of flamingos. To document this sensitive process, I had to approach the sandy islet where the birds had
The túngara frog is a creature perhaps easily overlooked. Each measuring just around an inch, these frogs have rough brown skin that helps them disappear among the foliage of the forests and wetlands they call home in Central America and the shores of the Caribbean. Yet these diminutive amphibians have long fascinated scientists. While some
A fossil found in sandstone near the England-Scotland border contains the largest millipede ever found—and the discovery was completely by accident. In January 2018, Neil Davies, an Earth scientist at the University of Cambridge, had taken a group of PhD students on a “social trip” to Northumberland, England, where he had previously gone on holiday.
Romping around Waikato, New Zealand, a group of schoolchildren made an amazing discovery while fossil hunting as part of their natural history club summer trip. Accompanied by their club’s resident fossil expert, the kids kayaked to Kawhia Harbor and found an unusual skeleton set in stone. The unidentified fossil was excavated from the surrounding sandstone
There’s just a 1 in 3,700,000 chance a person will be killed by a shark in their lifetime, but the fear is still enough to have swimmers worrying about being perceived as prey. Now, new research supports the long-standing theory that when great whites do go in for a bite, it’s a case of “mistaken
For decades, ecologists assumed giraffes had no real social structure to speak of. One excerpt from a 1991 book described the craning mammals as “socially aloof, forming no lasting bonds with its fellows and associating in the most casual way.” But starting around the turn of the century, and especially in the last decade, animal
What do you think something called a hell heron might look like? Herons living today are necky, leggy birds with needle-sharp beaks. You might imagine an infernal version of this creature could also have horns or breathe fire. But in truth, it was a dinosaur with crocodile teeth. At least that’s what scientists have determined
What’s the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you’ll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci’s hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Anchor, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. It’s your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals
Oftentimes, the most astounding scientific discoveries are made entirely by accident. It was 3 am one sunshine-filled night in February of 2021, and marine biologist Lilian Boehringer of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany was keeping vigil in the camera room aboard the research vessel Polarstern, watching live images of the Antarctic seafloor roll fire
