Science
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Fearsome Sharks of Today Evolved When Ancient Oceans Got Hot
More than 100 million years ago, scientists say, warming seas and reduced oxygen may have sent some sharks higher into the water column, where they evolved to be fierce and hungry.
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Our Planet Is About to Reach Its Greatest Distance From the Sun
Earth whirls around the sun in an ellipse, rather than a circle. On Friday the planet will reach its farthest point from its star, known as aphelion.
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Melodies of Popular Songs Have Gotten Simpler Over Time
“Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody,” Billy Joel crooned in “Piano Man,” his iconic 1973 barroom ballad. That may have been true enough when Mr. Joel wore a younger man’s clothes, but a new study conducted by computational musicologists at ...
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How the Denisovans Survived the Ice Age
A trove of animal bone fragments from a cave on the Tibetan plateau reveals how Denisovans thrived in a harsh climate for over 100,000 years.
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Finding This Fossil Was Like Spotting a Crocodile in a Canadian Forest
A bigheaded predator resembling a giant salamander found in an African fossil deposit suggests unwritten chapters of how animals moved onto land.
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The Rubik’s Cube Turns 50
Bright and early on the first Saturday in January, Tomas Rokicki and a few hundred fellow enthusiasts gathered in a vast lecture hall at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco. A big math conference was underway and Dr. Rokicki, a retired ...
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How Science Went to the Dogs (and Cats)
This article is part of our Pets special section on scientists’ growing interest in our animal companions. Every dog has its day, and July 14, 2004, belonged to a boxer named Tasha. On that date, the National Institutes of Health announced that the ...
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Scientists in Japan Give Robots a Fleshy Face and a Smile
Researchers at the University of Tokyo published findings on a method of attaching artificial skin to robot faces to protect machinery and mimic human expressiveness.
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Famine Drove Jamestown Settlers to Eat Native Dogs, DNA Reveals
By analyzing dog bones buried at the site, scientists found butcher marks and surprising breeds.
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Astronauts Are Not Stuck on the I.S.S., NASA and Boeing Officials Say
Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will spend additional weeks in orbit as teams on the ground study malfunctioning thrusters on the Starliner spacecraft.