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On the windswept edges of Brazil’s shoreline, Joseph’s Coat grows quietly, its leaves catching sun and sea mist. For generations, people living along the coast have relied on this humble plant to ease inflammation, soothe pain, and fight infections. Yet despite its long history in folk medicine, the plant remained a mystery to modern science. Could its healing reputation be proven in the lab, or was it simply a story passed down through time? Now, a team of Brazilian researchers has [...]

In the arid northeast of Brazil, far from the crashing waves of the Atlantic and deep within the sunbaked landscapes of the Araripe Basin, lies a window into prehistory. This region, known as the Santana Group, has long been one of the world’s most remarkable fossil sites—a time capsule preserving the life and death of creatures that once ruled the skies and seas of the Cretaceous period, around 110 million years ago. For decades, this site has yielded exquisite fossils of fish, [...]

Imagine standing on the edge of a vast African plain nearly three million years ago. The air is dry and filled with the scent of smoke from distant fires. Rivers snake unpredictably through the landscape, sometimes vanishing under the grip of drought. Across this shifting terrain, early humans chip away at stones, shaping them into sharp-edged tools—their lifeline in a world of uncertainty. These tools, crafted by ancient hominins in Kenya’s Turkana Basin, tell a story of [...]

Deep in the heart of the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, something remarkable is happening. For decades, while the world has worried about its destruction, the trees themselves have been quietly responding to a changing atmosphere. A new study published in Nature Plants reveals that the average size of Amazonian trees has been increasing by about 3.2% every decade. This growth is consistent with the rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—a greenhouse gas [...]

Mercury, the smallest planet in our solar system and the one that orbits closest to the Sun, has long baffled scientists. Unlike its rocky siblings—Earth, Venus, and Mars—Mercury hides an unusual secret within: a massive metallic core that makes up nearly 70% of its total mass. Wrapped around it lies only a thin shell of silicate rock, a mantle and crust that are astonishingly small compared to the other terrestrial planets. For decades, the leading explanation for this imbalance [...]

When we think of nectar, most of us picture delicate blossoms brimming with sugary liquid designed to lure bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. But not all nectar is born from flowers. Around 4,000 plant species worldwide have evolved secretory glands called extrafloral nectaries, which release nectar on stems, leaves, or branches rather than inside flowers. Unlike floral nectar, this sweet offering is not meant to attract pollinators—it’s designed to recruit defenders. By [...]

The Amazon rainforest is often called the “lungs of the Earth,” but in truth, it is much more than that. It is a vast green heart that pumps life into the atmosphere, circulating water, storing carbon, and stabilizing global climate systems. Its trees breathe moisture into the sky, feeding invisible rivers of vapor that flow across South America, nourishing farmlands and replenishing reservoirs thousands of kilometers away. But this living system is under extraordinary pressure. [...]

Near the northern Syrian city of Afrin, beneath layers of stone that once lay at the bottom of a warm Eocene sea, an extraordinary discovery has brought the ancient world back to life. An international team of researchers has identified a new fossil sea turtle, now named Syriemys lelunensis. This remarkable find, published in Papers in Palaeontology, represents not only the first newly described fossil vertebrate species from Syria, but also a critical piece in the story of how ancient [...]

Beneath the crushing darkness of the ocean’s depths, in cold, ancient caves 300 meters below the surface, swims a fish that shouldn’t exist. With fleshy lobed fins, a bizarrely hinged skull, and a body plan seemingly untouched by time, the coelacanth has often been called a “living fossil.” But as it turns out, this label conceals more than it reveals. According to a groundbreaking new study published in Science Advances, this elusive fish is not merely a relic of the [...]