Stories by Meghan Bartels

Tiny mice found mummified at the summits of Andean volcanoes appear to be living in the harsh environment, which resembles Mars more than it does Earth

The sun’s magnetic poles are about to reverse as part of a regular 11-year sunspot activity cycle

NASA’s Psyche mission is on its way to a heavy-metal asteroid of the same name—a type of object that scientists have never seen up close before

New research suggests that solar storms interfere with the magnetic compass that birds use for long-distance travel

The CDC is emphasizing how the flu vaccine can turn the virus from “Wild to Mild”

If this new estimate holds up, scientists have yet to identify the vast majority of earthworks strewn across the Amazon

With three degrees Celsius of warming, U.S. deaths during extreme temperatures could reach 63,000 a year, researchers calculate

Human scientists—used to the benefits of a centralized, complex brain—have been underestimating what a simple nerve network can do

Jupiter’s mysterious moon Europa may hold carbon in the ocean lurking beneath its icy shell

If it had hit Earth, this coronal mass ejection could have caused continent-scale blackouts, scientists say

NASA has appointed a director of unidentified anomalous phenomena research to advance that area of scientific investigation

Hurricane Lee is no longer a Category 5 storm but has grown in size as it has trekked farther north

Scientists analyzed nine so-called planetary boundaries and found humans are currently transgressing six

Within days of each other, Hurricane Jova in the Pacific and Hurricane Lee in the Atlantic rapidly ballooned into Category 5 storms

Discovered only last month, Comet Nishimura is drawing attention before close approaches to the sun and Earth in the coming weeks

Often nicknamed “making biscuits,” kneading is a good sign that your cat is happy, experts say

Floodwaters from hurricanes, sea-level rise, a burst dam or other causes can contain a nasty mix of pathogens, chemicals and debris

After avian influenza killed 21 endangered California Condors, government officials are testing a vaccine that could protect the massive scavengers from infection

Record-low sea ice caused Emperor Penguin chicks to die across Antarctica last year. This year could be just as bad

When trees get too hot, energy production in their leaves breaks down

Minuscule amounts of uranium detected in the shells of turtles point to a new way to track such materials’ impacts on people and ecosystems

In the latest chapter of an ongoing “moon rush,” Russia’s Luna-25 mission will attempt the nation’s first lunar landing in nearly 50 years

At Los Angeles’ La Brea Tar Pits, scientists found they could watch large mammals disappear from the fossil record—and could trace the ecosystem through the catastrophe

Smoke from wildfires that have been exacerbated by climate change is complicating the picture of air pollution in the U.S.