Basic Research

The steps you can take to use less water

By Bella Isaacs-Thomas

Everyone has a role to play when it comes to treating water like a crucial resource, the United Nations says as it convenes its first water conference in almost five decades.

La Nina, which worsens hurricanes and drought, is gone after 3 years

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

Scientists say the La Nina weather phenomenon that increases Atlantic hurricane activity and worsens western drought is gone after three troublesome years.

What humans can learn from some of nature's most skilled hibernators

By Bella Isaacs-Thomas

Here’s how a handful of species approach hibernation each winter and what their annual journeys tell us about what it means to go dormant.

United Nations conference reaches historic biodiversity agreement

By Michael Casey, Associated Press

Negotiators reached a historic deal at a U.N. biodiversity conference early Monday that would represent the most significant effort to protect the world's lands and oceans and provide critical financing to save biodiversity in the developing world.

WATCH: Artemis 1's Orion spacecraft splashes down after moon flyby

By Bella Isaacs-Thomas

Sunday is marks the end of Orion's nearly four-week trip around the moon and back.

How the James Webb Space Telescope captures stunning images of space

By Bella Isaacs-Thomas

Here's what makes Webb images so exceptional, plus how this telescope differs compared to its predecessor — the Hubble Space Telescope.

The 'skin of our planet' is in danger. Here's how scientists are trying to save it

By Christopher Thomas

Biological soil crusts are a diverse community of organisms covering some 30 percent of the planet’s drylands. The loss of this top layer — often driven by human activity, as well as by climate change — has far-reaching consequences.