Looking for Signatures of Life on Mars

03/17/15 Was there ever life on Mars? How do scientists search for and analyze possible clues? Roger Summons

The Formation of Stars and Planets

09/15/15 How stars and their planetary systems form, and what the New Horizons mission to Pluto will reveal about the "fossil record" of our own solar system. Scott J. Kenyon

Reconstructing Evolution: A Molecular Time Machine

02/23/16 Tracing ancient genetic changes through extinctions and speciation events to reconstruct our DNA history. Betul Kacar

The Potential Uses of Deep-Sea Microbes

09/24/15 A leader in the study of exotic microbes at hydrothermal vents explains the significance and the potential of these life forms. Peter Girguis

Our Rising Seas

02/19/17 Sea-level patterns over 2000 years and the situation now. Andrew Kemp

Restoration of Severely Contaminated Lands

05/10/11 Sometimes even severely polluted land can be restored. Some case histories... Justin Hollander

They Didn't Believe It! The Germ Theory of Disease

02/03/20 Despite great medical accomplishments in ancient civilizations, then medical advances from the 17th century on, the connection between germs and disease was unknown.

Understanding Viruses: The Connor Lab

07/2014 The Connor Lab at Boston University is a leader in the effort to understand how viruses infect and how cells learn how to block infection. John Connor

Innovations in Clean Water Technology

12/20/11 Desalination offers a solution to the water shortage problem... John Lienhard V

Designing Sustainable Urban Development

11/25/19 How the world-class Sustainable Design Lab at MIT combines architecture, engineering, physics --and creative genius-- to design the optimal urban environment. Christoph Reinhart

Today's Featured Contributors

Featured Author

Sharon Levy

A well-known natural history writer's analysis of the Ice-Age extinctions in America

Featured Guest

Pamela Templer, Ph.D.

A prominent biogeoscientist who probes the relationship between climate change, forests and their creatures, and the soil