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Attack of the Flying, Invasive Carp
From Louisiana and Missouri through the American heartland and all the way north to Minnesota, Asian carp are invading freshwater lakes and rivers, disrupting ecosystems as they go. 04.12.2012
#24: Gut Microbes Establish Your Identity
Your gut population falls into one of three groups. 12.22.2011
#63: How Many Species Inhabit the Earth?
It's a tough question, but we now have the best answer yet. 12.22.2011
The Funky Fungi Freak Show
Come see the luminous looks of Gorgeous Glo. Marvel at the magnificent abilities of the Hat-Thrower. Meet the species that stinks to survive—but don't get too close. 02.24.2011
#67: Marine Census Completes Its Count
12.16.2010
The 100 Top Science Stories of 2010
Every year DISCOVER sorts through the scientific accomplishments of the past 12 months, and assembles a list of the coolest experiments, most brilliant discoveries, and most world-changing events. As you page through the countdown to the #1 science story, we think you'll come to the same conclusion we did: 2010 was quite a year. 12.16.2010
7 Visions of Our Hot, Awful Future
A bounty of 2010 books predict the future in a globally warmed world. Among the forecasts: boom town Detroit, abandoned Miami, an Arctic black gold rush, and a weirdly strong dried fruit market. 12.13.2010
The Genome of Your Thanksgiving Supper
The genetic sequences of the turkey, apple, potato, and other traditional Thanksgiving ingredients are providing bountiful lessons for scientists. 11.22.2010
When Animals Attack Our Attempts to Categorize Them
For three centuries, scientists have divided living things into tidy species. But the real world seems more slippery: a continuum in which one variety of life flows seamlessly into the next. 11.19.2010
Guantanamo Bay, Site of Important Ecological Research
Within the barbed wire and "Keep Out" signs that ring the Guantanamo Bay naval base, wildlife is thriving. So is scientific work. 08.06.2010
10 Science Hotspots—Where Mother Nature Reveals Her Secrets
From glaciers to undersea vents to tornado-wracked plains, these are the locations that draw boatloads of scientists from all over the world. 06.30.2010
Elephants Roaming America? A Big Idea for Rebooting Nature
A new theory suggests that the thick forests that we think of as wild may actually be an effect of human settlement. 05.05.2010
Serpents, Flyers & Hammers: Strange Fish That Rule the Open Sea
These magnificent wanderers of the open ocean have inspired sailor's legends and blockbuster movies. 04.12.2010
How Animals Suck: 9 Creatures That Slurp Creatively
Moths that steal tears while their victim sleeps, bats with tongues that start near their hearts, and more animals with weird techniques for eating and drinking. 03.04.2010
Impostors! Ten Species That Survive by Imitation
Disguises, fake sex, and eau de rotting flesh: These plants and animals use the weirdest ruses to get by. 01.26.2010
Stunning High-Speed Photos of Birds
Photographer Andrew Zuckerman earns the title of the new Audubon with his high-definition, high-speed avian portraits. 01.19.2010
The Banks That Prevent—Rather Than Cause—Global Crises
Seed banks put some much-needed wild vigor back into today's specialized varieties, protecting critical crops from being wiped out. 11.20.2009
Humans vs Animals: Our Fiercest Battles With Invasive Species
From Burmese pythons to Galapagos goats, these animals are threatening a hostile takeover—unless we can stop them. 09.24.2009
9 of Humanity's Greatest Environmental Successes
We're making some headway in restoring the environment—even if we caused the devastation in the first place. 07.10.2009
Man's Greatest Crimes Against the Earth, in Pictures
Humans rule the world… and destroy it in the process. 04.08.2009
Beautiful Images of Strange Fruits
The scarlet pimpernel's has a natural hinge. The blueberry glows brightly—in ultraviolet light. The Buddha's hand looks like… You guessed it. 03.11.2009
Six Sites That Are the Galapagos For Modern Darwins
Researchers see amazing twists of evolution at the biological hot spots. 02.10.2009
#4: Slime Is Turning the Seas Into Dead Zones
Pollution, overfishing, and the rise of microbes spell doom for many bodies of water. 12.22.2008
#20: The “Doomsday Vault” Stores Seeds for a Global Agriculture Reboot
Humanity's chances to survive global warming and nuclear attacks just increased. 12.19.2008
#87: Speedy Sperm Explains Flower Power
The quickest out of the gate, angiosperms dominate the plant world. 12.07.2008
10 Studies That Revealed the Great Global Amphibian Die-Off—and Some Possible Solutions
In our planet's sixth great mass extinction event, amphibians are among the hardest hit. 11.04.2008
Are Efforts to Save the Panda a Giant Waste of Money?
Sure, they're magnificent beasts, but they may be sucking eco-dollars from other, more critical species. 08.12.2008
Recall of the Wild
Captive breeding may sound great, but the captives don't do so well in nature. 05.05.2008
George Schaller's Grand Plan to Save the Marco Polo Sheep
"Obviously humans are evolution’s greatest mistake," says the conservationist. 02.21.2008
Did Life Evolve in Ice?
Funky properties of frozen water may have made life possible. 02.01.2008
96. And Here's Why You Have an Appendix:
When you're sick, it re-boots your gut with good bacteria. 01.15.2008
92. First Fossil Of A Leaf Insect Found
01.15.2008
73. Parasite Invades Its Host’s DNA
01.14.2008
34. Sleuths Track Mystery Bee Die-Off
12.28.2007
Attack of the Giant (Extinct) Insects!
They just don't make two-foot dragonflies like they used to. Here's why. 11.02.2007
Halloween Science: Bacteria of the Living Dead
Chop up their DNA and the buggers still keep comin' back to life. 10.31.2007
The Last Unexplored Place on Earth
Scientists race to discover the secret world buried miles beneath Antarctica. 09.28.2007
Frigid Antarctic Seas Boil Over with Biodiversity
Researchers find 750 new species, including the carnivorous moonsnail. 08.09.2007
Watching the Birth—and Death—of an Island
In the South Pacific, the crew of a yacht saw new land form right beneath their boat. 08.08.2007
Better Planet: Beepocalypse
Can we save honey bees from Colony Collapse Disorder? 06.28.2007
Your Body Is a Planet
90% of the cells within us are not ours but microbes'. 06.19.2007
Sweeping The Ocean Floor
Strange sea creatures caught on film for the first time 06.13.2007
The Exact Cost of Diversity
Temperatures can affect how new fast species arise. 09.01.2006
Revenge of the Venison
Deer beat black bears to the berry bushes. 08.01.2006
Barren Jungles, Beautiful Deserts
Life's bounty, where you least expect to find it 06.25.2006
It's Not The Size Of The Fish
Scientists spar over who's got the smallest. 05.28.2006
Biodiversity - It's What's for Dinner
Biodiversity - It's What's For Dinner 02.20.2006
Chernobyl: A Biodiversity Hot Spot?
01.21.2006
The Mother of Gardens
Countless plants Americans tend with pride all came from the wilds of China. 08.06.2005
Pushing Phylocode
What if we decide to rename every living thing on Earth? 04.28.2005
A Naturalist's Paradise
In a wonderland called Madagascar, a modern-day Darwin discovers hundreds of new species 03.31.2005
Trees
Visual proof that ancient is better 12.03.2004
Venter's Ocean Genome Voyage
06.27.2004
Letter From Discover
06.27.2004
Attack of the Yellow Crazy Ants
01.02.2004
Lush Life
An Australian sand plain with wretched soil mysteriously yields more diversity than a rain forest 12.03.2003
Invasion Without the Body Snatchers
06.01.2003
Discover Data: Where the Wild Things Are
03.01.2003
Environment
01.01.2003
Discover Data: Counting on Biodiversity
07.01.2002
Rogue Genes South of the Border
04.01.2002
Sailing the Sea of Life
For centuries the Sargasso was seen as a desert drifting in an ocean. Now scientists are rediscovering it as a nursery of biodiversity 03.01.2002
Flesh-eating Plants
Where rocks sing, ants swim, and plants eat animals 10.01.2001
That is
04.01.2001
To Save a Watering Hole
If Reuven Yosef doesn't win his fight against developers in Israel's hottest resort town, half of Europe's birds might disappear 09.01.2000
Peter the Great
This guy turns a sleepy azalea park into one of the best botanical gardens in the hemisphere, so now he thinks he can save the world too? 10.01.1999
Beasts in the Mist
If David Oren can find just one monstrous sloth he could save the world's largest rain forest. 09.01.1999
Whole Lotta Bugs
12.01.1998
The Ur-Plant
DNA analysis reveals the identity of the first plants. 11.01.1998
Bird Tongues and Flowers
11.01.1998
A Billion Years of Stability
09.01.1998
Fossil Flies
08.01.1998
Protozoan-Killing Plants
07.01.1998
Light Elements: Pigeons on Parade
Breeders have created head ruffs, chest frills,and fantails for the lowly, abused bird. 04.01.1998
Light Elements:Pigeons on Parade
Breeders have created head ruffs, chest frills,and fantails for the lowly, abused bird. 03.01.1998
A Secret History of Life on Land
Paleontologist Stephen Hasiotis is finding what his colleagues have long overlooked: nests, hives, and trackways that are tens of millions of years older than anyone thought they could be. 02.01.1998
The Year in Science: Animals 1997
Amazing Amazonians 01.01.1998
The Year in Science: Animals 1997
Antic Frogs 01.01.1998
Life on the Edge
12.01.1997
The Colors of Bugs
11.01.1997
When Earth Tumbled
11.01.1997
Family Man
The family is an intimate stage upon which evolution's play unfolds, and all Earth's creatures -- humans and birds, for example -- are equally accomplished players. 10.01.1997
At Home With the Jellies
The best plan in the open sea is to be gelatinous. Failing that, you should grab onto something that is. 09.01.1997
Mr. Wallace's Line
Through the ocean just east of Borneo runs an invisible line that separates the world of tigers from the world of kangaroos. Getting across that line may have seen what made our ancestors truly human. 08.01.1997
Mass Extinctions Come to Ohio
To appreciate the global biodiversity catastrophe, you don't need to go to Madagascar or Sarawak. A river in Ohio will do. 06.01.1997
On the Origin of (Amazonian) Species
How did the Amazon achieve its stunning diversity? Some say great rivers are responsible, others point to vanished hills and seas. Now one team of zoologists is listening to what the rats have to say. 04.01.1997
Where Insects Fear to Tread
03.01.1997
The Sultan of Splat
03.01.1997
When Life Was Odd
Some 600 million years ago, a bizarre group of creatures arose. They had no heads, no tails, no eyes or mouths. They looked like nothing else that has since lived on earth. They were long thought to have been an evolutionary dead end. They may have been our ancestors. 03.01.1997
An Explosion Defused?
12.01.1996
A Bridge to Madagascar
12.01.1996
Soft Silurians
11.01.1996
Social Shrimps
09.01.1996
Life on Lobster Lips
03.01.1996
The Secret Life of Backyard Trees
Ecologists are finding undescribed species and ecosystems in treetops. 11.01.1995
Coming Onto the Land
The evolution of fish into walking land animals was one of the greatest chapters in the history of life. Now a remarkable fossil creature shows that all the real excitement happened underwater. 06.01.1995
Better Bent Than Broken
Mother nature is a real softy: many of her structures won't stand up to the gentlest breeze. So why isn't she collapsing around our ears? 05.01.1995
Life on a Grain of Sand
If you're looking for hallucinatory life-forms, as well as some of the greatest biodiversity on Earth, head for the nearest beach. And bring a shovel. 04.01.1995
Mergers and Acquisitions
12.01.1994
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