News | Popular | Blogs | Articles | Departments
#36: Forests Stage A Comeback
Some forests have rebounded... but the news isn't all good. 12.20.2011
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
Far Out: The Most Psychedelic Images in Science
Scientists know you don't need psychedelic drugs to make mind-blowing psychedelic images: Fractals, particle collisions, computer simulations, and sunspots will do the job just fine. 01.27.2011
#17: New Hope for the World’s Forests
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
Fighting Against a Global Dust Bowl
Development, drought, and other factors have conspired to turn wide stretches from grassland and farmland into dusty deserts and scrubland. But there are some ideas about how to fight that trend and prevent dust from poisoning people and contributing to global warming. 11.12.2010
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
8 Keys to Deciphering Ancient Climates
Our lives extend only decades, so how do scientists study climate going back thousands and millions of years? Ancient pollen, clam shells, columns of sheer ice, and more. 07.08.2010
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
10 Bizarre-Looking Tricks of the Weather
These may look like signs from the divine or from the aliens beyond, but actually, weather is just weird. 03.16.2010
Visual Science: Vulcan Awakes
10.13.2009
10 Zany (or Genius?) Plans for Green Cities of the Future
Floating cities. A building with a million residents. An oil rig turned into a tourist getaway. Some architects are dreaming of a wild green revolution. 05.26.2009
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
Super Trees Clean up Superfund Sites
One remarkable forest is busy purifying the planet. 12.26.2008
#49: Plant Migration Tied to Climate Change
When the going gets hot, vegetation runs for the hills. 12.13.2008
Want to Save the Trees? Try Paying People Not to Chop Them Down.
A few test projects show that landowners protect forest when it's valuable to them. 08.20.2008
The Thrill-Seeker's Travel Guide
5 difficult journeys to excite even the bravest science buff. 04.15.2008
86. World’s First Trees Unearthed
01.15.2008
72. Crust Formed Early In Earth’s History
01.14.2008
Captive Wilderness
In the wildest place in the continental United States, visitors flirt with untrammeled nature, while scientists try to study, defend, and preserve it. 08.01.2006
Barren Jungles, Beautiful Deserts
Life's bounty, where you least expect to find it 06.25.2006
Don't Fear The Quicksand
02.20.2006
The Rise And Fall of Planet Earth
01.21.2006
Are the Desert People Winning?
There's a big difference between people from forests and those from arid lands. 08.06.2005
Keeping An Eye on an Awakening Giant
03.31.2005
Where Mighty Mountains Roam Free
01.02.2005
Trees
Visual proof that ancient is better 12.03.2004
Discover Data
10.01.2004
The Forest-Fire Healer
10.01.2004
Return of the King of Trees
Can biologists resurrect the mighty chestnut that once dominated the forests of eastern America? 05.29.2004
Geology
01.02.2004
Rivers Ran to It
01.02.2004
Lush Life
An Australian sand plain with wretched soil mysteriously yields more diversity than a rain forest 12.03.2003
Ask Discover
Ask Discover 11.22.2003
Salvage the Trees, Spoil the Forest
05.01.2003
Oh, Deer
Exploding populations of white-tailed deer are stripping our forests of life 03.01.2003
Environment
01.01.2003
If All The Trees Fall in the Forest
Two sleuthing scientists track down the cause of sudden oak death, a new disease that threatens every oak, redwood, and Douglas fir in the country 12.01.2002
Science Travel
The narrow road up Mauna Kea leads to the deep sky 08.01.2002
The Life, Death, and Life of a Tree
The only real threat the majestic redwood has ever faced is us 05.01.2002
Environment
Year In Science 01.13.2002
Works in Progress
Even the best technology in the world can't seem to calculate how high this mountain really is 05.01.2000
Avalanche!
If a scientist stands in the way of 150 tons of snow crashing down a mountain at 50 mph, can he figure out why it let loose and when it will again? 12.01.1999
Under the Volcano
Look out Tacoma and Seattle. Majestic Mount Rainier is overdue for a shattering and deadly eruption 11.01.1999
A Shot in the Woods
10.01.1999
Beasts in the Mist
If David Oren could find just one of the horrifying creatures he knows are out there-- huge sloths with giant claws and a reputation for twisting off the heads of humans--he could save the world's largest rain forest 09.01.1999
Desert Trove
02.01.1999
A Briquette a Day
07.01.1998
The Year in Science: Earth 1997
A Sleeping Mountain Wakes 01.01.1998
The Year in Science: Plants 1997
New Harmony on Main Street 01.01.1998
Life on the Edge
12.01.1997
The Web Below
11.01.1997
Falling Flanks
10.01.1997
Singing Sand
08.01.1997
Raising the Rockies
04.01.1997
Travels of America
Half a billion years ago, a large chunk of North America went missing. That chunk has now turned up in the Andes of Argentina. 09.01.1996
Russia's Black Future
02.01.1996
The Dolomite Problem
02.01.1996
The Vertical Forest
Canadian researchers have found a bizarre, ancient forest that may be the slowest-growing on Earth. They didn't have to travel to Yakutsk or Tasmania to find it--they had only to look at a cliff not far from Toronto. 02.01.1996
Stomping on the Trees
01.01.1996
State of the Earth: 1995
01.01.1996
Return of the Wolves
01.01.1996
A Giant's Malaise
03.02.1995
The High Life
Why do mountains kill some people--or make them so ill they may wish they were dead--while leaving others quite unscathed? 10.01.1993
The Trembling Giant
The quaking aspen, one of this country's most beautiful trees, also makes up the world's most massive organism. 10.01.1993
An Untidy Wonder
For two decades a team of scientists has been trying to find out what makes a forest work. 10.01.1992
Caterpillar Cadillacs
03.01.1992
9(unknown*no*no*0)&guid=ON){kind=small}
