Environment / Biodiversity

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

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

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

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

Lush Life

An Australian sand plain with wretched soil mysteriously yields more diversity than a rain forest 12.03.2003

Environment

01.01.2003

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

Fossil Flies

08.01.1998

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

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

Soft Silurians

11.01.1996

Social Shrimps

09.01.1996

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