Pluto, the largest of the dwarf planets. This image was taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI
The dwarf planets in our Solar System are cold, dark, far away and full of surprises.
Artist’s rendering of the Chicxulub asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere 66 million years ago, triggering events that caused a mass extermination.
Roger Harris/Science Photo library via Getty Images
Cockroaches have been on Earth far longer than humans and may outlast us. Here are a few reasons why.
English theatrical productions had all-male casts in the olden days.
The Print Collector/Getty Images
It may have had something to do with protecting female purity. No official statute clearly required men to do all the acting back then.
Children march in a parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, about 100 kilometres east of the Ukraine border, in May 2015.
(AP Photo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin wants parts of Ukraine to be closer to Russia, and would like to prevent Ukraine from becoming part of NATO.
Murmurations can have as many as 750,000 birds flying in unison.
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These coordinated movements of a flock of starlings follow no plan or leader. Scientists used to think the animals must communicate via ESP to create these fast-moving blobs.
A life reconstruction of one of the largest penguins that ever lived, Kumimanu biceae .
Illustration by Mark Witton (used with permission, all other rights reserved)
Some penguins would have been as tall (or even taller) than adults today.
Memorial tanks at the Ukrainian Motherland Monument in Kyiv.
Madeleine Kelly/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Who are the Ukrainians and when were they part of the same empire as Russia? A scholar answers basic questions on war in Ukraine.
Listening to music can be a joyful experience.
Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images
As long as you don’t tune out the world and protect your hearing, it’s hard to overdo it.
A fragment of mosaic showing February from the Sousse mosaic calendar.
© Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons
The answer comes from how the Romans measured the year.
Ramon Espinosa/AAP Image
Scientists need to be good at asking questions, investigating the world to find answers, and keeping in mind that no matter how much they know, there’s always more to learn.
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DNA contains all the instructions needed to make your body work.
Cartilage makes this scalloped hammerhead shark’s body flexible.
NOAA NMFS
Hard and strong, or bendy and flexible? A cartilaginous skeleton provides advantages in the ocean, but wouldn’t stand up to life on land.
Lia Koltyrina/Shutterstock
Humans might one day be able to live somewhere else in the Universe.
No matter its cause, diarrhea is uncomfortable.
Rapeepong Puttakumwong/Moment via Getty Images
Poop comes in many shapes, sizes and textures. The kind that’s too runny might be the result of wayward germs, Crohn’s disease or lactose intolerance.
Step away from the cotton swabs!
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That brownish/yellowish gunk that comes out on your finger if you scratch deep inside your ear? It actually serves an important purpose in your body.
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You can imagine a white hole as being a black hole in reverse — but is such a thing really possible?
Roman Chazov/Shutterstock
Though you might not think so to look at them, plants have a busy day.
The body starts plugging up wounds as quickly as it can to prevent blood loss and infection.
Jonathan Knowles/Stone via Getty Images
Blood plays a vital role in keeping us alive, from delivering oxygen to the body’s organs to fighting off infections.
The anopheles gambiae mosquito transmits malaria to humans.
James Gathany/Everett Collection/Shutterstock
What we call mosquitoes are actually 3500 different types of insects, and they all behave differently.
Olga_Kuzmina/Shutterstock
Time ends when the universe does.