Science
This image, taken from NASA video, shows the Boeing Starliner capsule coming down through the darkness over New Mexico. NASA hide caption
Humpback whales blow spiraling circles of bubbles to create underwater nets for their tiny prey, krill. Hunter Warick/Alaska Whale Foundation, images collected under NMFS Permit #19703 hide caption
Lilla Lanivich, 14, and her service dog, Lopez, outside their family’s home in Rochester Hills, Mich. This year’s middle school winner of the NPR Student Podcast Challenge tells how her golden retriever, Lopez, helped restore her independence. Emily Elconin for NPR hide caption
Can dogs understand the meaning of words? Scientists are trying to figure it out
Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, winners of the Nobel Prize in physics in 1957. Both were affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study at the time of the award. Alan Richards/Institute for Advanced Study hide caption
On Sept. 9, 2020, smoke from multiple wildfires turned the sky above the San Francisco Bay area orange. But it wasn't just colorful... it was harmful to Bay area residents' skin. Brittany Hosea-Small/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
A woman walks along a flooded street caused by a king tide in Miami Beach, Fla., in 2019. So-called sunny day floods are getting more common in many coastal areas as seas rise due to human-caused climate change. Lynne Sladky/AP hide caption
Flooding from sea level rise is accelerating in coastal areas, new report warns
Hvaldimir pictured in Hammerfest, Norway, in 2019. He lived there for much of that year before traveling along Norway's coast and even surfacing in Sweden. Al Armiger/Alamy hide caption
From mosses to mountain lions, the temperate old-growth rainforests of the Pacific Northwest provide the complexities and conditions necessary to support high levels of biodiversity. The Northwest Forest Plan has provided protection for these ancient ecosystems over the last 30 years and has helped advance forest management in Oregon, Washington and California. Developed in response to decades of unsustainable logging practices, the plan has helped restore forest ecosystems in 17 national forests. David Herasimtschuk hide caption
Algorithms are in everything from your social media use to how many companies curate your playlists. Researcher Joy Buolamwini and writer Kyle Chayka question the extent of their influence and helpfulness. Qi Yang/Getty Images hide caption
New images of the Titanic show part of the railing of the prow has fallen off. RMS Titanic, Inc. hide caption
Aging and Alzheimer's leave the brain starved of energy. Now scientists think they've found a way to aid the brain's metabolism — in mice. PM Images/Getty Images hide caption
A drug that restores brain metabolism could help treat Alzheimer's
Electrical circuit can be created with lemons to power a small light source. A chemical reaction between the copper and zinc plates and the citric acid produces a small current, thus powering a light bulb. Andriy Onufriyenko/Getty Images hide caption
Want to see a cool trick? Make a tiny battery with these 3 household items
Bull trout and Westslope Cutthroat Trout are among the native fish species in Western Montana that are prized by anglers and threatened by warming waters. Jonny Armstrong/U.S. Geological Survey hide caption
In this long-exposure photo provided by NASA, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft is docked to the Harmony module of the International Space Station on July 3. NASA/AP hide caption
A squat lobster in the genus Sternostylus, thought to be a newly identified species, was photographed along the Nazca Ridge off the coast of Chile. ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute hide caption
Corn rootworm is known as the 'billion dollar bug' for how much damage it causes to corn crops in the United States. Researcher Emily Bick is tackling the problem by eavesdropping on this and other insects. Lina Tran hide caption
How listening to the sounds of insects can help detect agricultural pests
Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani high-fives his dog Decoy, who delivered the ceremonial first pitch before Wednesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Harry How/Getty Images hide caption
A white-browed sparrow weaver inspects a roost under construction, after just receiving some grass brought by another member of its group. Maria Cristina Tello-Ramos hide caption
The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets - like this one set to take the Polaris Dawn crew to orbit. The move by the FAA comes after a Falcon 9 booster rocket fell into the sea as it tried to land on an uncrewed drone ship on Wednesday. Joe Raedle/Getty Images hide caption
Researchers analyzed theropod footprints in Brazil, left, and in Cameroon, right. Southern Methodist University hide caption
Matching dinosaur prints were found an ocean apart in Africa and South America
Shells, composed mostly of invasive zebra mussels pile up at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan. The Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Species Control and Prevention Act of 1990 and the United States Geological Survey's Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database were created in response to this mussel. corfoto/Getty Images hide caption