Stories by Allison Parshall

Claims that Przewalski’s horses were discovered in the U.S. are unverified. But the conservation story behind the last truly wild horse is worth your time.

Przewalski’s horses, once extinct in the wild, are revitalizing Kazakhstan’s “Golden Steppe”

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

From microbes to mammoths, life has transformed Earth into one big living system, says Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life

Nature still outdoes the machine, says a photographer whose real image won an AI photography competition

A nuclear explosion in space would cause stunning auroras—and wreak havoc on satellites and space stations.

Russia may be planning to put a nuclear weapon in orbit. We have known since the 1960s why that is a bad idea

Google is bringing AI answers to a billion people this year, but generative AI requires much more energy than traditional keyword searches

Why are bears both adorable and deadly? Scientific American investigates why these apex predators are “friend-shaped”

For the first time, scientists observed matter’s free fall into a black hole’s “plunging region”

Evidence shows microplastics can end up in many different organs and may harm reproductive health

Across the globe, singing traditions are vast and varied. Their commonalities may help explain how music evolved

New research into weed reveals how a lemon-scented terpene can ease anxiety without reducing the high.

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

Lobbyists’ and politicians’ campaigns against lab-grown meat appeal to emotion, not logic and reason

Gas stoves spew nitrogen dioxide at levels that frequently exceed those that are deemed safe by health organizations

The molecule that gives cannabis its citrusy smell can make THC less anxiety-inducing

New research shows that looking at memorable images can warp our perception of time

Artificial DNA sorts images like a neural network does

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

Rat remains from shipwrecks and dig sites show how two rodent species duked it out in eastern North America

Machine-learning algorithms allow composers to create all-new instruments.

Writers, artists, photographers and researchers share the stories behind the stories

This warm, fuzzy color can be found all over the natural world, from land to sea to space