The Dolphin Myth That Refuses to Die
Brazil’s pink river dolphins have long gotten blamed for all sorts of heinous crimes.
Life Up Close
Traveling the world to see microbes, plants, and animals in oceans, grasslands, forests, deserts, the icy poles—and wherever else they may be.
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Life Up Close is a project of The Atlantic, supported by the HHMI Department of Science Education.
The Tree That Could Help Stop the Pandemic
The rare Chilean soapbark tree produces compounds that can boost the body’s reaction to vaccines.
Coffee Rust Is Going to Ruin Your Morning
Coffee plants were supposed to be safe on this side of the Atlantic. But the fungus found them.
The Worst Animal in the World
Every year, as many as 400 million people are infected with life-threatening diseases by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. It wasn’t always so dangerous.
Forest Fires Are Setting Chernobyl’s Radiation Free
Trees now cover most of the exclusion zone, and climate change is making them more likely to burn.
Australia Has a Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Problem
In the beach towns south of Melbourne, everyone, it seems, knows someone who’s been attacked.
The Search for the World’s Simplest Animal
For centuries, scientists have obsessed over a primordial blob that can shape-shift, clone itself, and live indefinitely.
America’s Never-Ending Battle Against Flesh-Eating Worms
Inside the U.S. and Panama’s long-running collaboration to rid an entire continent of a deadly disease
The Rich Meals That Keep Wild Animals on the Menu
Samoa’s population of “little dodos” is dwindling down to nothing, but the appetites of wealthy people keep putting these rare birds at risk.
Nuclear Tests Marked Life on Earth With a Radioactive Spike
Even as it disappears, the “bomb spike” is revealing the ways humans have reshaped the planet.