Nearly four decades after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster, the abandoned reactor remains one of the most hostile places on Earth. Radiation levels that would prove lethal to most forms of life still linger in parts of the exclusion zone, making it an unlikely setting for biological discovery. Yet among cracked concrete, rusting steel and contaminated…

While early birds existed in a time period when dinosaurs dominated, they were feathered, capable of gliding or flying, but looked nothing like the birds we have today. Unlike birds like pigeons, robins and eagles, which have short fan-shaped tails, these ancient birds possessed long, bony tails inherited from their dinosaur ancestors. The transition from…

A white dwarf is usually thought of as the quiet remnant left behind after a star has exhausted its fuel and shed much of itself into space. By that stage, any worlds that once orbited nearby are expected to have faced a violent fate. Yet one planetary system roughly 80 light-years from Earth appears to…

Studies show that the ancient timber circle, dubbed “Seahenge,” was built in 2049 B.C. It was excavated from a salt marsh near a beach on England’s east coast in 1999. (Image credit: Holmes Garden Photos/Alamy) A mysterious wooden monument buried beneath the Norfolk coast may have been built more than 4,000 years ago in an…