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SEAN CUMMINGS

ALL STORIES

An artist’s reconstruction shows what Pegasus volans — or, at least, the front half of it preserved in the fossil record — might have looked like in life, complete with guts that hang externally from the main body.

Despite new clues, this ancient fish has stumped scientists for centuries

Science News
Sep. 2024

a collage of five species of deep-sea comb jellyfish on a dark background

How jellyfish survive pressures that would crush you into oblivion

Science
June 2024

a leech attached to a leaf in a forest in Madagascar

Meet the world’s first known jumping leech … if you dare

Science
June 2024

a Cretaceous-period ant preserved in amber

Early ants’ antennae may have let them ‘talk’ using pheromones

Science
June 2024

dead sea urchins washed ashore on Réunion Island in the western Indian Ocean

Mysterious sea urchin plague is spreading through the world’s oceans

Science
May 2024

The brown alga Sporochnus dotyi reflects shimmering green and blue light when illuminated from above. CREDIT: Hiroshi Kawai

Why does this alga shimmer like peacock feathers?

Science
May 2024

On a flower, a cinnabar moth caterpillar (Tyria jacobaeae) demonstrates its defensive behavior: coiling into a tight ball

These caterpillars may anticipate wasp attacks using electric fields

Science
May 2024

a red squirrel on a city park bench

In medieval England, leprosy bounced between humans and squirrels

Science
May 2024

an adult Heliconius elevatus butterfly perches on a leaf in a forest

Striking Amazonian butterfly is result of ancient hybrid event

Science
Apr. 2024

misty Ozark mountains in Missouri

Satellite signals can measure a forest’s moisture—and its ability to survive

Science
Apr. 2024

a protestor against banning TikTok holds a sign outside the US capitol

Possible TikTok ban has U.S. science communicators on edge

Science
March 2024

an American flag flies reflected in a window, with the U.S. capitol in the background

Congress is using more science, but the two parties rarely cite the same studies

Science
March 2024

Weliton Menário Costa and friends dance in an Australian grassland

‘Kangaroo Time’ hops into top spot of Science’s latest ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ contest

Science
Feb. 2024

Danielle Wood speaking at the 2024 AAAS Annual Meeting

How space science can serve all: a conversation with Dr. Danielle Wood (audio)

Science
Feb. 2024

gorillas playing

‘Tag!’ Other great apes share our affinity for playful teasing

Science
Feb. 2024

an adult female lion walking through tall grass

How ants thwarted lions on the African savanna

Science
Jan. 2024

a male dusky antechinus on a patch of forest floor

With just weeks to live, these marsupials prioritize sex over sleep

Science
Jan. 2024

a hammerhead shark caught in a gillnet

Shark kills rise to more than 100 million per year—despite antifinning laws

Science
Jan. 2024

Associate Professor Marco Pavone and PhD student Stephanie Newdick holding a prototype of a gripper robot

The limitations of being human got you down? There’s a robot for that

Stanford News
Dec. 2023

an adult chinstrap penguin guarding two chicks

This Antarctic penguin sleeps 11 hours a day—a few seconds at a time

Science
Nov. 2023

A small-spotted catshark nestled underwater among seaweed

Ancient sharks may have pioneered the ability to taste bitterness in food

Science
Nov. 2023

A group of young people sit on a sofa at the Louvre, looking at their phones

Is social media addictive? ‘Digital detox’ study suggests not

Science
Nov. 2023

a group of Stanford students gathered around a young copal tree. Image credit: Andrew Brodhead

Course in Oaxaca reveals the timeless dance between culture and biodiversity

Stanford News
Oct. 2023

a pressing in the Jasper Ridge Oakmead Herbarium collection, Wyethia angustifolia, or narrowleaf mule ears. (Image credit: Courtesy of Nona Chiariello)

Jasper Ridge student summer projects highlight the preserve’s past and future

Stanford News
Oct. 2023

tidybot holding a snack bar and preparing to toss it into a bin

This robot learns to clean your space just the way you like it

Stanford News
Oct. 2023

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