Microplastics are everywhere - in our water, soil, and even the air we breathe. The consequences of this exposure on human health is unknown.

Red tides and a blue-green algae outbreak are fouling hundreds of miles of coast, killing fish and driving tourists from beaches. Some causes are natural, but human actions also play a role.

Today is World Elephant Day. Here's a look at how unique brain structures - different from those of any other mammal - are responsible for elephants' special abilities in learning and memory.

The Parker Solar Probe, expected to launch Saturday, will get closer to the sun than any spacecraft in human history. How will the spacecraft withstand the heat?

Do sharks have bullet-like strikes? Do they have super-vision? Can they take down prey in milliseconds? Mantis shrimps have these abilities - and more - to make them among the world’s most impressive predators.

Wolf-Rayet stars make our sun look tiny. They can be hundreds of times more massive, millions of times brighter, and tens of thousands of degrees hotter.

It's a perfect storm of factors - including climate change, development, past forest management policies and current firefighting practices, says forestry expert.

In space, dust comes from comets and exploding stars. It can form planetary rings, drive global weather patterns and even form the seeds of new planets.

Asteroid on a collision course with Earth? These astronomers will likely see it first. NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies - now entering its 3rd decade - makes over 90 percent of near-Earth asteroid and comet discoveries. Here's how and why they do their work.

In the wake of hurricanes Irma and Maria, researchers document how catastrophic storms can be agents of natural selection, influencing how species evolve.