We imagine advanced alien civilizations building gigantic spaceships, Dyson spheres and empires spanning entire galaxies. But what if true technological progress goes in exactly the opposite direction? Not outward into space, but deeper and deeper into the smallest layers of reality?

What is the Barrow Scale? How powerful could a civilization become by mastering DNA, and even fundamental particles, and could the universe already be filled with godlike civilizations hiding in plain sight?

Scientists who identified a previously unknown wildcat in Bolivia have called the new species Leopardus tilcayo. The 10-year-old wildcat, called Tigrino, had been adopted by a family that thought he was a domestic cat

Many see baboons as an iconic, playful part of Cape Town's wild landscape, but others view them as pests that raid bins, climb onto roofs, and enter people's homes. Now the city wants to permanently enclose about 60 of them, targeting two troops on the Cape Peninsula, a proposal that has triggered angry protests.

In a battle against cancer, could viruses be our allies? When Croatian virologist Dr. Beata Halassy’s breast cancer returned for the third time, she made a bold decision: to experiment on herself using millions of viruses grown in her own lab. Viruses love cancer cells, which helped her turn them into a weapon against her own tumor.

ADHD medication doesn’t simply give your brain more dopamine. It changes how dopamine signals are processed, making it easier to resist immediate distractions and stick with rewards that take longer to reach.

Whether you identify as a wayfinding whiz or get lost returning from the grocery store, your brain has a built-in navigation system that facilitates spatial skills, from sensing which direction is north to map-reading and route-learning. So, why do we still struggle to find our way? And why do some of us find ourselves lost more often than others? Oliver Baumann digs into our sense of direction.

Everybody dies, but few fossilize. In this episode of Crash Course Geology, we’ll learn how fossils form and why they’re so rare. Although very few living things ever become fossils, those that /do/ help us understand Earth’s history and how life came to be as it is today.

The DRC is battling another Ebola epidemic. This time, the death toll is rising extremely rapidly. Why can't the outbreak be stopped? We accompany Deogratias Kasereka, the first Ebola survivor, in the gold-mining town of Mongbwalu. After his recovery, he joined aid workers and has since been working to educate the local population and build trust.

Grizzly bears emerge from hibernation and perform an almost dance-like ritual, rubbing against trees to shed the traces of their winter fur.

With a beak that surpasses the length of its own body, the sword-billed hummingbird possesses a remarkable adaptation that is as extraordinary, but presents a set of challenges.

The black plague is one of the deadliest diseases humans have ever faced; it killed as many as 50 million people – including about a third of the population of Europe – in the 14th century alone, in an outbreak known as the Black Death. In modern days, though, you hardly ever hear about people getting the plague, which might make you think we've wiped it out. But the black plague is still around and still infecting people – and we aren't even trying to eradicate it.

Imagine never having to sleep again. To make it work, we’d need to reset and change a few things and in the end, you might not be human anymore.

Dig into the science of avian influenza to find out what makes the H5N1 virus so dangerous, and its potential to jump to humans.

“When you create an information vacuum, it’s going to be rapidly filled by purveyors of disinformation.”

Amesh Adalja and Jeanne Lenzer spoke with The Listening Post about the measles outbreak in Pennsylvania and how COVID-19 coverage influenced vaccine skepticism in the US.

When monarch butterflies migrate, they produce one of the most iconic wildlife spectacles in the world — and provide us with an important indicator of ecological health, says photographer Jaime Rojo. Telling a story about our relationship to the natural world, he shares his experience photographing these mesmerizing insects deep in their remote mountain habitats in Mexico, diving into the latest research into the mysteries of their multi-thousand-mile journey and sharing how each of us can join the growing movement to protect them.

For decades, America has poured billions into curing cancer. Presidents made the promise, research ran full speed, and still, no cure. Cancer remains one of the country's biggest killers, and its deadliest forms are just as prevalent as ever. So what's really standing in the way?

In the cliffs of Nerpio in Spain, biologists, archaeologists and climbers found centuries-old objects including sandals, a sheepskin mask, an arrow and woven artifacts preserved inside nests used by generations of birds. Some finds date back 700 years, offering rare insights into the culture and daily life of people who once lived in the region. The discoveries are opening a new field of research linking wildlife and archaeology.

More than 1,000 new suspected cases are being reported each day, according to the report, putting further pressure on an already overwhelmed healthcare system.

Parents describe the devastating impact of the disease, while health experts say malnutrition is contributing to the high death toll and making children more vulnerable to severe illness.

A mass vaccination campaign is now under way to contain the outbreak, but the highly contagious nature of measles continues to drive new infections.

As pollution suffocates the ocean and good fishing spots become harder to find, Eden’s whales have had to adapt their hunting methods. Meanwhile, a mother bear leads her cub through dangerous rapids, risking it all in the hope of finding enough food to survive.

The only lizard to feed at sea, this reptile can remain underwater for up to thirty minutes, but must surface for air in time. As one animal races against the clock, a female snake faces a very different challenge, surrounded by a hundred males.

Rabies is a strange disease, it travels through the nerves and tries to take control of the brain. The changes in behavior make the creature more likely to spread the disease!

Dust is everywhere, but it's not what most people think. Some of it can make you sick, some of it helps rain forests survive, and a tiny fraction is older than Earth itself.