ByDouglas MainPhotographs ByDarlyne MurawskiPublished May 3, 2021• 9 min readIn the late spring of 1634, pilgrims in Massachusetts witnessed an incredible sight: Millions and millions of winged, red-eyed insects sprung from the earth. Not knowing better, the Puritan immigrants likened them to pestilential swarms from the Old Testament and called them “locusts.”But they were wrong.…

AnimalsNewsThese unexpected “ecosystem engineers” provide hydration for dozens of animal species, from badgers to elf owls to toads.ByDouglas MainPublished April 29, 2021• 5 min readHumans have a long history of digging wells, but we're not the only species to tap the earth for water: New research reveals wild horses and donkeys, also known as burros,…

ByMaya Wei-HaasPublished April 27, 2021• 12 min readStanding among patches of muddy snow on the outskirts of Baltimore, Maryland, I bent down to pick up a piece of the planet that should have been hidden miles below my feet.On that chilly February day, I was out with a pair of geologists to see an exposed…

Photographs byMichele ArduByGulnaz KhanPublished April 27, 2021• 9 min readMore than a year ago, when the world responded to isolation orders to prevent the spread of coronavirus, Mauro Morandi stayed put. He had no reason to move because he has spent the past three decades in isolation by choice.In 1989, Morandi’s catamaran—engine crippled and anchor…

Coronavirus CoverageIn a country known for past public health planning, coronavirus cases are still rising while immunizations lag—and now young people are getting hit the hardest.ByJill LangloisPublished April 23, 2021• 10 min readWith deaths surpassing 378,000 and COVID-19 cases continuing to rise throughout Brazil, experts say vaccinating the country’s population of more than 200 million…

From left to right: Rainforest business operations and strategy director Elita Subaja; co-founder and CEO J.J. Chai and brand manager Jerry Ng Singapore-based Rainforest is one of the newest entrants in the wave of startups that “roll-up” small e-commerce brands. Launched in January by alumni from some of Southeast Asia’s top startups, including Carousell, OVO…

Una Brands’ co-founders (from left to right): Tobias Heusch, Kiren Tanna and Kushal Patel. Image Credits: Una Brands One of the biggest funding trends of the past year is companies that consolidate small e-commerce brands. Many of the most notable startups in the space, like Thrasio, Berlin Brands Group and Branded Group, focus on consolidating…

China expressed concern on Wednesday over India’s move to not grant any Chinese firm permission to participate in 5G trials in the world’s second-largest internet market as the two neighboring nations struggle to navigate business ties amid their geo-political tensions. India’s Department of Telecommunications earlier this week approved over a dozen firms’ applications to conduct…

Today, Uber followed Lyft in reporting its Q1 2021 earnings this week. And like its rival, its results take a little bit of work to understand. So, this afternoon, we’re going to parse them as a pair so that we both understand what’s going on at the ride-hailing and food-delivery giant. Let’s start with the…

SpaceX flew the 15th prototype of its Starship fully reusable next-generation rocket today, with a test flight that included a successful climb to around 30,000 feet, as well as a controlled flip, descent and soft landing upright as planned. A very small fire appeared to break out at the base of the rocket shortly after…