Science & Tech
When Is the Next Full Moon?
There are 13 full moons in 2026.
NASA Goddard
Why Are Cruise Ships Prone to Outbreaks?
Hantavirus caused one of the more recent disease outbreaks on a cruise ship.
© Yoshiyuki Kaneko/Dreamstime.com
Editor's Picks
What Are the Shortest and Longest Binomial Names?
First, a quick refresher on binomial names. All organisms, living or extinct, are given a name by biologists to make identification easier across different languages and regions. These are called scientific, or binomial, names. A binomial name has two parts. The first part is the name of the genus,
What Causes Thunder After Lightning?
Thunder is caused by the rapid expansion of air heated by a lightning discharge. When lightning strikes, it heats the air in its path to temperatures as high as 30,000 °C (54,000 °F). This intense heat causes the air to expand rapidly, creating a shock wave that travels outward. As this shock wave
Inventors and Inventions of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution (1750–1900) forever changed the way people in Europe and the United States live and work. These inventors and their creations were at the forefront of a new society. list, Industrial Revolution, textiles, cotton, wool, thread, yarn, spinning jenny, water frame, spinning
7 Vestigial Features of the Human Body
Vestiges are remnants of evolutionary history—“footprints” or “tracks,” as translated from the Latin vestigial. All species possess vestigial features, which range in type from anatomical to physiological to behavioral. More than 100 vestigial anomalies occur in humans. The following list explores
Google DeepMind
Google DeepMind, artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory created through the merger of Google AI’s Google Brain division and the tech start-up DeepMind. A subsidiary of Alphabet, Google DeepMind is headquartered in London, with offices in countries including Canada, France, India, Japan,
How Many People Have Been to the Moon?
Even if you weren’t alive for the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969, you’ve probably seen footage of it, when astronaut Neil Armstrong famously declared, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind,” and Buzz Aldrin helped him plant an American flag on the lunar surface. And
What Causes a Volcano to Erupt?
Volcanic eruptions are among the most stunning phenomena in the natural world. Volcanoes erupt because of the way heat moves beneath Earth’s surface. Heat is conveyed from the planet’s interior to its surface largely by convection—the transfer of heat by movement of a heated fluid. In this case,
Indian Women in STEM
The decades following India’s independence in 1947 were a formative period for science in the country. Laboratories were established, disciplines took shape, and research began to align with national needs. Women were among those working across medicine, engineering, and other sciences,
Spotlight: Ebola
On May 17, 2026, the WHO declared a public emergency amid a growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. The last major outbreak occurred in the DRC in 2018–20. Learn more about this deadly disease.
Quizzes
Facts You Should Know: The Periodic Table Quiz
This quiz is a gas…and a liquid and a solid.
Define It: Math Terms
Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it: Define the following math terms before time runs out.
Parts of a Cell Quiz
What is the thin layer that forms the outer boundary of a cell? Where is the site of photosynthesis in a plant cell? Test your knowledge. Take this quiz.
Scientists and Their Inventions Quiz
From the 16th century onward, the speed of a ship was measured by what English invention? What is an ancient device for measuring time by the gradual flow of water? Test your knowledge. Take the quiz.
Videos
Watch Earth's Continents Move
Adapted from C.R. Scotese, The University of Texas at Arlington
-
Adapted from C.R. Scotese, The University of Texas at Arlington
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
-
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Galleries
NASA’s 50 Most Memorable Photos
Coral
7 Wonders of the Natural World
Tornadoes
Life
Meteorites
Featured Categories
Biology
6 Cell Organelles
Think back to your high school biology class. Do you still remember the names and functions of all those little cell parts? A little foggy on the details, perhaps? Here’s a quick refresher course of some of the major eukaryotic organelles to keep your science skills sharp. It might come in handy
How Does the Human Body Maintain Its Temperature?
People are mammals, and mammals are warm-blooded creatures, capable of maintaining a relatively constant internal temperature regardless of the environmental temperature. Body temperature control is one example of homeostasis—an organism’s self-regulating process that tends to maintain internal
10 Ways of Looking at Cells
Since 1665, when English physicist Robert Hooke coined the term cell to describe the microscopic view of cork, scientists have been developing increasingly sophisticated microscopy tools, enabling them to view ever-smaller details of cellular structure. Far from the poor-quality microscopes that
13 Questions About How the Human Body Works Answered
How do people breathe in and out? What’s the body’s biggest organ? What causes a bruise? This list answers these questions and others about how the human body works. Earlier versions of these questions and answers first appeared in the second edition of The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents)
Astronomy
9 Ghostly Planets
Humanity has sent probes to every planet, so we now have a decent idea of what’s in our neighborhood. Even before that, astronomers tracked the movements of the solar system for millennia. Sometimes their eyes (or brains) played tricks. Or did they? What ever happened to the ghost planets, those
Why Are Planets Round?
The Sun and all eight planets of the solar system are round. Why? The gravitational force of a planet’s mass pulls all of its material toward the center, smoothing out any jarring non-roundness. Many of the smaller bodies of the solar system are not round because their gravity is not enough to
How Fast Is the Universe Expanding?
The rate at which the universe is expanding is called the Hubble constant, named after astronomer Edwin Hubble, who, with Milton Humason, showed convincingly that the velocity with which a galaxy was moving away from Earth was proportional to its distance. That is, velocity = Hubble constant ×
Telescopes: Seeing Stars
Recently the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope was completed in China. The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) is, as its name says, 500 meters (about 1,600 feet) across, which makes it 2.5 times larger than the previous largest single-dish radio telescope, the
Mathematics
al-Khwārizmī
Al-Khwārizmī was a Muslim mathematician and astronomer whose major works introduced Hindu-Arabic numerals and the concepts of algebra into European mathematics. Latinized versions of his name and of his most famous book title live on in the terms algorithm and algebra. Al-Khwārizmī lived in
Unusual Counting Systems
In our everyday lives, we use a counting system in which we count from 1 to 10. That seems only logical because our hands are already in what is called base 10, which means the number 10 serves as the base of our number system. Each place in a number corresponds to a different power of 10. For
Euclid
Euclid was the most prominent mathematician of Greco-Roman antiquity, best known for his treatise on geometry, the Elements. Of Euclid’s life nothing is known except what the Greek philosopher Proclus (c. 410–485 ce) reports in his “summary” of famous Greek mathematicians. According to him, Euclid
Aryabhata
Aryabhata was an astronomer and the earliest Indian mathematician whose work and history are available to modern scholars. He is also known as Aryabhata I or Aryabhata the Elder to distinguish him from a 10th-century Indian mathematician of the same name. He is believed to have lived and worked at