Cloaked in white dust and surrounded by expansive plains, the town of Lightning Ridge produces the bulk of the world’s precious black opal. This rare gemstone, prized for its dazzling play of color, ...

Learn how the fossils of ancient organisms help scientists navigate deep time — and uncover Earth’s hidden history. In the late 1700s, while inspecting a coal mine in southwest England, a young ...

Climate change can affect life on Earth. According to new research, it can also affect the dead. A study of exceptionally preserved fossils has found that rising global temperatures and a rapidly ...