Many scientists rely on the assumption that radioactive elements decay at constant, undisturbed rates and therefore can be used as reliable clocks to measure the ages of rocks and artifacts. Most estimates of the age of the earth are founded on this assumption. However, new observations have found that those nuclear decay rates actually fluctuate based on solar activity.

Amber has been prized for centuries for its beauty. Some specimens have dazzling colors, like a cache recently discovered at Cape York in far northern Australia. Insects, diatoms, a lizard leg, fruits, and even mammal hairs have been found trapped inside these gems. Amber is often represented as being millions of years old, but clear evidence points to its recent and rapid origin.

The eye is an amazing organ. It enables an organism to translate light into electro-chemical impulses that the brain can assemble into "images" of the world around it. Many types of eyes are known in the living world, and a new study describes one of the most intriguing eye designs yet to be uncovered.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has spawned concerns regarding the long-term negative impact on the area's ecology, and especially on local fisheries. These worries are based on the assumption that the oil would persist and, like an infamous pesticide from the 1950s, carry deadly effects up the food chain for many years.

What do the oldest European artworks and the domestication of animals have in common? A Penn State University paleoanthropologist suggested that they are evidence of a unique connection with animals that profoundly shaped the evolutionary development of early man.