Ashley Balzer Vigil writes about astrophysics for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center by day and moonlights as a freelance environmental writer.
This Is the First Colossal Squid Filmed in the Deep Sea—And It’s a Baby!
A colossal squid was filmed for the first time in its natural habitat near the South Sandwich Islands during a recent expedition, and it turned out to be a baby
Meet Some of the Strangest Deep-Sea Creatures, from ‘Sea Pigs’ to ‘Disco Worms’
A riotous photography collection from a recent underwater mission off the coast of Chile shows new and fascinating deep-sea creatures—including a “mystery mollusk,” a bioluminescent jellyfish and a “sea pig”
Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks Away
A calving iceberg exposed a region that never before had been seen by human eyes, revealing a vibrant, thriving ecosystem
500-Million-Year-Old ‘Alien Fish Taco’ Was among First Creatures with Jaws
A bizarre fossil of a Cambrian creature that looked like an “alien fish taco” reveals how a single group with jaws came to account for around 90 percent of all animal species on Earth
New X-Ray Map of Cosmic Megastructures Unravels Subatomic Mysteries
A new catalog of more than 12,000 galaxy clusters is helping scientists better understand the universe’s clumpiness, dark energy and some of the smallest particles in the cosmos: neutrinos
Unprecedented Supernova Survey Underscores Dark Energy Mystery
The Dark Energy Survey has released a long-awaited analysis based on more than 1,500 supernovae. It suggests our laws of gravity just might be correct after all—or perhaps not
Four New Octopus Species Discovered in the Deep Sea
Enigmatic octopuses that have been newly discovered in the waters off Costa Rica add to a growing registry of deep-sea dwellers
Watch Baby Octopuses Hatch from a Surprising Deep-Sea Nursery
Elated researchers watched baby octopuses hatch en masse near Pacific Ocean hydrothermal vents