A local fisherman talks about the uncertain future facing locals when the new bridge connecting Peru and Brazil is completed

Capturing a piece of an asteroid and bringing it to Earth is even more difficult than it is time-consuming. After four years in space, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx craft made a brief landing on the asteroid Bennu to collect samples of the ancient rock. Six months later, part of the spacecraft began its journey home to Earth, and earlier this fall, that sample collection canister landed, via parachute, in Utah. Scientists will be studying those samples of Bennu for decades in the hope of unlocking the mystery of how life on Earth began — but they’ve already learned enough to get them excited. In this episode, we speak with Linda Shiner, the former editor of Air & Space / Smithsonian magazine, about the challenges and triumphs of the OSIRIS-REx mission, and what scientists hope it will teach us about how life on Earth began. Find prior episodes of our show here (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/podcast/) . There’s More to That is a production of Smithsonian magazine and PRX Productions. From the magazine, our team is Chris Klimek, Debra Rosenberg and Brian Wolly. From PRX, our team is Jessica Miller, Adriana Rosas Rivera, Genevieve Sponsler, Terence Bernardo, and Edwin Ochoa. The Executive Producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales. Fact-checking by Stephanie Abramson. Episode artwork by Emily Lankiewicz. Music by APM Music.

New DNA analysis adds to growing research indicating the famous Pacific island did not collapse from overuse of resources before the arrival of Europeans

When the blaze in Moscow subsided on September 18, 1812, the French—who had traveled hundreds of miles into Russia—were left without vital resources as a brutal winter approached

The “beloved” rodent named Cinnamon was spotted this week with help from drones. She has been wandering and eating grass after escaping her zoo enclosure last Friday

The energetic streams are together 23 million light-years in length—roughly as long as 140 Milky Way galaxies lined end to end

The so-called good-luck flag, which hung on an American veteran's wall for many years, returned home last month after nearly eight decades

The annual contest unveiled its winners, highlighting avian photos that focus on conservation issues, the beauty of birds and their sometimes hilarious behavior

If the structures look familiar, it's probably because nature has been using them for a long time in places like nautilus shells, zebra stripes and onions

On this day in 1690, "Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick" attracted colonial officials' ire by repeating a scandalous rumor and condemning a British alliance with the Mohawk

Unexplored iron-rich magma could help power current and future technologies

The predatory pod hunts off the coast of Chile and is led by a matriarch called Dakota

The show coincides with an initiative that will give away 49 of the tree's saplings to individuals and communities across the country

The brain diagram, called a connectome, could revolutionize researchers' understanding of the human brain, which has many parallels with a fruit fly's

Lizzy, the avatar based on the novel’s Elizabeth Bennet, will hold period-accurate conversations with visitors at Jane Austen’s cottage home

No one was injured in the blast, and authorities are investigating why the ordnance detonated after so many years underground

Breathtaking shots shine a light on the wonders of wildlife and the threats that human activities pose to the natural world

The grassroots organization, Nihon Hidankyo, was lauded for "demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again"

The two artifacts donated by Blue Origin achieved record-breaking feats and will extend the museum's story of trailblazing space travel into the present

Experts added a carbon fiber pole to help anchor the "Apollo Belvedere," which had developed cracks along the legs and knees. Now, the looming Roman sculpture is finally back on display

The final 3D atlas of the sky will help scientists study dark matter and dark energy, which make up 96 percent of the universe but remain mysterious

Authorities have not yet identified the cause of death for the 12.5-foot-long shark, which was named Koala

Scurvy diagnoses in Australia and Canada suggest doctors should consider testing for vitamin C deficiency in patients experiencing poverty, food insecurity and social isolation

A special committee has until January 15 to finalize the design, location and funding for a monument that will be erected on the lawn of the South Carolina State House

The new research could change history's understanding of the sprawling trade network that connected Europe and the Middle East to East Asia

The president atoned for the federal government's role in forcing Native American children into boarding schools, where many were abused and more than 900 died

An assessment from the International Union for Conservation of Nature paints a grim picture of the extinction risk of the world's trees

After a summer that tied for the country's hottest, meteorologists say an unusually warm autumn is delaying snowfall

A new study suggests the seismic energy traveled outward from a previously unmapped fault, emanating from the hypocenter in bouncing waves that shook distant areas

A "staggering array" of markings have been hiding in plain sight carved into the walls of Gainsborough Old Hall, a 500-year-old home in Lincolnshire, England

The beloved reptile in Australia died last weekend and was thought to be up to 120 years old, though that age is only an estimate. Research on his bones might reveal a more exact number

Found in a cremation cemetery in Belgium, the skeleton includes bones dating to the Neolithic period and a Roman-era skull, according to a new study

Once the first primate made a break, the 42 others followed suit in a simple case of monkey-see, monkey-do

This story and others have come to light during a project to translate and digitize a series of texts about archbishops in York, England

Take a virtual tour through the streets and sights of England’s capital city with these stunning travel photos submitted to our photo contest

Get acquainted with the Big Apple’s major sights by browsing through these remarkable travel photos submitted to our photo contest

Getting the perfect shot requires great timing, the right equipment and nerves of steel

In a twist befitting its pages, the satirical, anti-establishment publication that delivered laughs and hijinks to generations of young readers gets the respect it always deserved with a new museum exhibition

Renaissance paintings, medieval archives, cloistered orchards—how one Italian scientist is uncovering secrets that could help combat a growing agricultural crisis

A woman who says she was repeatedly denied emergency care last spring is blasting the Newfoundland and Labrador health-care system, saying she’s been left psychologically scarred after being told several times that her gangrenous appendix was simply anxiety or constipation.

Volunteers will be cutting hair at a salon based inside a Cape Breton food bank. The goal is to provide clients with the same salon experience paying customers would receive.

A Port Hawkesbury woman has long imagined a Remembrance Day with her great-uncle's war medals. It will happen this year for the first time thanks to some sleuthing and the kindness of her great-uncle's foster family.

Quebec provincial police have confirmed that the body found in a Montreal nature park on Oct. 30 was that of kidnapping victim and cryptocurrency influencer Kevin Mirshahi.

The insect eggshell is a multifunctional structure with several important roles, including generating an entry point for sperm via the micropyle before oviposition, serving as an oviposition substrate attachment surface, and functioning as a protective layer during embryo development. Eggshell proteins play major roles in eggshell tanning and hardening following oviposition and provide molecular cues that define dorsal–ventral axis formation. Precise eggshell formation during ovarian follicle maturation is critical for normal embryo development and the synthesis of a defective eggshell often gives rise to inviable embryos. Therefore, simple and accurate methods for identifying eggshell proteins will facilitate our understanding of the molecular pathways regulating eggshell formation and the mechanisms underlying normal embryo development. This protocol describes how to isolate and enrich eggshells from mature oocytes of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and how to extract their eggshell proteins for liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) proteomic analysis. Although this methodology was developed for studying mosquito eggshells, it may be applicable to eggs from a variety of insects. Mosquitoes are ideal model organisms for this study as their ovarian follicle development and eggshell formation are meticulously regulated by blood feeding and their follicles develop synchronously throughout oogenesis in a time-dependent manner.

In insects, oocyte resorption (oosorption) or follicular atresia is one of the key physiological processes and evolutionary strategies used to optimize reproductive fitness. Mosquitoes are ideal model organisms for studying egg maturation in arthropods, as their follicle development is initiated only following the ingestion of a blood meal, followed by a carefully orchestrated series of hormonally regulated events leading to egg maturation. A cohort of approximately 100 follicles per mosquito ovary begin developing synchronously. However, a significant fraction of follicles ultimately undergo apoptosis and oosorption, especially when available resources from the blood meal are limited. Therefore, simple, rapid, and reliable techniques to accurately evaluate follicular atresia are necessary to understand mechanisms underlying follicle development in insects. This protocol describes how to detect apoptotic follicle cells within the Aedes aegypti mosquito ovaries using a commercially available fluorescent-labeled inhibitor of caspases (FLICA). Caspases are key players in animal apoptosis. In this assay, the FLICA reagent enters the intracellular compartment of follicles in dissected mosquito ovaries and covalently binds to active caspases. The bound reagent remains within the cell and its fluorescent signal can be observed by confocal microscopy. Although this method was specifically developed for visualizing apoptotic ovarian follicles during Ae. aegypti mosquito egg development, it should be applicable to other mosquito tissues that undergo caspase-mediated program cell death in a time-dependent manner.

In opening remarks at the Inuit-Crown partnership committee meeting in Ottawa on Friday, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the government is preparing to deliver an apology in Nunavik — the Inuit region of northern Quebec.

Paraglider Ben Lewis remembers spinning around wildly as he got pulled up higher and higher into the violent storm. That was when he realized, about 6,700 metres up in the sky and still rising, that he was not likely to see his family again.

In a new biopic starring Kate Winslet, Miller's many lives—as an artist, model, muse, cook and war correspondent—need little embellishment

The British explorer named dozens of geographical features and sites in the region, ignoring the traditions of the Indigenous peoples who’d lived there for millennia

New Brunswick’s Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in the case of a man found guilty of criminal negligence in the death of Fredericton teenager in 2018.