Archaeologists in Peru have excavated a monumental chamber featuring elaborate murals of snakes, and a pillared hall with a worn throne, which they say bears clues suggesting a powerful woman ruled there more than 1,300 years ago. The site, Pañamarca, was a religious and political center for the ancient Moche …

Forests not only serve as refuges from city life, but could also be among the last fortresses between a livable planet and an increasingly hostile one. Forests can pull carbon from the air and store it in roots and leaves, locking it out of the atmosphere. Through complex markets, nations …

The ocean is filled with microscopic creatures that thrive in the sunshine. These bacteria and plankton periodically clump up with detritus, like waste produced by fish, and then drift softly downward, transforming into what scientists call marine snow. In the inky depths of the ocean that the sun can’t reach, …

As soon as you put starch in your mouth — whether in the form of a dumpling, a forkful of mashed potatoes or a saltine — you start breaking it down with an enzyme in your saliva. That enzyme, known as amylase, was critically important for the evolution of our …

They’re the original odd couple: One is massive, spherical and unmoving. The other is tiny, has a tail and never stops swimming. Yet the union of egg and sperm is critical for every sexually reproducing animal on Earth. Exactly how that union occurs has long been a mystery to scientists. …

When scientists win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, they typically thank family and colleagues, maybe their universities or whoever funded their research. This year, as the molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun accepted the most prestigious award of his career, he spent a few minutes lauding his experimental subject: a …

Most people in the United States don’t consume enough whole grains. And that’s a problem, experts say. They’re loaded with nutrients and fiber, offering benefits for your gut, heart and metabolic health, said Neda Akhavan, an assistant professor of nutrition sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And whole …

Ileana Arroyo pushed a shopping cart down tidy aisles of fresh produce, whole grains, baby food and other items at a small grocery store in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Ms. Arroyo, who was shopping for food for her four children, scanned a wall of cereal. Above the brightly …

There will be no American driver racing at this year’s United States Grand Prix. In last year’s edition of the race, the rookie Logan Sargeant of Williams became the first American to score points in Formula 1 since Michael Andretti in 1993, finishing 10th at the Circuit of the Americas …

Hugh Grant has been suffering from brand confusion since 1994, when his performance in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” established him as a quintessentially British romantic hero of winning charm and diffidence. But his recent run of strange and sometimes creepy characters plays so effectively against type that you begin …