The Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC, is home to 2,700 animals representing more than 390 species. However, few are as beloved as giant panda cub Bei Bei, whose progress, from a frail newborn weighing less than a third of a pound to a healthy, 240-pound (109-kg) "toddler," has been eagerly followed by millions of fans both online and on-site. On November 19, 2019, America will bid farewell as its favorite panda cub departs for Chengdu, China, to join a cooperative breeding program to try to save his vulnerable species, which currently numbers just 1,864 specimens in the wild....

Ever since humans began venturing into space, 227 astronauts have left the spacecraft to perform some sort of extravehicular activity (EVA). While 14 of those have been women, the female astronauts have always been accompanied by a male counterpart. On October 18, 2019, US astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir became the first all-female team to conduct a spacewalk to replace a failed battery controller....

Though not as mainstream as devices like smartphones and fitness trackers, more companies are now experimenting with the concept of connected garments. Among the pioneers is London-based CuteCircuit, which has been creating fashionable smart clothing since 2004. The company's latest innovation is the "Sound Shirt," which allows deaf people to "feel" live music by transforming the tunes into touch sensations in real time....

An Australian dog is still recovering from a hilarious case of mistaken identity. On October 6, 2019, Tony was out in his yard in Adelaide, South Australia, with his owner Henry when a baby koala leaped onto his back. The bewildered pooch squirmed around to nudge the adorable joey, which was clinging to its fur, off his body. Every time he thought he had succeeded, the smart koala found a way to clamber back on....

On October 5, 2019, astronomers and space fans worldwide will celebrate the 10th International Observe the Moon Night. The annual event was started by NASA in 2009 to "celebrate lunar science and exploration, celestial observation, and our cultural and personal connections to the Moon."...

Octopuses in the wild have often been observed changing their skin color and texture to avoid predators or to catch unsuspecting prey. Now, for the first time, a researcher has captured a spell-binding video of a cephalopod called Heidi rapidly changing into a multitude of colors while sleeping....

Astronomers have long suspected that celestial bodies from other solar systems traverse through ours frequently. However, it is only recently that they have been able to identify some of these interstellar objects. The first, a remarkably fast-moving comet dubbed 'Oumuamua, was already making its way back home by the time it was spotted in October 2017, giving scientists little chance to study it in detail. Now, thanks to the sharp eyes of an amateur astronomer in Crimea, scientists will get a second chance to investigate similar comets with C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), which is currently making its way to our solar system....

The Masai Mara Reserve is one of Kenya's most popular tourist attractions. Every year, thousands of people flock to the national park to glimpse of a variety of wild animals, such as lions and cheetahs, or to witness the majestic annual migration of over 1.5 million wildebeests to and from neighboring Tanzania. However, this September's human "stampede" is due to an unexpected animal — a zebra foal with polka dots!...

Shipworms, which munch through wood and help release essential nutrient stored within it, are incredibly beneficial for other marine animals. However, the saltwater bivalve mollusks have been known to sink boats and cause extensive damage to docks, piers, and other wooden structures. Now, researchers have uncovered a shipworm species of a different kind — one that has the potential to change the course of a river by gnawing through its limestone bedrock!...

With self-driving vehicle technology rapidly advancing, many companies are turning to autonomous robots for the final leg — the so-called last mile — of the delivery process, from the store or local distribution center to the customer. The latest to join the trend is e-commerce giant Amazon. Following a successful eight-month test run in Snohomish County, Washington, the company's Scout robots have been making the rounds of Irvine, California, since August 6, 2019....

Bees are essential for the pollination of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Sadly, over the past 15 years, the global population of the industrious insects has been declining at alarming rates. Bee Informed Partnership, a collaboration of American insect experts, estimates that between April 1, 2018, and April 1, 2019, the country's managed bee population decreased by 40.7 percent. The numbers are as dire worldwide. Now, some cities in the Netherlands are coming up with innovative ideas to help stem the population decline of these all-important insects....

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, home to over 1,500 fish species and countless other marine animals, is in trouble. Rising ocean temperatures, attributed to climate change, have destroyed about half of its coral since 1998. On August 30, 2019, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority downgraded the ecosystem's condition from "poor" to "very poor" and warned that the window of opportunity to save it was rapidly closing. Now, some scientists are hoping that a gigantic piece of pumice stone currently floating towards Australia will aid in the recovery of the world's largest coral reef system....

The Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to November 30, had been relatively calm this year, with just one major storm in July. That changed at the end of August, when Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane, came screaming through, leaving a trail of destruction all the way from the US Virgin Islands to the Bahamas and the US and Canadian east coasts....

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, which has been ferrying all astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, typically carries a crew of three. However, the MS-14 capsule that blasted off from a Russian spaceport in southern Kazakhstan on August 22, 2019, had just one passenger — a humanoid robot named Skybot F-850....

When Leigh Love stumbled upon a bird's leg bone at the Waipara Greensand fossil site in New Zealand's South Island in 2018, he suspected that they might be those of an ancient penguin. With four other species discovered there, the area has been a hotbed for penguin remains from the Paleocene Epoch, which spanned between 66 million and 55 million years ago. What the amateur paleontologist did not realize was that the fossil belonged to the largest, hitherto unknown, penguin species ever found....

If you have spent any time observing seals at the zoo or in the wild, you may have seen the mammals swimming, walking, clapping, and even "barking" at one another. Now, scientists in Scotland have proved that with some vocal training, and the right incentive, the talented animals are also capable of mimicking the human language, accomplishing impressive tasks such as "singing" popular tunes like "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."...

In addition to their myriad other responsibilities, the brave Mars pioneers will also have to be ready to deal with all kinds of medical emergencies. Some ailments, such as common colds and headaches, may be easy to tackle with medication. To help them with more serious issues, like severe skin burns or bone fractures, scientists from the Dresden University of Technology (TUD) have developed a 3-D bioprinter capable of producing human tissue in space....

It is common knowledge that the droplets spread from sneezing are one of the key culprits responsible for transmitting infectious diseases between humans. Now it turns out that some plants have a similar ability to share the "love" and spread pathogens to each other. However, while sneezing in humans is an involuntary response to irritants along the lining of the nose, plants "sneeze" due to a quirk in fluid dynamics....

Though there are over 30 meteor showers annually, none are as anticipated as the Perseids, the biggest and most spectacular of them all. The "shooting stars" have been streaking across the skies at a rate of about a dozen an hour, since mid-July. However, the meteors' pace will sharply escalate over the next few weeks, reaching a high of between fifty to a hundred an hour, on August 11, 12, and 13, 2019....

BBC Earth host Lizzie Daly and underwater photographer Dan Abbott released several videos of exciting encounters with marine animals off the English coast from July 7 to July 13, 2019. The pair swam alongside gray seals off the coast of Northumberland, minke whales off the northwest coast of Scotland, and seabirds near Wales. However, the highlight came on the final day of the tour, when the underwater adventurers stumbled upon a massive barrel jellyfish off the coast of Falmouth, Cornwall. The sighting of the mesmerizing animal was a fitting way to end Daly's "Wild Ocean Week" campaign to raise ocean awareness and funds for the UK's Marine Conservation Society....

July 20, 2019, marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The groundbreaking journey began on July 16, 1969, when NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins launched into space from Florida's Kennedy Space Center. Four days later, on July 20, half a billion people across the globe — or about one-seventh of the Earth's population at the time — watched Armstrong and Aldrin descend the lunar module ladder to become the first humans ever to set foot on the moon. The grainy footage, along with Armstrong's now-famous quote, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," remain forever etched in the minds of those that witnessed the event live....

Researchers have long envisioned deploying armies of tiny flying robots to tackle vital tasks. The versatile machines could be used as first responders to trace gas or pollutant seepage during natural disasters, to survey crops in large farms, to help astronauts on space missions, and even to assist bees with plant pollination. However, fitting the heavy electronics required to power and control the wings into the robot's tiny frame has been challenging. Now, there is hope, thanks to RoboBee X-Wing — the world's lightest aerial vehicle that can fly without being tethered to a power source....

Since late March 2019, local fishers and sightseers on whale watching excursions along the Southern California Coast have been treated to a rare sight — dozens of school bus-sized basking sharks lumbering through the water. This is the first time the "gentle giants of the sea" have frequented the area in such large numbers in over thirty years....

Two summers ago, on August 21, 2017, thousands of people from across the world witnessed the "Great American Solar Eclipse," the first total solar eclipse to occur exclusively over the continental United States since January 11, 1880. Now, stargazers are getting excited to watch the Sun disappear again for a brief period on July 2, 2019 — this time, the eclipse's narrow path will extend across the South Pacific all the way to Chile and Argentina....