Chicago-based Lakeshore Recycling System is the first company in the U.S. to install a new “self-aware” machine that sorts through recycled materials. 

Next time you step outside to mentally recharge, leave your phone at your desk. A new study finds using electronics outdoors counteracts nature’s restorative properties.

Animal welfare advocates will gather next week at McDonald's new West Loop headquarters to present a petition with more than 200,000 signatures calling on the company to improve conditions for chickens in its supply chain. 

Scientists are preparing to launch a rocket in New Mexico that’s equipped with a new high-powered device that will capture unprecedented images of astronomical objects. 

Conservation-minded volunteers in suburban Barrington are attracting snakes to their own backyards – on purpose.

Nearly four years in the making, a plan by Southeast Side residents to build a park for their four-legged friends is coming to life.

At River Park on Chicago’s Northwest Side, a concrete dam standing 4 feet high is being prepped for removal. But it’s not just any dam – this happens to be the last waterfall within Chicago city limits.

With the 30th anniversary of the Discovery Channel’s popular “Shark Week” fast approaching, the Shedd Aquarium is calling on visitors to help protect a key habitat for “one of the world’s most misunderstood species.”

A dozen states have enacted laws granting criminal immunity to those who enter vehicles to rescue domestic animals that appear to be suffering. Should Illinois be the 13th? 

A 162-year-old Chicago home rumored to have once been a stop on the Underground Railroad is now the site of an excavation. What archaeologists are hoping to unearth.

City Hall insiders said she was “warehousing” dogs – but the ousted executive director of the city’s animal shelter denies that claim. Susan Russell joins us in discussion.

In what is an extremely rare occurrence, a male weedy sea dragons recently accepted an egg transfer from a female and is now carrying 46 fertile eggs on his tail.

So far this year, nearly a dozen bats have tested positive for rabies in Cook and Will counties alone.

To help mark its 125th anniversary, the Field Museum is preparing to release a gin made in the spirit of one of the biggest events in Chicago history.

Later this month, the red planet will be just 35.8 million miles away – the brightest and closest it’s been to Earth since 2003.

New analysis of a child’s foot from an ancient fossil shows that human ancestors had adaptations that allowed them to climb trees, similar to their apelike cousins.