Static electricity was first described more than 2,500 years ago, but scientists have never been able to fully explain what causes it. Researchers at Northwestern University now think they may have solved the mystery.

Trees collected through Chicago’s annual holiday tree recycling program are turned into mulch and wood chips for use at Chicago Park District locations. 

From the first-ever image of a black hole to growing concern over climate change, we review some of the year’s top science stories with three of our regular science contributors.

The past year’s population growth rate in the United States was the slowest in a century due to declining births, increasing deaths and the slowdown of international migration, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

It’s been 120 years since New York ornithologist Frank Chapman launched his Christmas Bird Count as a bold new alternative to what had been a longtime Christmas tradition of hunting birds.

What will the world look like in 20 years if climate change goes unchecked? That’s the premise of “2040 A.D.,” a new collection of short stories that fall under an emerging literary genre known as climate fiction. 

An update on the mission and findings of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, named after pioneering University of Chicago astrophysicist Eugene Parker, who first proposed the existence of the solar wind in 1958.

Two Chicago Park District workers escaped without serious injury after the salt truck they were navigating along an icy lakefront bike path slid into Lake Michigan on Wednesday morning.

This year’s devastating losses are forcing tough decisions about the future of farming in America’s flood plains, even among those skeptical of climate change and humans’ role in it.

As winter weather arrives, Chicagoans can seek refuge from the cold at 113 public buildings designated as warming centers. 

The computer models used to simulate what heat-trapping gases will do to global temperatures have been pretty spot-on in their predictions, a new study found.

The city’s annual winter overnight parking ban goes into effect early Sunday and continues through April 1, 2020. Here’s what you need to know.

In 2003, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency had 1,265 employees. By 2018, that number had fallen to 639, according to a new report that a former IEPA director describes as “both a wake-up call and call to action.”

A storm dumping heavy snow buried highways in Colorado and Wyoming Tuesday. Blizzard and wintry weather warnings extended into the Great Lakes states with the storm expected to bring high winds and snow to Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Dan Hooper spends his time contemplating the biggest mystery of all: how the universe came to be. He joins us to discuss his book, “At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of our Universe’s First Seconds.”

Can old dogs teach us new tricks? Scientists are looking for 10,000 pets for the largest-ever study of aging in canines. They hope to shed light on human longevity too.