The massive emergence of 17-year cicadas has started in Chicago and the surrounding region. Here's what to look for next.

In 2024, Illinois can’t be beat for periodical cicadas. Here’s everything you need to know about these fascinating creatures, and what to expect between now and July.

Another mild winter and other favorable factors likely means the 2024 tick population will be equal to last year or larger, some researchers say.

“Nature education is a big part of what we do here, but you gotta find a way to make it interesting so that people actually watch it,” said Jonathan Mullen, part of the team behind the viral video.

A 1,000-acre, $10 million restoration project is now underway at Red Gate Woods, part of the vast Palos Preserve system in southwestern Cook County.

The Museum of Science and Industry will officially be renamed the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. The donation, previously announced in 2019, is the largest in the museum’s history.

Cicada Watch 2024 is reaching fever pitch in the Chicago region, where Brood XIII periodical cicadas are expected to burst from the ground by the millions, any day now. Here’s what’s in store.

“One of the biggest things about litter is it makes people think that the river is more polluted than it is,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River.

In 2024, billions of periodical cicadas are poised to emerge after their long subterranean development.

Powerful tornadoes and storms swept through southwestern Michigan Tuesday evening, destroying homes and businesses and injuring several residents, scenes that could play out once again in the central and eastern U.S. Wednesday.

The Field Museum ushered in a new era of scientific exploration with Monday’s unveiling of the Chicago Archaeopteryx.

A piece of evolutionary history has made its way to the Field Museum. A remarkably preserved Archaeopteryx fossil has been acquired, offering an astonishing window into the transition between dinosaurs and modern birds. This rare and scientifically significant find sheds new light on the origins of flight and the incredible journey of evolution.

Only 13 specimens of Archaeopteryx — and one special feather — are known to exist since the first Archaeopteryx fossils were discovered in 1860. Most come from the same deposit of Solnhofen Limestone in Bavaria, Germany.

Shake any family tree, and a few skeletons are bound to fall out — that’s as true for birds as it is for people. Except that for birds, the wacky cousin lurking in one of those branches is T. Rex.

The Field formally announced to the world what had become a not-so-well-kept secret: The museum had acquired just the 13th specimen known to exist of Archaeopteryx, a fossil often described as the “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds.

WTTW News sat down with paleornithologist Jingmai O’Connor and talked about dinosaurs, birds, the Chicago Archaeopteryx, evolution and why studying fossil birds is more important now than ever.