Deep in Earth's past, an icy landscape became a seascape as the ice melted and the oceans rose off what is now the northeastern United States. Nearly 50 years ago, a U.S. government ship searching for minerals and hydrocarbons in the area drilled into the seafloor to see what it could find.

It found, of all things, drops to drink under the briny deeps—fresh water.

This summer, a first-of-its-kind global research expedition followed up on that surprise. Drilling for fresh water under the salt water off Cape Cod, Expedition 501 extracted thousands of samples from what is now thought to be a massive, hidden aquifer stretching from New Jersey as far north as Maine.

It's just one of many depositories of "secret fresh water" known to exist in shallow salt waters around the world that might some day be tapped to slake the planet's intensifying thirst, said Brandon Dugan, the expedition's co-chief scientist.

A commonly prescribed antidepressant may also strengthen the body’s defenses against cancer, according to new research from UCLA.

The study, published in Cell, showed that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) improved the cancer-fighting ability of T cells and reduced tumor growth in several types of cancers across both mouse and human tumor models.

“It turns out SSRIs don’t just make our brains happier; they also make our T cells happier — even while they’re fighting tumors,” said Dr. Lili Yang, senior author of the new study and a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA. “These drugs have been widely and safely used to treat depression for decades, so repurposing them for cancer would be a lot easier than developing an entirely new therapy.”

Our boldest photography project yet!

From Above & Below, a mission to photograph the same subjects from Earth and space with National Geographic photographer, Babak Tafreshi.

BabakTafreshi traveled the world while I orbited around it, and together we created this perspective.

Lucky shot during the eclipse

Brain growth slowed down about 300,000 years ago due to energetic and climate pressures, according to a study published in Brain & Cognition.

One of the puzzles of human evolution is why Homo sapiens is the only surviving species within the Homo lineage. Larger brains have often been seen as a key advantage, enabling fire use, tool-making, and symbolic communication. However, big brains also come at a cost—they consume around 20% of our resting energy and produce considerable heat, which can be a liability in warmer climates.

Study author Jeffrey M. Stibel examined this evolutionary trade-off. Earlier Homo species experienced strong selection for larger brains, which likely helped them navigate shifting environments and complex social worlds. But fossil evidence suggests that in the past 100,000 years, brain size began to plateau or even shrink, raising the possibility that survival depended not just on biology but also on cultural innovations.