Stories by Erik Vance

Video produced in partnership with The Great Courses. All Great Courses video content is available only to subscribers with the password sent via email.

Warmer temperatures and rising CO2 can also ramp up some fungal toxins and allergens 

The best early warnings of a big disaster may appear 180 miles above the ground, a controversial new theory says

Conservationists are using behavior modification to bolster kangaroo mice, bears, elk and other critters

Hundreds of toys promise to help babies read, learn, do math and walk earlier than expected—many without scientific backing

Journalist Erik Vance talks about his first book, Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain’s Ability to Deceive, Transform and Heal.

Although abundant in captivity, the salamander has nearly disappeared from its natural habitat—and that is a problem

Tuesday’s deadly quake did not come from the place many geologists thought would unleash the next “big one”

What the demise of a small Mexican porpoise tells us about extinction in the 21st century

Bigger brains are not always better

The quiet events could be valuable signs of danger areas even if they don’t make short-term prediction possible

The ideal combination of high ocean temperature, soaring humidity and slow prevailing winds created the record-breaking beast

How a small group of visionaries are trying to feed China—and save the world's oceans

Unless the world’s largest consumer of seafood adopts more sustainable practices, we can say good-bye to ocean life as we know it

Rooms beneath the mysterious city contain jade statues, jaguar remains and thousands of other objects

Long cloaked in mystery, the ancient Teotihuacán culture is at last giving up its secrets

The city’s unusual geology allows engineers and seismologists to rely upon exceptional safety measures

So-called casitas, an alternative to conventional traps, are used throughout Latin America. Although using them in the U.S. would offer environmental advantages, opposition by traditional fishers make it unlikely they will be legalized in anytime soon

Latin America finds Africanized killer bees are better honey producers than expected

The nation is poised to explode into the information economy—and yet stubbornly refuses to do so

An undersea sculpture garden in waters around Cancun is saving a reef from tourist traffic

Colorful sponges and other marine life are starting to colonize the museum’s statuary and draw tourists away from a threatened natural reef off the Cancun coast

The co–executive producer of CBS's hit comedy and author of the forthcoming book Does Santa Exist? A Cheerful Philosophical Investigation talks about how his show helps to humanize scientists

Among the oldest type of drug in the medical arsenal, new antivenoms are being developed by researchers in Mexico, who have become global leaders in creating drugs to treat poisonous bites