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The USPS has changed the way mail is postmarked. Learn how to make your gift count in 2025.

Uncovering the mystery of how algae makes snow green, red or orange

By Nell Greenfieldboyce

Published December 25, 2025 at 5:21 PM EST

Snow isn't always white; algae can make it look green, red, or orange, and scientists are trying to understand how and why these colorful patches appear.

More Stories

The day the guns fell silent

Ari Shapiro

In 2014, on the 100th anniversary of the World War I Christmas Truce, former All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro set out to reconstruct the events of that day.
A neighbor's Christmas gift that keeps on giving

John Ketchum, Daniel Ofman

In the days leading up to Christmas 2018, the Williams family were told that their neighbor had passed away. He left behind a sack of 14 gifts for Cadi Williams to be opened each year on Christmas.
Farmers say they've 'hit rock bottom,' but still believe next year will be better

Frank Morris

The Trump administration has hit farmers hard by shattering their export markets with trade wars, gutting USAID, squeezing the farm labor market, and demonizing oil seed crops and a farm herbicide.
Experts met to discuss the ethics of using organoids in research

Jon Hamilton

Organoids are bits of neural tissue that model human brain development. Their use in science makes some uneasy, in part because the brain is so closely tied to our sense of self.
This week in science: Swearing, bird bills and the pandemic, and whale breath samples

Emily Kwong, Berly McCoy

Emily Kwong and Berly McCoy of NPR's Short Wave talk about why swearing might improve physical performance, how birds' bills changed during the pandemic and why scientists are sampling whale breath.