Potential annual damages are shown on the county-level in a scenario in which emissions of greenhouse gasses continue at current rates. Negative damages indicate economic benefits. Hsiang, Kopp, Jina, Rising, et al./Science hide caption

An international team of scientists believes it has solved the mystery of how eggs got their shapes. Frans Lanting/Mint Images RM/Getty Images hide caption

Max Planck Institute paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin examines the new finds at Jebel Irhoud, in Morocco. The eye orbits of a crushed human skull more than 300,000 years old are visible just beyond his fingertip. Shannon McPherron/Nature hide caption

UMCES chemist Michael Gonsior gathers water samples from Cocktown Creek in Maryland. Andrew Heyes/Courtesy of University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science hide caption

Cars line up at the south entrance to Zion National Park in Utah, bringing with them the urban soundscape. Education Images/UIG via Getty Images hide caption

Coal is piled up at the Gallatin Fossil Plant in Gallatin, Tenn. Mark Humphrey/AP hide caption

(Left) A close-up view of a spirally fractured mastodon femur. (Right) A boulder discovered at the Cerutti Mastodon site in San Diego County thought to have been used by early humans as a hammerstone. Tom Démeré/San Diego Natural History Museum hide caption

Native westslope cutthroat trout swim in the north fork of the Flathead River in northwestern Montana. However, cutthroat trout populations are threatened by hybridization from mating with rainbow trout. Jonny Armstrong/USGS hide caption

NET Power has built carbon capture technology into its power plant outside Houston, which will generate electricity by burning natural gas. The demonstration project should be fully operational later this year, according to NET Power. Courtesy of NET Power hide caption