Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
Exceeding 1.5C of global warming will have "irreversible" consequences for glaciers, sea ice and the Earth's frozen regions, two U.N. reports warned on Monday, calling for urgent action.
It's a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have cataloged more than 6,000 planets beyond our solar system and are searching the atmospheres of the most promising worlds for chemicals that might be byproducts of life. Astrobiologists are particularly interested in atmospheres like Earth's that trap enough heat to support liquid water on the planet's surface, which scientists consider the key factor in determining whether a planet can support life as we know it.
Zombies have taken many forms in popular culture. In Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video, corpses climb out of their graves and perform an impressively coordinated dance. In HBO's "The Last of Us," a fungus infects humans, takes over their bodies and turns them into hosts that help spread the infection. Even Plankton has tried his hand at taking control of another organism in "SpongeBob SquarePants."
A new study from NYU Abu Dhabi has revealed how coral-associated bacteria help corals withstand extreme heat by producing steroid hormones that strengthen their immune response.
One approach to making information storage in quantum computing less prone to errors is known as topological quantum computing. It relies on special quantum states that are expected to be more resistant to local disturbances.
Wishing really hard for something won't necessarily make it come true, but a new study from a UConn researcher indicates up to 90% of voters expect their side to win an election, a percentage that's significantly increased over the last 15 years.
Some genetic diseases leave cells without a crucial protein. One possible treatment is to persuade genes already inside those cells to work harder, but the necessary machinery can be difficult to deliver, especially when researchers want to target several genes at once. A new compact CRISPR system devised by Hainan Zhang of the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues fits those instructions into a single viral delivery package.
Scientists have discovered that lysosomes, structures traditionally viewed as the cell's recycling centers, also play a role in regulating the heart's natural rhythm. Researchers at the University of Liverpool and University of Oxford, working with national and international collaborators, found that lysosomes act as signaling centers in heart cells, helping the heart's natural pacemaker respond when the heart needs to beat faster.
University of Cape Town (UCT) researchers recently named a series of approximately 400,000-year-old fossilized underground nests of an extinct termite species after Calitzdorp, the Little Karoo town near which they were found. In October 2026, the research team returned to the town to donate a poster documenting their discovery to the Calitzdorp Museum, helping to connect local communities with the region's fossil heritage.
Despite the complexity of the operation, ERMIS-3, an 8U CubeSat developed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, has established a link with an optical ground station, marking an important step in validating optical communications on small satellites. The demonstration, supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and achieved using optical terminals developed by Lithuanian company Astrolight, happened only weeks after the satellite's commissioning.
Volcanic eruptions are known for their spectacular visual displays of vivid lava, as well as the devastating impacts they can have on the environment and the communities who live nearby. But they can also have far-reaching impacts across the globe.
Enzymes are essential to a wide range of industrial processes. As biocatalysts, they play a key role in producing active pharmaceutical ingredients, specialty chemicals and ingredients for cosmetics, besides being vital to the food industry. Enzymes allow many chemical reactions to occur under milder conditions, thereby saving energy and making existing processes more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Scientists spend their careers trying to understand how the world works. Yet even in their own specialties, complete understanding may remain elusive. That idea lies at the center of a new article by Richard Shiffrin, distinguished and Luther Dana Waterman professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, Stephen Stigler of the University of Chicago, and Frank Keil of Yale University.
Overtourism has become a growing concern in popular tourist destinations, where large numbers of visitors can put pressure on local communities and attractions. However, not all destinations face the same challenges. While busy city centers may struggle to manage crowds, less-visited suburban areas often face the opposite problem: attracting enough visitors. As tourism develops in these areas, an important question arises: Could places that currently receive relatively few visitors face new pressures as tourism grows?
Quantum computers rely on qubits as their units of information. To connect them into a larger network across long distances, they need to transmit quantum information using light.
Climate-related events affected at least 13 million people across Africa in 2025. Over the last decade alone, extreme weather has affected populations in Africa disproportionately. Tropical Cyclone Freddy (February 2023) caused widespread flooding and led to over 1,500 deaths, and in 2015–16 a drought in southern Africa led to widespread crop failure and food insecurity for 40 million people.
Asteroid Ryugu and some carbonaceous meteorites, which are thought to have similar origins in the early solar system, are known as chemically "primitive" materials because they preserve the chemical composition of the early solar system remarkably well. Yet these rocks also reacted extensively with water after they formed, transforming many of their original minerals into new ones.
Dewetting of thin films is a phenomenon in which heat or laser irradiation destabilizes a continuous film, causing it to retract into nanoscale island-like structures. Compared to thermal dewetting, laser-induced dewetting offers greater precision, speed and flexibility and is a promising approach for patterning metallic thin films.
As a high school or college student, you might sometimes find yourself putting off studying to do other tasks even when an important assessment deadline or exam is looming over you.
Birds may not always take the flight path that physics suggests is the perfect landing, at the safest and lowest possible speed, using the least energy, according to new research.