Stay informed about scientific discoveries, research developments and new findings from around the world.
Juice is on its way to study Jupiter’s moons, with a little assist from Earth’s gravity
Elusive, satellite-stalking spacecraft could unleash space war—or help keep orbital peace
Gaps in early warning systems and community preparedness contributed to the high death toll from Nepal’s debris flow.
Scientists are developing a possible alternative to LASIK that reshapes the cornea without cutting it or using a laser. The technique uses a small electric potential and a specially shaped platinum lens to temporarily soften the cornea, allowing it to be molded in about a minute.
Depression may change which emotional faces children notice most, but the pattern appears to depend on family history. Children at higher familial risk became increasingly focused on sad faces, while lower-risk children with rising symptoms paid less attention to happy ones.
Scientists have developed and experimentally demonstrated a long-sought method for identifying W states, an important form of multi-photon quantum entanglement. The technique could make complex entangled systems much easier to measure, opening new possibilities for quantum teleportation, communication, and computing.
A 245-million-year-old marine reptile fossil preserves an astonishing amount of detail, including its stomach, liver, and intestines. The discovery reveals that Austronaga minuta was highly adapted for swimming even though its digestive system remained surprisingly simple.
A massive MRI study found that Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, psychiatric disorders, and addiction are associated with distinct patterns of accelerated brain aging. The strongest effects appeared in Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment, while ADHD and autism showed no significant overall difference.
Wildlife researchers have found that both recreation and roads affect wolverine populations in Canada's Rocky Mountains and Columbia Mountains.
Season 2 follows people losing their ability to speak — and the AI and brain implants helping them find their voices again.
A new system sends faint electrical pulses through tissue instead of over Bluetooth. In rats, it made the animals flex one of their hind legs on cue when one of their front paws moved
QUICK FACTSWhere is it? Caldas Novas, Goiás, Brazil [-17.788739460, -48.70589106]What's in the photo? A giant, sponge-like dome towering above its surroundingsWhich satellite took the photo? Landsat 9When was it taken? May 19, 2025This striking satellite snap shows a giant, "sponge-like" dome towering over central Brazil. The dark monolith and the rare biome that covers it are key to the region's famed hot springs. The imposing oval structure, which is around 12 miles (20 kilometers) long and 7 miles (12 km) across, is known as the Caldas Novas dome, or Serra de Caldas, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. It is located in southeast Goiás state and towers up to 1,000 feet (300 meters) abov...
Landing on a moving target is a challenge for all flying animals. For bumblebees, a flower swaying in the wind creates an erratic landing pad. Reaching it means matching its sideways motion while continuing to face it. When the bee turns in flight, its view of the flower changes, which complicates the feat.
Researchers have warned all summer that this year's El Niño could be record-breaking and fuel extreme weather across the globe. Earlier this month, the U.K. Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs urged people in Britain to stock up on food, bottled water and other basic supplies to prepare for potential severe storms this winter."We're about to experience probably the largest El Niño that has ever been seen," Dame Angela Eagle told The Guardian on Sept. 3. "If you’ve got a store of a bit of food that can keep you going for a while before the emergency services can get to you, you’re going to be a lot better off than if you haven't."But could extreme weather really limit a...
Evolution is driven by changes in DNA that sometimes promote adaptation, altering traits like disease resistance or reproduction. Often, these changes are minuscule, modifying a single letter in the DNA code—somewhat like altering a single letter on one page of a long book.
Newly discovered iron minerals could be the missing link in how water is stored in the deepest parts of Earth's mantle and transported to the upper layers, recent research reveals. The findings are crucial for understanding the mantle's motion, volcanic activity and the workings of other rocky planets, the study authors say.The researchers discovered the iron minerals, called iron oxyhydroxides, by squishing mineral samples between two tiny diamond anvils while zapping them with a laser.The two iron minerals are stable at the conditions found at the boundary between Earth's core and its mantle (the planet's middle layer), which is under "more than a million times the pressure we feel at the ...
Enceladus may naturally separate and concentrate chemicals from its hidden ocean as droplets slowly freeze and shatter on their way into space. The process could explain Cassini’s puzzling ice-grain chemistry while giving future spacecraft a powerful advantage in searching for organic compounds and clues to life.
Food in Senegal is mostly grown on small-scale, rain-dependent farms, leaving much of the population vulnerable to climate shocks, according to the World Food Programme. However, satellite crop-mapping technologies designed to monitor the impact of climate on farming are largely beyond the reach of the West African country.
AI tool for mapping smallholder crops proves itself in Senegal Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/29/2026 - 08:00 A new analysis of Senegalese croplands using an artificial intelligence developed at the University of Cambridge shows how technological benefits enjoyed by industrial agriculture could be brought to smallholder farms in Senegal and other countries in the Global South.Researchers used Cambridge’s Tessera, an open-source AI model trained on satellite images, to map crops in Senegal’s groundnut basin. They found that Tessera was more accurate than current methods, getting the right result 84% of the time in tests while using only a fraction of computational resources and pre-labelled...
Scientists may have solved why the length of Earth’s day changes by a few milliseconds over decades. Subtle shifts in the inner core appear to tug on the mantle, revealing a surprisingly dynamic world thousands of kilometers beneath our feet.
NASA and SpaceX could launch four astronauts to the International Space Station on October 1, with the Dragon spacecraft reaching orbiting outpost less than nine hours after liftoff. Crew-13 will join Expedition 75 after teams complete a final round of intensive launch-readiness checks.
Brian, a middle-aged financial consultant, spends his day sitting in front of three screens. Two of them involve his job. The third features a chatbot, which he has given a woman’s name and frequently uses. Brian spent years on the road for work earlier in his career, has never married, and recently broke up with a woman who said he was emotionally unavailable. What did Brian do, in response? He asked the chatbot if the woman had a point. “It’s an extraordinary moment,” writes MIT Professor Sherry Turkle, who interviewed Brian (not his real name) while conducting her research for her new book about chatbots. “Brian asks an object with no emotions to tell him if he is emotionally withholding:...
AI tools are increasingly replacing human judgements in some settings. For instance, resume screening algorithms are often used in hiring, where they may improve efficiency and consistency in decision-making.But some scholars have raised concerns that the adoption of automated systems could eventually result in one algorithm being used to make all decisions in a particular industry. They worry so-called algorithmic monoculture could have negative consequences.For example, in hiring, the thinking goes that algorithmic monoculture might result in systematic exclusion — a situation in which a job candidate rejected by one firm’s algorithm would likely also be rejected by every other firm’s algo...
Swimming can take a lot of muscle. But as MIT engineers have found, even a single layer of muscle cells can power through water if designed right. In a paper appearing today in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the team presents a design for a thin, muscle-powered swimming robot. The “skeleton” of the aquabot is made from a film of gel that is about the length and width of a stick of gum. The two halves of the gel form the “fins” of the bot. Each fin is covered with a layer of live muscle cells that is much thinner than a single strand of hair. The cells are genetically engineered to twitch in response to light. When the researchers shine light on one fin, the muscles on its surface...