Science News: Recent scientific discoveries and expert analysis

A newly identified mutation helps super-sleepers get by on just four to six hours of shut-eye per night, while the rest of us need around eight hours. Researchers described the SIK3-N783Y mutation in a new study after testing it on sleep-deprived inbred mice.

A report into April's deadly flooding has found that climate change made the central Mississippi River valley's extreme weather event more likely and more intense.

A coin stash worth more than $340,000 could have been hidden in the hills of the Czech Republic during one of the 20th century’s greatest upheavals. Historians are attempting to unravel the mystery.

New pope's schedule will be 'exhausting.'

Researchers think the vehicle was used as a staff car by naval officers during World War II.

Very little is known about Powelliphanta augusta, an elusive snail species threatened with extinction. The new footage is the first time their bizarre egg laying behavior has been captured on camera.

Asian needle ants found in the southeastern states of the U.S. have been spreading north and west for years, but experts now consider them to be a medically important pest and urge caution.

A strange atmospheric pattern known as an "omega block" is preventing the usual eastward progression of weather across the U.S. — but what is this weird block, and when will it go away?

Scientists have discovered a way to use live tissue as a computational reservoir to solve problems and potentially predict chaotic systems like the weather.

A mysterious cluster of 60 stars may be just another Milky Way star cluster, or it may be one of the smallest galaxies ever seen.

Archaeologists working at the Cueva de Sangre site in Guatemala have discovered an unusual ancient Maya ritual.

NASA's massive super-pressure balloon has completed a 16-day trip around the Southern Hemisphere — a milestone in high-altitude flight and atmospheric research.

Metal detectorists in southwest England unearthed the two gold-and-garnet objects from the Anglo-Saxon period in January.

Sugar beets and spinach are the best vegetables to grow if you live in a temperate, midsize city during a nuclear winter, a new study suggests, while wheat and carrots are recommended for industrial production on the outskirts of town.

Wave-like soil patterns on the Martian surface match those found in Earth's cold, mountain regions, which could help scientists better understand the Red Planet's climate history and search for signs of life.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's new cesium fountain clock is one of the most precise atomic clocks ever created.

In a house in the ruins of Pompeii, archeologists have discovered evidence that a family of four attempted to barricade a door with a bed during Vesuvius's terrible eruption.

Exposure to extreme climate events will increase two to seven times more for those born in 2020 compared with those in 1960, a new study warns.

An Irish startup has created the world's first silicon-based quantum computer — it can still integrate seamlessly with classical computing in data centers.

T. rex was previously suspected to have evolved in Asia and migrated to North America, but new research shows that the direct ancestors of this iconic dinosaur may have been the one to make the journey instead.