Science News: Recent scientific discoveries and expert analysis

A man who died 12,000 years ago in Vietnam had a "bonus" rib — and it was broken when he was shot by an exotic arrow.

A person in Maryland has been diagnosed with an infection of the flesh-eating New World screwworm. It's the first case in the U.S. in decades.

A new study shows that DNA forms coils under stress, not the tangled knots that scientists expected.

Scientists don't know much about the rare bumblebee catfish, native to the rivers of Brazil. One research team was lucky enough to observe thousands of them climbing to scale a waterfall, probably to find opportunities to mate.

Japan's first entirely homegrown quantum computer uses superconducting qubits and components made entirely domestically.

The near-Earth asteroid Bennu contains stardust that is older than the solar system and clues about its violent history, three new studies of the asteroid's sample materials show.

In a first, scientists in China transplanted a lung from a pig into a human so they could see how the host immune system handled the procedure.

A conceptual mission known as "Persephone" could explore Pluto and its moons for 50 years  — if it ever gets funded and approved.

Deep-field images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope revealed 300 unusually energetic early galaxy candidates, offering new insights into how the universe formed and evolved over 13 billion years ago.

Unlike solar panels, solar thermoelectric generators can convert heat from any source into electricity. But poor efficiency has held the technology back – until now.

Miniature models of the brain have revealed a "previously unappreciated" role of microglia, a type of cell found within the organ. The finding could help unpack how disorders such as autism arise.

NOAA forecasts suggest we could experience La Niña conditions in the fall and early winter. However, this potential La Niña spell is unlikely to break records.

A medieval-looking "helmet" rock spotted by NASA's Perseverance rover adds to Mars' gallery of odd shapes.

China is pulling ahead of the rest of the world in sinking data centers that power AI into the ocean as an alternate way to keep them cool.

NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) telescope has detected unexpected X-ray polarization from the "heartbeat black hole," formally known as IGR J17091-3624.

Nicknamed 'Punctum,' this puzzling phenomenon is highly energetic, but is only seen in millimeter-wavelength light and cannot be explained by any known object.

Robot Drummer is a simulated program able to learn pop, rock, and jazz songs with reinforcement learning.

A story circulating on social media this week featured a seemingly made-up scientist who is developing an equally imaginary "pregnancy robot." Virality ensued.

A viral story raised the idea of using robots outfitted with artificial wombs to incubate human babies from conception to birth. If such technology existed, would you consider using it?

The solar system has many more moons than the one we can see in the sky. But how many do we actually know about? And how many more are waiting to be discovered?