Science News: Recent scientific discoveries and expert analysis

Scientists have synthesized methanetetrol, an elusive alcohol that could be the foundation of alien life.

NASA's Curiosity rover has snapped black and white images of a rock on the Martian surface that looks remarkably like a piece of coral.

The extraordinary burial of a teenager buried with gold jewelry and a snake- and scorpion-decorated cosmetics box has been unearthed in Iran — and it may date to more than 3,000 years ago.

The design for a 36 mile long spacecraft, called Chrysalis, includes libraries, tropical forests and structural manufacturing facilities, all supported by artificial gravity.

Researchers have found cannibalized human remains from at least 11 people in El Mirador cave in northern Spain, suggesting it was the site of a violent Neolithic clash 5,600 years ago.

After using lasers to map the Maya Lowlands, researchers have updated their estimates of the total Maya population during the Late Classic Period (A.D. 600 to 900).

A Stone Age skull discovered in a cave in Italy is the oldest evidence of artificial cranial modification ever found in Europe.

High-speed winds on exoplanet WASP-17b may align quartz crystals in its atmosphere and create dazzling light effects like "sun dogs."

A large study of ME/CFS included more than 15,000 people and identified eight locations in the genome linked to the disease.

A new study has found that the devastating sea star wasting disease is caused by a strain of bacteria from Vibrio pectenicida, which turns the marine creatures into goo.

Paleontologists in Germany have described a never-before-seen species of Jurassic marine reptile from 183 million years ago.

SpaceX just launched the Crew-11 astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA — along with an interesting bacterial experiment.

As many as 100 "shooting stars" per hour can be seen during the peak of the Perseids on Aug. 12 and 13, but a bright full moon means evasive action is required.

In a rare skywatching treat, you can see August's full Sturgeon Moon rise soon after sunset on both Saturday, Aug. 9 and Sunday, Aug. 10.

'Size really does matter' The males of four newfound tarantula species have extremely long genitalia so that they can keep their distance from aggressive females during mating, researchers say.

A handful of stone tools found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi has pushed back the date that human relatives arrived in the region.

Copper Age burials holding the remains of elite women and elaborate pouches decorated with hundreds of animal teeth have been discovered in Germany.

'Murder him in his sleep' Malicious traits can spread between AI models while being undetectable to humans, Anthropic and Truthful AI researchers say.

Glaciers in Washington, Montana, British Columbia, Alberta and the Swiss Alps have set grim records over the past four years, with both the annual amount of ice lost and the four-year average reaching all-time highs.

Researchers have built a robot crab that can compete in claw-waving displays with real fiddler crabs, but "Wavy Dave" doesn't always come out unscathed.