Read the latest science news and recent scientific discoveries on Live Science, where we've been reporting on groundbreaking advances for over 20 years. Our expert editors, writers and contributors are ready to guide you through today's most important breakthroughs in science with expert analysis, in-depth explainers and interesting articles, covering everything from space, technology, health, animals, planet Earth, and much more.
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Oldest known plague victims found in a 5,500-year-old burial ground in Siberia — and many of them were childrenThe oldest known evidence of the plague killing people has been found in Siberia, and it carried a gene that may have made it particularly deadly for children.
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China's secretive Tianwen-2 mission arrives at Earth's 'quasi-moon' ahead of historic landingAnalysis China's Tianwen-2 mission has arrived at the quasi-moon Kamo'oalewa, which orbits the sun alongside Earth. The secretive probe will scoop up samples from our temporary companion to help uncover its mysterious origin, experts say.
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Atlantic 'cold blob' is responsible for shifts in the Indian summer monsoon that threaten over 1 billion peopleAn abnormally cold patch of water in the North Atlantic Ocean has triggered changes in the Indian summer monsoon via the jet stream winds, new research suggests.
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How to watch Venus vanish behind the moon in broad daylight todayToday (June 17), the moon will pass between Earth and Venus, causing the hellish planet to temporarily disappear from the daytime sky. Here's what it will look like, exactly when it is happening and how you can safely view this skywatching spectacle.
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5,000-year-old burial of man with battered skull found in kiln in Germany — and he may have been a human sacrificeAn injured man from the Corded Ware culture was buried in a pit previously used as a kiln, and he may have been sacrificed.
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A Texas-size chunk of winter sea ice is missing from Antarctica — and it's probably not coming backAn area of ice nearly the size of Texas has failed to form over the Bellingshausen Sea, off western Antarctica, as researchers investigate the links between sea ice loss and global warming.
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Wreck of World War II Japanese 'hellship' that sank with more than 1,000 Allied POWs on board discovered off the PhilippinesThe remains of a Japanese "hellship" that was torpedoed in 1944 and sank with more than 1,000 POWs on board has been found off the coast of the Philippines island of Luzon.
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The world's first nuclear clock just ticked on — and it could help detect a fifth fundamental force of physicsBy using a rare thorium nucleus as a timekeeper, physicists have demonstrated the first working nuclear clock, a device that could lead to even more precise clocks and new ways to search for dark matter.
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'The system is critically stressed': San Andreas and San Jacinto faults scarily close to major earthquake, study findsThe San Andreas fault and a neighboring fault in Southern California have reached their highest levels of tectonic stress in 1,000 years, and a rupture at one fault could propagate to the other, researchers found.
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Elusive dwarf fox, feared extinct, photographed for the first time on island off YucatánThe first-ever photos of a Cozumel fox prove that the mysterious island predator is still alive in Mexico but in dire need of conservation, according to researchers.
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Earth-based telescope shares image of Artemis II capsule near the moon — one of the farthest photos of humans ever takenA blurry photo captured by the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia shows Artemis II's Orion capsule circling the moon more than 200,000 miles away, making it a candidate for the longest-distance image of humans ever taken from Earth.
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Dangerously hot and humid: Rising temperatures in the US make outdoor exercise hazardousAnalysis In a warming world, outdoor exercise may be hindered by performance-impairing heat more often than it was in the past.
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Lavish Roman villa discovered outside Rome's walls may have been frequented by Hadrian and Marcus AureliusThe villa, which came to light because it was illegally excavated, was found in an area frequented two millennia ago by the emperors Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius.
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Atacama Desert’s center dried out 20 million years earlier than previously thought — before the Andes formedChile's Atacama Desert, which gets less than 5 millimeters (0.2 inches) of rainfall each year, started to form more than 40 million years ago — 20 million years before the Andes.
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NASA's experimental X-59 jet breaks the sound barrier twice, reaching Mach 1.4NASA and Lockheed Martin's experimental X-59 aircraft has broken the sound barrier twice, achieving a top speed of Mach 1.4. The feat could set the stage for "quiet" supersonic flight.
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Diagnostic dilemma: Brain scans following a man's hospital visit for leg weakness revealed a surprising findingDiagnostic dilemma A man went to hospital complaining about weakness in his left leg, and subsequent brain scans revealed his abnormally small brain.
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'Melted in a pot somewhere': Vikings used Islamic silver coins to make their early pennies, study findsThe silver in a Viking Age hoard found in Denmark was from melted-down coins from the faraway Islamic world, a new study finds.
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'I never thought we'd see one alive': Elusive goblin shark captured on camera for the first timeResearchers have filmed goblin sharks in the deep sea for the first time. Until now, these sharks had been seen alive only after being hauled up to the surface with fishing lines.
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Hundreds of hidden earthquakes discovered beneath Antarctica — and they're happening in a very odd locationAntarctica was long thought to be seismically calm, but new technology makes it possible to detect unexpected types of earthquakes beneath the ice.
