Science News: Recent scientific discoveries and expert analysis
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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Fragments of ancient alien tech may litter the moon — and scientists have a plan to find themResearchers propose that tiny technological remnants left over from extinct alien civilizations could have landed on the moon after traveling through interstellar space. It may not take long to find them, the team claims.
By Harry Baker Published
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Brain shrinkage tied to aging 'pauses' as a woman nears menopause, study findsA new study looked at gray matter in the brain during puberty, pregnancy and menopause, finding distinct changes at different life stages.
By Theresa Sullivan Barger Published
neuroscience -
Finland's largest Viking Age silver hoard discovered by metal detectorist — and it has thousands of coins and pieces of jewelryThe largest Viking Age silver hoard ever found in Finland was unearthed by a metal detectorist north of Helsinki.
By Tom Metcalfe Published
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1 million people's genes reveal the heritability of the Big Five personality traits — and it's complicatedA huge analysis probes the genetics of personality, finding that the trait is much less straightforward than physical attributes like eye color.
By RJ Mackenzie Published
genetics -
Mercury is shrinking more than we thought — and it's hiding the evidence from usMercury may be shrinking much faster than we thought — and that could reveal new clues about its violent origins.
By Elizabeth Howell Published
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Powerful new AI model will map the moon's surface in more detail than ever, NASA and IBM scientists sayIBM and NASA have partnered to create the Lunar Foundation Model, a new AI capable of processing decades of lunar data so we can more accurately map the moon's surface.
By Alan Bradley Published
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A Harvest Moon with 5 planets on the side: Why September is the best month all year for stargazingGenerally mild weather and increasing hours of darkness make September a great month for observing, and this year, there's a particularly busy sky.
By Jamie Carter Published
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'America's Nobel' prizes go to sleep and hemophilia researchers, and to Michael J. Fox for Parkinson's advocacyThe Lasker Foundation has announced the winners of its 2026 awards for basic medical research, clinical science and public service.
By Nicoletta Lanese Published
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Watch the first-ever footage of a rare deep-sea squid in the northeastern PacificA rare sighting of a bigfin squid near an underwater mountain off California is the first confirmed live observation of the bizarre animal in the northeastern Pacific, researchers say.
By Patrick Pester Published
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Did OpenAI really crack one of math's hardest unsolved problems — and did it play fair to get there?Explainer A breakthrough on the Navier-Stokes equations could be worth a $1 million prize, but a mathematician has serious questions about how OpenAI got there so fast.
By Larissa G. Capella Published
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World's oldest evidence of habitual drug use traced back 25,000 years to IndonesiaHunter-gatherers from the last ice age sucked on betel nuts to soothe their toothaches, a new study reveals.
By Tom Metcalfe Published
archaeology -
Record-breaking rain in California was caused by abnormally high temperatures on the other side of the world, study findsScientists have identified a "climate teleconnection" between the Rocky Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau, where warm spots left a kink in the jet stream that intensifed weather in the western U.S.
By Sascha Pare Published
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Watch: Scientists reveal the most detailed video of a black hole jet ever madeResearchers combined 100-plus images of a single black hole into an AI-powered video to chart the activity of a mighty blazar's jet.
By Elizabeth Howell Published
astronomy -
Enigmatic Denisovans lived by cave in what is now China for 100,000 years, rare fossils and handcrafted tools revealAnthropologists have discovered the first-ever Denisovan arm bone in a cave in southwest China, which also held thousands of prehistoric animal bones and stone tools.
By Kristina Killgrove Published
human-evolution -
The moon may have formed in just 5 hours, new simulations suggestNovel simulations that reassessed the ancient collision between Earth and the protoplanet Theia suggest that the moon could have emerged from the aftermath of this impact much more quickly than scientists previously thought.
By Harry Baker Published
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Google scientists removed a critical 'consciousness safeguard' from AI in new study. What happened next?Analysis A new study shows that measures to stop AI's claims of consciousness have unintended consequences for non-human entities.
By Adam Shepherd Published
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Where on Earth is safest from global catastrophe?Researchers have worked out the safest, most resilient country to be in during an apocalyptic event.
By Sarah Wild Published
4 Commentsplanet-earth -
Arctic warming fuels 2 distinct climate regimes in Siberia that could wake up a methane 'sleeping giant'New research finds that western Siberia is becoming wetter as the world warms, while eastern Siberia seems to be getting drier. And both these conditions are fueling a rise in methane emissions, spelling trouble for the climate.
By Sascha Pare Published
climate-change -
Eerily humanlike AI-powered robot enters mass production in China — its makers say it could soon be helping you out at homeXpeng's engineers have designed a humanoid robot that they say is the first in the world that will walk itself off the production line.
By Keumars Afifi-Sabet Published
10 Commentsrobotics
