
Latest science news: Ariane 6 rocket launch | Dinosaur footprints | MAVEN signal loss
LIVE Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.

By Harry Baker published
The European Space Agency has released new images of a rare "butterfly" crater on the Red Planet. The bug-like structure sports a pair of smooth, rocky wings, which were likely "fluidized" by buried Martian ice.

By Paul Sutter published
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in Chile has released its final batch of data after 15 years — and it proves that the Hubble tension, a rift in our understanding of the universe, is very real.

By Elizabeth Howell published
Tracking comets accurately is hard. A new effort with the U.N. and NASA aims to better chart these visitors using 3I/ATLAS.

By Harry Baker published
Earth from space A 2022 astronaut photo shows a thick blanket of snow covering Yellowstone Lake, transforming the frozen body of water into a featureless white void. But below the ice lie some of Earth's hottest hydrothermal vents.

By Stephanie Pappas published
A thick layer of more than 12 miles of rock may explain why Bermuda seems to float above the surrounding ocean.

By Sascha Pare published
Since 1978, China has planted more than 66 billion trees along its 2,800-mile-long northern border, and it wants to plant 34 billion more over the next 25 years to complete its "Great Green Wall."

By Sascha Pare published
The Amazon rainforest currently has a few days or weeks of hot drought conditions per year, but researchers say this could increase to 150 days per year by 2100.

By Stephanie Pappas published
A 1956 eruption collapsed much of the Bezymianny volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, but frequent eruptions since — including a large event in November — means it has now almost completely regrown.

By Kristina Killgrove published
Five millennia ago, ancient fishers buried a dog alongside a dagger in a lake bed. Archaeologists are trying to figure out why.

By Dani Leviss published
An ancient fingerprint and several chemical clues from a 2,400-year-old sea raiders' boat are revealing secrets about where some mysterious attackers came from during the Iron Age.

By Kristina Killgrove published
A pilgrim who visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem may have carved their memories into a limestone block for another synagogue.

By Ray Laurence published
The discovery of a 2,000-year-old building site in Pompeii reveals the raw ingredients for ancient Roman self-healing concrete.

By Sarah Wild published
Warming temperatures appear to be driving genetic mutations in some polar bears to help them survive the shifting climatic conditions.

By Kenna Hughes-Castleberry published
The genetic link between squids and octopuses may just be found in the vampire squid genome.

By Emma Bryce published
Turtle shells evolved over the course of 300 million years, but self-defense wasn't the initial driver, researchers think.

By Sascha Pare published
Cassius was an 18-foot-long saltwater crocodile living in captivity in Marineland Crocodile Park in Australia. He died last year at the age of about 120, and we finally know why.

By Kenna Hughes-Castleberry published
A new study reveals an unknown species of whiplash squid burying itself upside down in the deep sea — a first-of-its-kind behavior for cephalopods.

By RJ Mackenzie published
A brain-scan study reveals key components of the brain's navigation system, which may help us better understand early symptoms of dementia.

By Clarissa Brincat published
A study suggests psychiatric disorders can share the same genetic signatures and that they may stem from shared biological mechanisms.

By Tia Ghose published
In December 1911, Roald Amundsen and his crew reached the South Pole, beating his rival, Robert Falcon Scott, by 35 days. Scott and his crew didn't survive the return trip.

By Abby Wilson published
Traumatic tattoos aren't like regular ones, and they often involve pencils.

By Nicoletta Lanese published
A California woman was scheduled to have a large cyst removed but, in the lead-up to the procedure, learned she had a rare ectopic pregnancy.

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By Fiona Jackson published
The human eye can only detect wavelengths in the visible light range, but a new imaging system will let us "see" infrared radiation using smartphones.

By Tristan Greene published
The novel design for the new qubit uses the chemical element tantalum in tandem with a special silicon substrate, creating what researchers say are the most coherent superconducting qubits to date.

By Mason Wakley published
Chemists used waste cooking oil to create a sustainable, super-sticky adhesive that's strong enough to hold up hundreds of pounds of weight.

By Elizabeth Howell published
Scientists hunted dark matter and solar neutrinos with one of the largest experiments yet. While the neutrinos likely appeared, dark matter results couldn't be confirmed.

By Harry Baker last updated
Science crossword Test your knowledge on all things science with our weekly, free crossword puzzle!

By Kat Bayly last updated
Buying guides These are the best fitness trackers for swimming you can buy in every category, from best overall to best for customization.
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