Latest science news: Comet 3I/ATLAS jet | Flu mutation | Italian bears evolving
LIVE Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
Space
City-size 'cosmic butterfly' carved into Mars' surface contains traces of ancient water
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.
Strange, 7-hour explosion from deep space is unlike anything scientists have seen — Space photo of the week
Astronomers used major telescopes across the world to probe a cosmic explosion 8 billion light-years from the solar system.
Comet 3I/ATLAS is getting greener and brighter as it approaches Earth
New images taken with the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii confirm that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has gotten brighter and greener since its close flyby of the sun in October.
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James Webb telescope uncovers a new mystery: A broiling 'hell planet' with an atmosphere that shouldn't exist
James Webb finds a hot planet that is tidally locked with its parent star, is coated with a thick atmosphere of volatile chemicals.
'Necessary for the future of humankind': Who was honored at the first-ever Global Space Awards?
The winners of the inaugural Global Space Awards were recently announced at a star-studded ceremony at London's Natural History Museum. The event championed innovation and sustainability, while also celebrating the life of a late NASA astronaut.
Planet Earth
Giant structure discovered deep beneath Bermuda is unlike anything else on Earth
A thick layer of more than 12 miles of rock may explain why Bermuda seems to float above the surrounding ocean.
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China's Great Green Wall: The giant artificial forest designed to slow the expansion of 2 deserts
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."
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Amazon rainforest is transitioning to a 'hypertropical' climate — and trees won't survive that for long
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.
archaeology
Magdala stone: 2,000-year-old carving from Jerusalem is world's oldest known depiction of a menorah
A pilgrim who visited the Second Temple in Jerusalem may have carved their memories into a limestone block for another synagogue.
'This has re-written our understanding of Roman concrete manufacture': Abandoned Pompeii worksite reveal how self-healing concrete was made
The discovery of a 2,000-year-old building site in Pompeii reveals the raw ingredients for ancient Roman self-healing concrete.
2,000-year-old shipwreck may be Egyptian 'pleasure barge' from last dynasty of pharaohs
Archaeologists diving off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt, have discovered the remains of a 2,000-year-old "pleasure barge" from the time of the Ptolemaic period.
Brutal lion attack 6,200 years ago severely injured teenager — but somehow he survived, skeleton found in Bulgaria reveals
Extremely rare evidence of a lion attack on a teenage boy's remains suggests the teenager survived the initial trauma but became severely disabled, requiring support from his community.
LATEST ARTICLES
Animals
Scientists finally sequence the vampire squid's huge genome, revealing secrets of the 'living fossil'
The genetic link between squids and octopuses may just be found in the vampire squid genome.
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Can a turtle tuck its head all the way inside its shell?
Turtle shells evolved over the course of 300 million years, but self-defense wasn't the initial driver, researchers think.
Cassius the giant crocodile died from sepsis after 40-year-old dormant infection burst from 'abscess,' necropsy reveals
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.
'Very novel and very puzzling': Unknown species of squid spotted burying itself upside down, pretending to be a plant
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.
Killer whales are teaming up with dolphins on salmon hunts, study finds — but not everyone agrees
There are eye-opening claims that orcas and dolphins are working together on salmon hunts and sharing food — but not everyone is convinced.
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18,000 dinosaur tracks discovered along ancient Bolivian coastline — and they set a new record
Researchers have counted 16,600 fossilized dinosaur footprints and 1,378 swim tracks at a site in Bolivia that showcase a variety of behaviors and different theropods from the Cretaceous period.
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Health & Human Behavior
Science history: Norwegian explorer wins the treacherous race to the South Pole, while British rival perishes along with his crew — Dec. 14, 1911
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.
How are 'traumatic tattoos' made, and do you have one?
Traumatic tattoos aren't like regular ones, and they often involve pencils.
'Unprecedented': Woman delivers full-term abdominal pregnancy while also having 22-pound cyst removed
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.
Insomnia and anxiety come with a weaker immune system — a new study starts to unravel why
People with anxiety or insomnia tend to have weaker immunity. The decline of a key immune cell may be a culprit.
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Life's Little Mysteries
Science questions, answered
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Space photo of the week
Extraordinary images of our sublime universe
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Diagnostic dilemma
Unusual case reports from the medical literature
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Incredible places
A window onto extraordinary landscapes on Earth
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Astonishing artifacts
A glimpse into how people lived in the past
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Earth from space
Incredible images of our planet from above
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Technology
Record-breaking feat means information lasts 15 times longer in new kind of quantum processor than those used by Google and IBM
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.
Physics, Math & Chemistry
Glue strong enough to tow a car made from used cooking oil
Chemists used waste cooking oil to create a sustainable, super-sticky adhesive that's strong enough to hold up hundreds of pounds of weight.
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Quizzes & Games
Live Science crossword puzzle #24: Elemental particle associated with light — 11 down
Science crossword Test your knowledge on all things science with our weekly, free crossword puzzle!
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