Science news this week Jan. 24, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend.

A new analysis of mineral grains has refuted the "glacial transport theory" that suggests Stonehenge's bluestones and Altar Stone were delivered to Salisbury Plain by glaciers.

The origins of whaling are highly debated. Now, some of the earliest signs of active whale hunting have appeared somewhere unexpected: southern Brazil.

An ancient DNA analysis of a 5,500-year-old human skeleton reveals that an ancestor of the bacterium that causes syphilis was present in the Americas at least 3,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Archaeologists have unearthed tombs and a shrine dedicated to Hercules from the time of the Roman Republic.

A fossil jaw of a distant human relative was discovered much farther north than previously thought possible, revealing new information about diversity in human evolution.

The hand stencil is more than 1,000 years older than the previous earliest evidence of rock art.

Divers have unearthed the largest cog shipwreck ever discovered in a strait off Denmark, signalling a period of economic development in medieval Europe.

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered four Roman marching camps and around 1,500 artifacts, including coins and shoe nails, dating to the third century.

The 1,400 year-old "sand burials" of two people and a horse were found near a nuclear power plant construction site in the U.K.