Science News - Latest Scientific Discoveries

The Baker Day explosion at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, as recorded by an automatically operated camera on a nearby island. Notice the mushroom cloud forming immediately after the explosion.

Why do nuclear bombs form mushroom clouds?

By Randyn Bartholomew

Here's why nuclear bomb explosions lead to a mushroom-shape cloud.

Steven Weinberg (right) along with his colleague Sheldon Glashow, who also won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize-winning physicist, has died

By Tia Ghose

The physicist unified two of the four fundamental forces.

3D illustration of an asteroid flying past Earth

Asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza to fly (safely) by Earth Sunday

By Jeanna Bryner

An asteroid about as long as the Great Pyramid of Giza is tall will make a "close" approach with Earth on Sunday (July 25), according to NASA calculations.

This illustration shows a coronavirus particle in blood plasma showing the Y-shaped immunoglobulin G antibodies (IgG, light blue) bound to the coronavirus' spike proteins (red). IgG antibodies are Y-shaped proteins produced by B-lymphocyte white blood cells as part of an immune response. Immunoglobulin M antibodies (IgM) are also shown in light blue.

How early was the novel coronavirus circulating?

By Rebecca Sohn

A boy's yellow tongue (left) was a sign of a rare autoimmune disorder. He also developed dark urine (right).

Boy's bright-yellow tongue was a sign of rare disorder

By Rachael Rettner

An autoimmune disorder was the culprit.

What would happen if Earth suddenly stopped spinning?

By Stacy Kish

If Earth abruptly stopped spinning, what would happen to everything on it?

The Shanghai Maglev Train, also known as the Shanghai Transrapid, a high-speed magnetic levitation train leaving the station.

What is a superconductor?

By Paul Sutter

A superconductor is a material that achieves superconductivity— a state of matter that has no electrical resistance and does not allow magnetic fields to penetrate.

Black carbon particulates from wildfires spreads eastward across the U.S. in this image captured July 21, 2021.

Wildfire smoke spreads across US in striking images from space

By Harry Baker

NASA has released striking satellite images of wildfire smoke clouds covering vast swaths of the U.S., from the West Coast all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

A man getting a nasal swab COVID-19 test.

We may finally know why the delta variant of coronavirus is so infectious

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

People infected with the delta variant of the novel coronavirus may be carrying more than a thousand times more virus particles, according to an early new study.

A top down view of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's 1960s molten salt reactor experiment, an early precursor to the Chinese reactor.

China is gearing up to activate the world's first 'clean' commercial nuclear reactor

By Ben Turner

Plans for thorium reactors have been around since the 1940s, but Chinese scientists believe they are finally close to creating a working prototype.

A 3D map of the caldera known as the 'Eye of Sauron'.

'Eye of Sauron' volcano and other deep-sea structures discovered in underwater 'Mordor'

By Harry Baker

It is one of several discoveries named after "The Lord of the Rings."

A flat-Earth would look very different from space.

8 ways life would get weird on a flat Earth

By Daisy Dobrijevic

Earth is spherical, but what would happen if the Earth were flat? We explore some of the bizarre implications of a flat world which would make life as we know it virtually impossible.

Director Eli Roth visits with a shark in his documentary, "Fin."

Humans are the real monsters in gory new shark documentary

By Mindy Weisberger

Acclaimed horror director Eli Roth has a new documentary on a horrific subject: the shark finning trade.

Scientists mapped the mysterious interior of Mars for the first time ever

By Brandon Specktor

Scientists used two years of marsquake data to map the interior of the Red Planet for the first time ever.

Two adult male chimps of the Rekambo community of the Loango Chimpanzee Project in Gabon checking the area.

Chimpanzee troop beats and kills infant gorillas in unprecedented clash (Video)

By Patrick Pester

Researchers have documented chimpanzees killing gorillas for the first time. The two fatal attacks were caught on film at a national park in Gabon, Central Africa.

Video of a cockatoo opening a trash can lid

'Trash parrots' in Australia have figured out how to open garbage cans

By Laura Geggel

Wild cockatoos have figured out how to open garbage can lids, and the practice is spreading due to social learning.

NASA's Perseverance rover is about to collect its first Martian rock sample

By Brandon Specktor

NASA's Perseverance rover is about to collect its first Martian rock sample, and hold onto it until future missions can bring it back to Earth.

Here, a reconstruction of the Treporti Channel road in Roman rimes. The Venice lagoon would have been to the left of the road and to the Adriatic Sea to the right.

Sunken settlement discovered beneath a Venice lagoon

By Tom Metcalfe

The submerged remains of a Roman road have been found on the seafloor of the Venice lagoon, along with archaeological structures that are thought to be what's left of a dock and settlements.