Science News - Latest Scientific Discoveries

A small plush toy of "The Child" or "Baby Yoda" from the Disney Plus Star Wars series "The Mandalorian" is seen floating on board the SpaceX Crew Dragon "Resilience" as the zero-g indicator for the four Crew-1 astronauts on Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020.

'Baby Yoda' revealed as astronauts' zero-g indicator on SpaceX Crew-1 mission

By Robert Z. Pearlman

A few hours after launching to the International Space Station, the Crew-1 astronauts showed off their fifth crew member — a small plush doll of "The Child" or "Baby Yoda."

What are monoclonal antibodies? (And why do we need them?)

By Rodney E. Rohde

Here's why we need monoclonal antibodies to the coronavirus as well as a vaccine.

Earth from above showing China and Japan.

Ancient fragment of the Pacific Ocean found buried 400 miles below China

By Peter Dockrill

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan, Italy’s oldest active shopping mall, seen on Nov. 10, during the country’s new COVID-19 lockdown.

How early was the coronavirus really circulating in Italy?

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

A new study suggests as early as September of last year, but some experts are skeptical.

This illustration shows what may have happened to the ceratopsian and tyrannosaur just before they died and were fossilized about 67 million years ago.

Cretaceous cold case of 'dueling' T. rex and Triceratops may finally be solved

By Laura Geggel

The T. rex and Triceratops were discovered in 2006, but this sale marks the first time scientists will be able to study them in detail.

Physicists discover the 'Kings and Queens of Quantumness'

By Adam Mann

A new mathematical framework helps physicists define the degree of quantumness of a system

A globular cluster (yellow) shines in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's smaller satellite galaxies.

Newfound 'Kraken merger' may have been the biggest collision in Milky Way's history

By Brandon Specktor

Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown galactic collision between the Milky Way and the mysterious 'Kraken galaxy.'

Petermann is one of Greenland's largest glaciers, lodged in a fjord that, from the height of its mountain walls down to the lowest point of the seafloor, is deeper than the Grand Canyon.

Mysterious 'dark river' may flow hundreds of miles beneath Greenland

By Peter Dockrill

A giant underground river fed by melting ice could be running in a state of perpetual darkness far below the surface of Greenland.

A close-up showing one of the mummy filled coffins. The colors are remarkably well preserved despite the passage of over 2,000 years of time.

Mummy count continues to grow at ancient Egypt burial site

By Owen Jarus

The number of mummy-filled coffins found in a series of burial shafts at Saqqara in Egypt keeps growing, archaeologists with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities reported.

The "Fearless Girl" statue was installed in front of the bronze "Charging Bull" in New York City for International Women's Day in March 2017, to draw attention to the gender pay gap and lack of gender diversity on corporate boards in the financial sector.

Why women make way less than men do in more religious places

By Stephanie Pappas

The more religious a country or state, the bigger the gap in earnings between men and women.

The Stromboli volcano in Italy erupted with a stronger-than-usual explosion on Nov. 16, 2020.

Huge eruption of Italian volcano sends ash hundreds of feet into the air

By Stephanie Pappas

An explosion on the slopes of Stromboli sent pyroclastic flow down the Italian volcano on Monday (Nov. 16).

The Olympics were scheduled to take place in Tokyo in the summer of 2020 before being postponed until 2021.

Olympic officials 'very confident' that next year's games in Tokyo will have spectators

By Rachael Rettner

Japan was scheduled to host the Olympic Games in the summer of 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic forced officials to postpone the competition until 2021.

Vanessa Woods and Brian Hare with their dog.

This week on Live Science forums: AMA on friendliness and evolution

By Mohamed Mohammed

It turns out that survival of the fittest may be an overrated concept.

A satellite image of Hurricane Iota taken on November 16

Hurricane Iota will slam into Nicaragua as a 'catastrophic' Category 5

By Nicoletta Lanese

The massive storm is the strongest ever observed this late in the season.

An image shows microscopic specimens from the arenavirus family. The Chapare virus, like Lassa virus and Machupo virus, is from the arenavirus family.

Deadly hemorrhagic fever in Bolivia can spread between people

By Rafi Letzter

A deadly virus that causes fevers, abdominal pain, vomiting, bleeding gums, skin rash and pain behind the eyes can now jump from one person to another.

A model of a coronavirus next to a syringe.

Moderna coronavirus vaccine is 94.5% effective, early results suggest

By Yasemin Saplakoglu

This comes a week after Pfizer announced similar results, providing hope that the world may soon have multiple vaccines that work effectively.

Dog ticks prefer humans as hosts when temperatures rise

By Ashley P. Taylor

The study researchers recruited some brave human and canine volunteers for a unique experiment.

Male wrinkle-faced bat (Centurio senex) shows a furry skin fold that can be pulled up to cover the lower half of the face like a mask.

World's ugliest bats sing through 'face masks' made of skin to woo the ladies

By Mindy Weisberger

Scientists recently documented never-before-seen mating behavior in wrinkle-faced bats, in which males pull a furry flap of skin over their faces.

The Triassic period ended with a million-year rain storm that paved the way for the reign of the dinosaurs, a new paper claims.

Triassic period ended with 'lost' mass extinction and a million-year rain storm, study claims

By Brandon Specktor

The Carnian Pluvial Event (CPE) ushered in 1 million years of rain and killed as many as 33% of all marine life, a new study suggests.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft lift off for the Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station.

SpaceX Crew Dragon launches 4 astronauts to space station in historic flight

By Amy Thompson

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule launched its first operational space taxi flight for NASA Sunday (Nov. 15).