News Archive | February 2026

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February 28th
- Scientists made AI agents ruder — and they performed better at complex reasoning tasks
- Giant string of organic molecules on Mars may be one of the best signs of life yet
- Paleolithic humans invented an 'early predecessor to writing' at least 40,000 years ago, carved signs suggest
- Science news this week: 'Spiderwebs' on Mars, tigers' return to Kazakhstan, and 2,000-year-old skull with permanently blackened teeth
February 27th
- Stone Age boy in Sweden was buried in deerskin and a woodpecker headdress, archaeologists discover
- Acing this new AI exam — which its creators say is the toughest in the world — might point to the first signs of AGI
- The sun just experienced its first 'spotless days' in 4 years — but we're not in the clear yet
- NASA announces sweeping overhaul of Artemis return to moon, targeting two 2028 landings and a 2027 in-orbit docking flight
- Inherited diseases don't work like we thought they did
- 'It doesn't lie. So who are you?': What happens when DNA tests show a woman is not the mother of the child she gave birth to?
February 26th
- Humans and Neanderthals interbred — but it was mostly male Neanderthals and female humans who coupled up, study finds
- 'Revolutionary': Vera C. Rubin Observatory found 800,000 objects of interest in a single night
- Giant 'spiderwebs' on Mars contain tiny egg-like structures that scientists 'can't quite explain,' NASA rover reveals
- Fresh look at Apollo moon rocks solves decades-old mystery about the moon's magnetic field
February 25th
- Babies weren't supposed to be mourned in the Roman Empire. These rare liquid-gypsum burials prove otherwise.
- Chinese astronauts describe moment a crack was discovered on Shenzhou-20 spacecraft
- Kazakhstan plants tens of thousands of trees in giant effort to reintroduce tigers
- We now know why shoes squeak, and it involves miniature lightning bolts
- COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy may cut risk of preeclampsia
- 'Rare and enigmatic' structures found at the Milky Way's center in largest-ever map of its kind
February 24th
- James Webb telescope spots giant auroras rolling through Uranus' atmosphere
- Scientists find genetic 'switch' in mice that turns caring dads into violent brutes
- 14,000-year-old ivory tools found in Alaska hint at how Clovis ancestors first arrived in the New World
- Far fewer people are related to Genghis Khan than previously assumed, new genomic study suggests
- Obesity is linked to 1 in 10 deaths from infection worldwide — and scientists are still learning why
- 'Blood moon' total lunar eclipse: How to see the March 3 celestial spectacle from anywhere on Earth
February 23rd
- 2,800-year-old mass grave of women and children discovered in Serbia reveals 'brutal, deliberate and efficient' violence
- NASA set to roll Artemis rocket back for urgent repairs after yet another delay
February 22nd
- Scientists find ancient black hole breaking the cosmic 'speed limit,' challenging multiple theories
- Ultrafast quantum chemistry engine could speed up the development of new medicines and materials
- Rare 'planetary parade' will return to the evening sky this week — but you'll have to look at exactly the right time
February 21st
- Scientists may have seen a star collapse directly into a black hole without exploding first
- 'The limits of human longevity have still not been reached,' study suggests
- 'Thermodynamic computer' can mimic AI neural networks — using orders of magnitude less energy to generate images
- Scientists propose new plan to 'catch' comet 3I/ATLAS — but we have to act fast
- Emerging embryo-selection technologies are currently 'little more than snake oil.' But someday, they could widen social inequities.
- Science news this week: China's AI kung fu robots, physicists' re-creation of the Big Bang soup, and a teenager buried with her father's bones on her chest
- 2,000-year-old skulls reveal people in ancient Vietnam permanently blackened their teeth — a stylish practice that persists today
February 20th
- Ancient 'Asgard' microbe may have used oxygen long before it was plentiful on Earth, offering new clue to origins of complex life
- 'Universal' nasal-spray vaccine protects against viruses, bacteria and allergens in mice
- Your own voice could be your biggest privacy threat. How can we stop AI technologies exploiting it?
- Artemis II update: NASA targets March 6 for launch of historic moon mission following successful 'wet dress rehearsal'
- A coffin holding a dead 'princess' fell from an eroded cliff over 100 years ago — archaeologists just solved a major mystery about her
- 'Proof by intimidation': AI is confidently solving 'impossible' math problems. But can it convince the world's top mathematicians?
February 19th
- Bungled Boeing Starliner mission was the highest order of mishap that put stranded astronauts at risk, report says
- In a 'race against time,' archaeologists uncovered Roman-era footprints from a Scottish beach before the tide washed them away
- 95 million-year-old Spinosaurus had a scimitar-shaped head crest and waded through the Sahara's rivers like a 'hell heron'
- Solar flares may be triggering earthquakes, controversial study claims
- Saturn's largest moon may actually be 2 moons in 1 — and helped birth the planet's iconic rings
- China tests world's first megawatt-class flying wind turbine — it generated enough energy to power a house for 2 weeks
- 2,500-year-old 'primitive prosthetic' found on jaw of mummified Scythian woman who survived complex jaw surgery
February 18th
- Physicists recreated the first millisecond after the Big Bang — and found it was surprisingly soupy
- 'Absolute surprise': Homo erectus skulls found in China are almost 1.8 million years old — the oldest evidence of the ancient human relatives in East Asia
- City-size, cold-volcano comet transforms into a glowing 'snail shell' after major explosive outburst
- NASA starts countdown clock for second Artemis II wet dress rehearsal after rocky first attempt
- Microsoft can now store data for 10,000 years on everyday glass thanks to laser breakthrough
- The biggest trees in the Peruvian Amazon store the most carbon — and they also face the greatest threat from humans
- Supercomputers simulated the orbits of 1 million satellites between Earth and the moon — and less than 10% survived
- Research group claims preeclampsia doomed the Neanderthals, but experts say it's just a 'thought experiment'
- Missing megaflood: How did the Mediterranean transform from a salt-filled bowl to a deep sea if it wasn't a cataclysmic deluge?
- 5,500 years ago, a teenage girl was buried with her father's bones on her chest, new DNA study reveals
February 17th
- Humanoid robots show off creepily impressive kung-fu moves during Lunar New Year festival in China
- Sleep deprivation harms the gut via the vagus nerve, early study reveals
- Our adorable, noodle-like ancestor had 4 eyes, half-a-billion-year-old fossils reveal
- Hidden slippery clay on seafloor may have worsened devastating 2011 tsunami in Japan
- Mineral sunscreen leaves an annoying white cast on skin — this new formula could change that
- Vanishing lakes in Tibet may have triggered earthquakes by awakening faults in Earth's crust
February 16th
- Many men lose their Y chromosomes as they age. It may shorten their lives.
February 15th
- Snakes keep evolving into cannibals — here's what scientists think is going on
- Lucky few to see 'ring of fire' solar eclipse over Antarctica on Feb. 17
February 14th
- Ancient rock art depicting hunters and geometric shapes discovered in Egypt's Sinai Desert — and it spans a period of 10,000 years
- In a first, study links maternal genes to risk of pregnancy loss
- 'Impossible' mantle earthquakes actually occur all over the world, study finds
- There's 13 Great Lakes' worth of water hidden beneath the contiguous US, new map reveals
- Science news this week: China turns a desert into a carbon sink, a Viking Age grave holds a giant who had brain surgery, real-life inception, and a last-minute Valentine's gift idea from nature
February 13th
- MIT designs computing component that uses waste heat 'as a form of information'
- Newly visible, city-size 'green comet' will soon be ejected into interstellar space — just like 3I/ATLAS
- 'It's telling us there's something big going on': Unprecedented spike in atmospheric methane during the COVID-19 pandemic has a troubling explanation
- Record-breaking gravitational wave puts Einstein's relativity to its toughest test yet — and proves him right again
- Canada could remove 5 times its annual carbon emissions by planting trees on edge of boreal forest, study finds
- Archaeopteryx, one of the world's first proto birds, has a set of weird, never-before-seen features, new study reveals
February 12th
- NASA telescope spots the building blocks for life spewing out of comet 3I/ATLAS
- Subterranean tunnel, possibly used for medieval cult rituals, discovered in Stone Age tomb in Germany
- China banned all fishing to save the Yangtze River. This 'nuclear' option appears to be working.
- The earliest black holes in the universe may still be with us, surprising study claims
- Astronomers discover 'unique inside-out system' with a rocky planet far from where it belongs
- Risk of death from pregnancy in the US is 44 times higher than that from abortion, new analysis reveals
- China's emissions are flatlining — and may be falling — in critical turning point for biggest emitter, report says
- Antarctica 'ghost particle' observatory gets major upgrade that could 'pave the way' to physics breakthroughs
- 'DNA origami' could be key for making an effective HIV vaccine, early study hints
- Medieval gold ring with dazzling blue gemstone discovered in Norway is a 'fantastically beautiful and rare specimen'
February 11th
- Radio signal discovered at the center of our galaxy could put Einstein's relativity to the test
- Cancer vaccine shows promise against HPV-related throat tumors in early study
- Our leading theory of dark matter may be wrong, huge new gravity study hints
- Permafrost thaw and 'shrubification' have tipped Alaska's North Slope into a wildfire regime not seen for 3,000 years
- World's oldest known sewn clothing may be stitched pieces of ice age hide unearthed in Oregon cave
- Needle-free insulin? Scientists invent gel that delivers insulin through the skin in animal studies
- China has planted so many trees around the Taklamakan Desert that it's turned this 'biological void' into a carbon sink
February 10th
- Western Europe's earliest known mule died 2,700 years ago — and it was buried with a partially cremated woman
- Something supercharged Uranus with radiation during Voyager flyby 40 years ago. Scientists now know what.
- Only certain types of brain-training exercises reduce dementia risk, large trial reveals
- Scientists infiltrated volunteers' dreams to boost their creative thinking
- CT scans reveal the last moments of Inca children sacrificed as 'messengers to the gods'
- The largest reservoir of hydrogen on Earth may be hiding in its core
February 9th
- Viking Age mass grave holds mysterious mix of dismembered human remains and complete skeletons, including a 'giant' who'd had brain surgery
- New 'sungrazing' comet could become visible to the naked eye during the day — if the sun doesn't destroy it
- Impossibly powerful 'ghost particle' that slammed into Earth may have come from an exploding black hole — and it could upend both particle physics and cosmology
- Paleo-Inuit people braved icy seas to reach remote Greenland islands 4,500 years ago, archaeologists discover
February 8th
- 'Night owls' may have worse heart health — but why?
- Microbes in Iceland are hoarding nitrogen, and that's mucking up the nutrient cycle
- Physicists push quantum boundaries by turning a superfluid into a supersolid — and back — for the first time
- Dramatic death of Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) caught on camera — Space photo of the week
February 7th
- 'A second set of eyes': AI-supported breast cancer screening spots more cancers earlier, landmark trial finds
- 'There's no reason to ban us from playing': Analysis debunks notion that transgender women have inherent physical advantages in sports
- Clean energy is surging — with or without Trump
- Science news this week: Anomalies inside Earth, leak on Artemis II, and how psychedelics may help treat PTSD
February 6th
- 'Invisible scaffolding of the universe' revealed in ambitious new James Webb telescope images
- Extraordinary photo captures first appearance of Siberian peregrine falcon in Australia's arid center
- Scientist accidentally stumbles across bizarre ancient ‘wrinkle structures’ in Morocco that shouldn't be there
- Every major galaxy is speeding away from the Milky Way, except one — and we finally know why
February 5th
- The 'mono' virus raises the risk of MS and cancer in some. 22 genes hint at why.
- Spotted lanternflies are invading the US. They may have gotten their evolutionary superpowers in China's cities.
- Kanzi the bonobo could play pretend — a trait thought unique to humans
- Black hole outburst named 'Jetty McJetface' is one of the most energetic objects in the universe
- Martian meteorite that fell to Earth is full of ancient water, new scans reveal
- 7,500-year-old deer skull headdress discovered in Germany indicates hunter-gatherers shared sacred items and ideas with region's first farmers
- How well can AI and humans work together? Scientists are turning to Dungeons & Dragons to find out
- Saltwater crocodiles crossed the Indian Ocean to reach the Seychelles — before humans arrived and wiped them out
- The US will see a rare 'blood moon' eclipse before sunrise this March: Where and when to look
February 4th
- Remote region in Greece has one of the most genetically distinct populations in Europe
- Life-friendly molecules are leaking out of Jupiter's giant moon Europa, Galileo images hint
- 'Behemoth star,' previously thought to be dying, is 'rising from the ashes' like a phoenix
- New map shows weird magnetic anomaly lurking beneath Australia's Northern Territory
- 'Nitrogen fixing' trees could help tropical forests bounce back, research suggests
- 'Textbooks will need to be updated': Jupiter is smaller and flatter than we thought, Juno spacecraft reveals
- A deer carrying the rotting head of its vanquished foe and a playful lynx shortlisted for Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nuveen People's Choice Award
- Grim photo captures polar bear mom and cubs resting in mud in summer heat
February 3rd
- Asteroid 2024 YR4's collision with the moon could create a flash visible from Earth, study finds
- Men develop cardiovascular disease 7 years before women, study suggests. But why?
- Hydrogen leak derails Artemis II wet rehearsal, pushing launch date back by weeks
- 'Landmark' elephant bone finding in Spain may be from time of Hannibal's war against Rome
- 'System in flux': Scientists reveal what happened when wolves and cougars returned to Yellowstone
- In the search for bees, Mozambique honey hunters and birds share a language with distinct, regional dialects
- Physicists push thousands of atoms to a 'Schrödinger's cat' state — bringing the quantum world closer to reality than ever before
February 2nd
- Preserved hair reveals just how bad lead exposure was in the 20th century
- Auroras likely as most active sunspot in years turns toward Earth
- What is Moltbook? A social network for AI threatens a 'total purge' of humanity — but some experts say it's a hoax
- Enormous 'mega-blob' under Hawaii is solid rock and iron, not gooey — and it may fuel a hotspot
- The Colorado River's largest tributary flows 'uphill' for over 100 miles — and geologists may finally have an explanation for it
- Artemis II simulated launch window opens tonight as NASA delays mission due to 'rare Arctic outbreak'
February 1st
- 'Nose-in-a-dish' reveals why the common cold hits some people hard, while others recover easily
- Earth is 'missing' lighter elements. They may be hiding in its solid inner core.
- Rare medieval seal discovered in UK is inscribed with 'Richard's secret' and bears a Roman-period gemstone
- Stellar nursery bursts with newborn stars in hauntingly beautiful Hubble telescope image — Space photo of the week