Strange discovery offers 'missing link' in planet formation
A decade of observations of four planets around the young planetary system V1298 Tau revealed a rare, long-sought missing link in planet formation.
Space
Is there anything 'below' Earth in space?
Earth and its neighbors orbit the sun on a relatively flat plane. But what's below this plane, and is anythign below the Earth?
Watch NASA roll its historic Artemis II moon rocket to the launch pad this weekend
NASA's Artemis 2 rocket will roll out Saturday (Jan. 17) ahead of a possible Feb. 6 launch. Here's how to watch.
NASA's Mars Sample Return is dead, leaving China to retrieve signs of life from the Red Planet
NASA's plans for Mars sample return are effectively cancelled as part of a bill approved by the U.S. Congress, ending efforts to collect Perseverance rover samples that could contain evidence of alien life.
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NASA's powerful new Roman Space Telescope is complete — and will soon begin mission to find 100,000 alien worlds
New photos show off NASA's newly constructed Roman Space Telescope, which will soon help researchers unravel the mysteries of the cosmos. Experts have also revealed when the next-gen spacecraft is set to launch and begin collecting data.
Planet Earth
'The scientific cost would be severe': A Trump Greenland takeover would put climate research at risk
Trump's calls for a takeover of Greenland puts open scientific collaboration that is helping our understanding of the threat of global sea-level rise at risk.
Scientists watch microscopic plant 'mouths' breathing in real time with palm-sized tool
Scientists say their Stomata In-Sight tool can observe plants "breathe," which could be used to bioengineer crops that require less water, making them potentially more resilient to climate change.
18 of Earth's biggest river deltas — including the Nile and Amazon — are sinking faster than global sea levels are rising
Worldwide, millions of people live in river deltas that are sinking faster than sea levels are rising, research suggests. This exacerbates the risk of catastrophic coastal flooding and land loss.
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Mega-iceberg A23a, formerly the world's largest, turns into bright 'blue mush' as it finally dies after 40 years at sea
New satellite photos reveal that one of the world's largest and longest-lived icebergs, A23a, has developed vibrant blue striations on its surface. The striking snaps hint that the "megaberg" will soon disappear forever, ending a surprisingly eventful four-decade-long saga.
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Parkfield, San Andreas, and the quest for a 'crystal ball' for predicting earthquakes before they happen
A small town in California was hit by earthquakes once every 22 years for over a century, setting the stage for a major seismic experiment in the 1980s and 90s. But the quake ended up being 11 years late. In this excerpt from "When Worlds Quake," geophysicist Hrvoje Tkalčić looks at why predicting earthquakes is so difficult.
archaeology
Famed archaeologist Zahi Hawass says he's close to finding Nefertiti's tomb in new documentary
Zahi Hawass says he hopes to discover the tomb of Nefertiti before he retires, and he believes he's getting close.
Most complete Homo habilis skeleton ever found dates to more than 2 million years ago and retains 'Lucy'-like features
Scientists have revealed the most complete skeleton yet of our 2 million-year-old ancestor Homo habilis.
Ötzi the Iceman mummy carried a high-risk strain of HPV, research finds
Two renowned prehistoric individuals were likely infected with a human papillomavirus that has been linked to several cancers.
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LATEST ARTICLES
Animals
Ancient mummified cheetahs discovered in Saudi Arabia contain preserved DNA from the long-lost population
Cheetahs vanished from Saudi Arabia half a century ago. Now long-dead mummified big cats may help herald their return.
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Rare nocturnal parrots in New Zealand are breeding for the first time in 4 years — here's why
The 2026 breeding season for endangered kākāpō could produce the most chicks in decades.
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Woolly rhino flesh pulled from ancient wolf stomach gives clues to ice age giant's extinction
More than 14,000 years ago, a wolf pup ate a piece of woolly rhino. Scientists have analyzed the rhino's DNA to figure out why it went extinct.
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How to watch 'Pole to Pole with Will Smith' — TV and streaming details as Oscar-winning actor blends adventure and scientific discovery
The actor embarks on a "thrilling adventure" across seven expeditions — here's how to watch "Pole to Pole with Will Smith" online from anywhere.
Health & Human Behavior
How much of your body could you lose — and still survive?
Five vital organs are essential for life, but survival is more medically complex.
'Zombie' cells may drive common form of epilepsy
Scientists are unraveling the role of senescent cells in a common form of epilepsy, and it could point to new treatments.
These genes were thought to lead to blindness 100% of the time. They don't.
New research finds that retinal diseases thought to map one-to-one to genetic mutations are more complicated than that.
A man's sudden seizures were set off by sudoku
In the weeks following a ski accident, a German man experienced seizures when he completed sudoku puzzles.
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Earth from space
Incredible images of our planet from above
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Technology
MIT's chip stacking breakthrough could cut energy use in power-hungry AI processes
Data doesn’t have to travel as far or waste as much energy when the memory and logic components are closer together.
Physics, Math & Chemistry
Our model of the universe is deeply flawed — unless space is actually a 'sticky' fluid
Our best models of the cosmos don't add up — but that could change if the universe is actually made of a viscous 'fluid,' a new paper suggests.
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Science history: Sophie Germain, first woman to win France's prestigious 'Grand Mathematics Prize' is snubbed when tickets to award ceremony are 'lost in the mail' — Jan. 9, 1816
Sophie Germain was a brilliant, self-taught mathematician who won one of France's most prestigious prizes, yet she declined to attend the award ceremony because the committee members didn't respect her work.
Science history: Richard Feynman gives a fun little lecture — and dreams up an entirely new field of physics — Dec. 29, 1959
In a short talk at Caltech, physicist Richard Feynman laid out a vision of manipulating and controlling atoms at the tiniest scale. It would precede the field of nanotechnology by decades.
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Quizzes & Games
Live Science crossword puzzle #26: Nothing can travel faster than this — 12 across
Science crossword Test your knowledge on all things science with our weekly, free crossword puzzle!
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