'Collective hum' of black holes could settle the debate over new physics
Ripples in the fabric of space-time called gravitational waves may be the key to solving the Hubble tension — one of the biggest nagging problems in physics.
Space
NASA telescope spots first alien 'astrosphere' around a sun-like star: Space photo of the week
The first bubble of hot gas seen around another star has been spotted around the "Moth," just 117 light-years away.
The sun just experienced its first 'spotless days' in 4 years — but we're not in the clear yet
Earlier this week, the number of visible sunspots on our home star fell to zero for the first time in 1,335 days. This normally indicates a period of greatly reduced solar activity, but it's still too soon to relax, experts say.
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NASA announces sweeping overhaul of Artemis return to moon
A major shakeup to NASA's Artemis program will step rocket launches up to an annual basis, and discard a Boeing-designed upper stage.
Rubin Observatory alerts scientists to 800,000 changes in the sky in one night
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory sent scientists nearly 1 million astronomy alerts in one night, showing off changes in the sky. Eventually, the telescope is expected to reach 7 million alerts per night.
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Giant 'spiderwebs' on Mars contain tiny egg-like structures that scientists 'can't quite explain,' NASA rover reveals
New photos captured by NASA's Curiosity rover show that Mars' giant, spiderweb-like "boxwork" features are covered in tiny, never-before-seen nodules that bear a striking resemblance to arachnid eggs. And researchers are struggling to explain them.
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Planet Earth
Incomplete remains of world's 'youngest' impact crater spotted lurking in Chinese forest
Earth from space A 2021 satellite photo shows off the recently uncovered Yilan crater in China, which is most likely the youngest impact structure on Earth. The incomplete ring is also the largest of its kind and only the second impact crater ever found in the country.
How can deserts form next to oceans?
Deserts are notoriously dry, so why do so many of them border oceans?
Ancient 'Asgard' microbe may have used oxygen long before it was plentiful on Earth, offering new clue to origins of complex life
A new study suggests that ancient microbes once cast as oxygen haters may have actually learned to use the gas, offering a clue to how the first complex cells — and, eventually, all plants and animals — evolved.
Solar flares may be triggering earthquakes, controversial study claims
Researchers have proposed that changes in Earth's ionosphere could trigger electrical forces that nudge fragile areas of the crust into creating an earthquake.
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The biggest trees in the Peruvian Amazon store the most carbon — and they also face the greatest threat from humans
The Amazon's biggest trees store disproportionately more carbon than smaller trees do, new study finds. But in the Peruvian Amazon, large trees are currently prioritized for harvest.
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archaeology
Lady of Elche: A 2,400-year-old bust of a mysterious 'highborn' woman from pre-Roman Spain
Astonishing artifacts The mysterious Lady of Elche was crafted from a large limestone block before the Romans ruled Spain.
Paleolithic humans invented an 'early predecessor to writing' at least 40,000 years ago, carved signs suggest
A statistical analysis of a series of signs carved into artifacts from around 40,000 years ago suggests humans developed proto-writing in the Stone Age.
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Stone Age boy in Sweden was buried in deerskin and a woodpecker headdress, archaeologists discover
A new method of studying the contents of soil samples has revealed Stone Age people in Sweden were buried in decorated fur-and-feather clothing.
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LATEST ARTICLES
Animals
60 mind-blowing science facts about our incredible world
Life's Little Mysteries If you're looking for weird facts about animals, gross human body facts or just something a bit random, get ready to geek out with these fascinating bits of trivia.
Kazakhstan plants tens of thousands of trees in giant effort to reintroduce tigers
Kazakhstan planted 37,000 seedlings and cuttings in South Balkhash last year to prepare for the return of its tigers, which disappeared more than 70 years ago.
Scientists find genetic 'switch' in mice that turns caring dads into violent brutes
A new study suggests that the Agouti gene in the brains of male African striped mice can act as a molecular "switch," making them caring or violent toward their young.
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95 million-year-old Spinosaurus had a scimitar-shaped head crest and waded through the Sahara's rivers like a 'hell heron'
Researchers have identified a new Spinosaurus species with a blade-like crest in Niger, changing our understanding of dinosaur evolution and behavior.
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Our adorable, noodle-like ancestor had 4 eyes, half-a-billion-year-old fossils reveal
The earliest recorded vertebrates had four eyes to escape predators in the ancient Cambrian ocean, according to half-a-billion-year-old fossils from China that shed light on our evolutionary origins.
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Snakes keep evolving into cannibals — here's what scientists think is going on
A review of over 500 reports of cannibalistic behavior in snakes finds it's appeared multiple times in different evolutionary lineages, leading researchers to hypothesize it's beneficial for snakes under certain circumstances.
Health & Human Behavior
Pain lasts longer in women, and immune cells may be the culprit
A newly published study suggests that the immune system may play a role in why recovery from pain differs in men and women.
The 'sweet spot' of overconfidence — project a bit to be perceived as competent, but don't be 'too seduced,' a cognitive neuroscientist explains in a Q&A
Q&A with cognitive neuroscientist Steve Fleming: What the science of self-awareness can tell us about confident decision-making
Inherited diseases don't work like we thought they did
"Monogenic" diseases, triggered by mutations in just one gene, may actually be more complex than scientists thought.
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'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?
"At first, I kind of laughed … But they were serious. I could just see the seriousness in their faces." In this book excerpt, Lise Barnéoud explores the limitations of DNA testing.
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Space photo of the week
Extraordinary images of our sublime universe
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Diagnostic dilemma
Unusual case reports from the medical literature
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Earth from space
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Technology
Scientists made AI agents ruder — and they performed better at complex reasoning tasks
A new project allowed AI chatbots to interrupt, stay silent or speak up the way humans do in conversation, and it made them smarter and more accurate.
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'Spiderwebs' spotted on Mars as NASA's moon program gets a major shakeup, tigers set to return to Kazakhstan, and why 'monogenic' diseases might not be so simple after all.
Science news this week Feb. 28, 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.
Acing this new AI exam — which its creators say is the toughest in the world — might point to the first signs of AGI
Humanity’s Last Exam is a PhD-level benchmark designed to test the limits of AI reasoning. Although Google’s Gemini 3 scored a staggering 48.4%, experts stress that this does not indicate the arrival of artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Physics, Math & Chemistry
Science history: Carbon-14 is discovered, opening a window into past civilizations — Feb. 27, 1940
Martin Kamen and Samuel Ruben's discovery of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 in 1940 helped usher in a new era of dating artifacts from past civilizations.
We now know why shoes squeak, and it involves miniature lightning bolts
Harvard engineers think they've found the reason basketball shoes squeak, and it's due to pockets of friction between the rubber and the court.
'Proof by intimidation': AI is confidently solving 'impossible' math problems. But can it convince the world's top mathematicians?
AI could soon spew out hundreds of mathematical proofs that look "right" but contain hidden flaws, or proofs so complex we can't verify them. How will we know if they're right?
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Quizzes & Games
Live Science crossword puzzle #33: The 'E' in E =mc^2 — 2 down
Science crossword Test your knowledge on all things science with our weekly, free crossword puzzle!
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Just in time for the total lunar eclipse, this beginner-friendly telescope is now $100 off at Amazon
Deals The Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 5-inch Schmidt-Cass is now down to $479 at Amazon, making it easy to enjoy the blood moon eclipse on March 3.
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