Science News
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What happens when you lose your voice?
Losing your voice can feel like losing part of yourself. Can voice-cloning technology help people find themselves again?
Scarred blood vessels may be one clue to APOE4’s Alzheimer’s risk
Scientists know APOE4 raises Alzheimer’s risk. A surprising change in blood vessel cells may help explain how.
When climate change brings the heat, what happens to a mighty redwood?
In heat wave-like temperatures, coast redwoods' photosynthesis slows down, which may put one of Earth's most efficient carbon storers in jeopardy.
How the Grand Canyon could have lost 1 billion years of geologic history
The rise and fall of a continent-spanning cliff may help explain a mysterious 1-billion-year gap in Earth’s geologic history, a new study suggests.
Here’s a look at the Nobel Prizes for science
An icy window into the cosmos, a light switch for the brain and solving the mystery of mirror image molecules all took home the top prize.
Kilauea’s display is revealing why volcanoes spew like a fountain show
Scientists are using a variety of methods to study why Kilauea has repeatedly spewed lava fountains since late 2024. They may have ruled out one theory.
An experimental drug kills fat cells, rather than shrinking them
Participants in two small trials lost dangerous fat around their internal organs. This fat is linked to health issues like diabetes and heart problems.
Gene therapy and special goggles give some blind people limited sight
Optogenetics, recognized by the 2026 medicine Nobel, makes cells respond to light, including eye cells that normally relay signals to the brain.
A quake on Mars may have set these rocks rolling
Fresh boulder tracks on Mars could reveal how a quake shook the planet and help scientists detect future tremors from orbit.
Remember the “caregiving kills” study? Reality is nuanced
A decades-old claim linking caregiving stress to risk of death has stuck around, hampering research into its benefits. But caregivers still need support.
An extinct crocodilian was found among rocks that built the Great Sphinx
Herugavialis is the new name for a fossil found in the same rocks that built the Great Sphinx. The reptile is a unique branch of the gharial family tree.
‘A Mother’s Brain’ explores the neuroscience of motherhood
Neuroscientist Susana Carmona’s book guides readers through a new mom’s changing brain.
The world’s loudest bird could drown out a rock concert
Bigger bodies and wider beaks help birds like the bare-throated bellbird belt out calls louder than a jackhammer, but why such volume evolved remains unclear.
Your voice is more than sound. It’s part of who you are
The human brain is built to hear voices. Speaking connects us to other people — and ourselves. What do our voices reveal about ourselves?
Scientists may have seen dark matter. If they did, what exactly is it?
One theory points to a long-awaited supersymmetric particle called a ‘higgsino.’ But that idea has some issues.
A ‘phoenix’ planet was born from the ashes of its dead star
Finding the potential planet hints that our sun’s death could lead to the creation of new worlds.
Astronomers say they’ve spotted the first miniature quasar pointed at Earth
Microblazars — a miniature version of blazars — may be responsible for mysterious ultra-high-energy particles.
Young Yosemite toads survive winter, then emerge with a deadly fungus
A waterborne pathogen flourishes while toads shelter underground. The finding may help conservationists rethink how to protect the threatened species.
Are hypernovas real?
Uneven supernova explosions may explain the unusual mix of elements in Milky Way stars once thought to be evidence of hypernovas.
Here’s how brain-eating amoebas may infect people
Naegleria amoebas’ exploration skills and crawling behaviors could help explain how the brain-eating variety travel into human brains.
A video of a humpback whale and her dead calf reveals the animals’ bond
A female humpback whale may have spent days with her stillborn calf. This rare sighting may suggest that baleen whales experience grief.
A new map points out U.S. rivers most worth protecting
Scientists graded every river and stream in the contiguous United States, flagging specific repairs each one needs to support aquatic life.
Exhaling may speed up reaction times
Scientists testing potential treatments for sleep apnea made an unexpected discovery. How quickly people react may depend on whether they’re breathing in or out.
A medieval remedy could offer ideas for beating antibiotic resistance
The 10th century treatment called Bald’s eyesalve attacks microbes in multiple ways. Molecule mixtures from it may inspire modern medicine.
In the wake of the flood, could Nepal avert the next disaster?
Gaps in early warning systems and community preparedness contributed to the high death toll from Nepal’s debris flow.
‘The Deep End’ podcast is back to explore what makes your voice yours
Season 2 follows people losing their ability to speak — and the AI and brain implants helping them find their voices again.
Magnetism may have helped kick-start our solar system
Ancient meteorites reveal a powerful magnetic field that may have helped feed the growing sun.
Peru’s penguins are on the brink. A super El Niño could make it worse
Avian flu, overfishing, and a super El Niño have decimated Peru’s largest colony of Humboldt penguins. Scientists are holding out hope that their numbers will bounce back.
These are the first feathers ever found in fossilized dinosaur poop
The rare fossil hints that differences in plumage may explain why some Cretaceous-era birds survived an asteroid impact but others died.
See the secret to DNA hookups
A record player-like microscope and computer simulations solve a longtime mystery, showing that metal ions bridge DNA strands that would normally repel.
Meet the newest living cat species, the first described in 100 years
Genetic testing of two tiny tiger cats from Bolivia revealed a new species, adding a new branch to the feline family tree.
This year’s El Niño just broke a record months before it’s expected to peak
Daily sea surface temperatures in the region where El Niño develops are more extreme than at any point in recorded history.
Finally, a true blue rose exists
Scientists engineered roses that made both a blue pigment and a colorless helper molecule that brought out its shade.
First series of adult T. rex footprints hints at its walking speed
The steps were poorly preserved, but still hint at an ambling pace of 1.6 meters per second, roughly equivalent to a quick walking speed for a human.
Can AI reason without words? A small model puts the idea to the test
The newest “Dragon Hatchling” AI model is testing whether skipping words in intermediate reasoning could cut computational cost.
Meet the ‘fire amoeba,’ a record-breaking survivor of extreme heat
Incendiamoeba cascadensis can replicate at 145° F, breaking the heat tolerance record for eukaryotes, a domain of life that includes plants and animals.
‘Happy Snacking, Don’t Die!’ is a joyous guide to eating wild plants
The joy that author Alexis Nikole Nelson injects into this cookbook makes foraging approachable.
First radio waves seen from an exoplanet hint at otherworldly auroras
The gas giant Beta Pictoris b, about 63 light-years away, has the mass of 10 Jupiters and a magnetic field thousands of times as strong as Earth’s.
MRIs show brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s years in advance
A thickening cortex, as shown in MRIs, preceded amyloid-beta accumulation, a known hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, by up to seven years.
Surviving the summer
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses existential threats to humankind: extreme heat, never-ending drought and a plan to provide Earth with sunlight on demand.
Will the U.S. megadrought ever end?
For 27 years, the Southwest has been gripped by a historic drought. Scientists think it might be here to stay.
This ‘anti-vampiric’ grave used two strategies to stop the undead
A sickle across the throat and a padlock on the toe were likely meant to keep this 17th-century Polish teen from resurrecting.
What’s behind ‘one of paleontology’s most enduring enigmas’?
New research suggests that Paleodictyon — honeycomb-shaped formations perhaps sketched by da Vinci — are not made by soft-bodied creatures.
Math puzzle: Shape-birding
Solve the math puzzle from our October 2026 issue, in which a bird watcher seeks an indoor hobby.
Big space mirrors could bring Earth on-demand light — and upend our night sky
A space satellite that would offer light on demand has astronomers asking: Who controls the night sky?
Nepal’s deadly debris flow points to risks in other high mountain regions
As human-caused climate warming destabilizes high mountain regions, the threat of rock-ice avalanches and other glacial hazards grows.
During menopause, brain changes surprisingly take a break
Major hormonal milestones in women’s lives are usually associated with changes in brain volume — but a new study shows menopause is an exception.
When AI goes rogue, its human overseers may be to blame
When AI agents hack real systems, the bigger issue may be the human choices that gave them access, autonomy and too few safeguards.
These mice have human (nerve cells) on the brain
Scientists have grown human brain tissue to fill most of a mouse’s cortex, creating a new model for studying brain disease and neural circuits.
The U.S. has weapons in space. Here’s what that could mean
A cryptic announcement raises questions about the type of weapons and how they could be used. We talked to an expert about the consequences.
Alzheimer’s damage may begin outside the brain
Removing a type of immune cell from lymph nodes in mice reduced brain inflammation and cell damage in a model of Alzheimer’s-like disease.
Meet Swiftiephylus, an Australian bug named after Taylor Swift
Four newly described species of Australian plant bug have been named in honor of renowned recording artist Taylor Swift.
Bogland explores beautifully strange ecosystems
An ecosystem ecologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Turetsky evocatively describes the beauty, danger and vitality of these ecosystems in her book, Bogland.
Feeling nervous? Work the system
Scientists are exploring new ways to regain control of overactive nervous systems including humming, tapping on the skin and cold-water immersion.
These deep-sea spiders give off an otherworldly glow
An expedition of a deep-sea trench near Australia uncovered the eerie sea spider specimens, whose glow may have been chronicled in 19th century documents.
These neutrinos from the sun have the lowest energies ever seen
The XENONnT detector glimpsed the ethereal subatomic particles that are born from the main type of fusion reaction that powers the sun.