Latest news
US woman dies from prion disease — after being given an infected injection 50 years earlier
The patient was unknowingly infected with an abnormal protein that causes a rare, fatal neurological disease with no treatment.
Jupiter is shrinking and used to be twice as big, mind-boggling study reveals
Astronomers have calculated that the gas giant Jupiter used to be twice as big as it is now, based on the odd orbits of two of its many moons.
'Above normal' conditions could bring as many as 10 hurricanes to the US this summer
Hurricane Helene captured by NOAA's GOES-16 satellite as it approached Florida on September 26, 2024.
Trippy supercomputer simulation offers unprecedented view of the space between stars
A groundbreaking new supercomputer model shows how magnetic fields shape the turbulent flow of charged particles in space.
The rarest black holes in the universe may be 'wandering' our galaxy
Dozens of 'wandering' black holes could be tumbling through our galaxy right now, new simulations hint. Their existence could help solve a longstanding cosmic puzzle.
Cucumbers recalled after multistate Salmonella outbreak leaves dozens sick
CDC and FDA officials are investigating the outbreak after 9 patients were hospitalized amid cucumber recall.
AI benchmarking platform is helping top companies rig their model performances, study claims
LMArena, a popular benchmark for large language models, has been accused of giving preferential treatment to AIs made by big tech firms, potentially enabling them to game their results.
May's best stargazing week has begun. Here's what to see.
This week is the best time in May to view the night sky. Here's everything you can see during May's dark skies, from an upside-down bear to some of the oldest stars in the universe.
Rare face tattoos on 800-year-old mystery mummy baffle archaeologists
Analysis of a mummy kept for a century at the University of Turin in Italy has revealed rare face tattoos made with a special black ink.
'Super-vision' contact lenses let wearers see in the dark — even with their eyes closed
Researchers have developed new contact lenses that enable vision in the near-infrared range, and they could restore color perception to people with color blindness.
'Strange' star pulses detected in search for extraterrestrial intelligence
A retired researcher has detected an unusual pulse in the light of nearby stars while looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. Aliens are one possible explanation for the strange signal, but as with every other unexplained space phenomenon, it's probably not aliens.
2,300-year-old gold ring found in Israel was likely buried by a betrothed girl
A gold ring with a red gemstone found in Israel dates to the Hellenistic period and may have been buried in a coming-of-age ritual.
Our teeth evolved from fish 'body armor' over 460 million years, scientists discover
Teeth are sensitive because they evolved from sensory tissue in both ancient vertebrates and ancient arthropods.
140,000 year old bones of our ancient ancestors found on sea floor, revealing secrets of extinct human species
Researchers have recovered Homo erectus bones from the seafloor, which points to an unknown hominin population hunting on land that is now underwater in Southeast Asia.
Astronomers spy puzzlingly 'perfect' cosmic orb with unknown size and location
New radio images reveal an unusually faint and symmetrical supernova remnant, nicknamed Telios, lurking just below the galactic plane of the Milky Way. However, they cannot tell exactly where it is, how big it is or how it formed.
'It was probably some kind of an ambush': 17,000 years ago, a man died in a projectile weapon attack in what is now Italy
A new analysis of a skeleton uncovered 50 years ago provides some of the earliest evidence of intergroup conflict between humans to date.
33-inch-long 'woolly' mountain rat caught on camera for first time ever
The world's second-biggest rat species — a gargantuan woolly beast — was caught on camera in the mountains of New Guinea.
'White streak' appears over US as China dumps experimental fuel in space
A recent launch of China's Zhuque-2E rocket triggered a giant white streak of light to appear above at least seven U.S. states after deploying six satellites into low-Earth orbit. The light show, which was visible in at least seven states, was the result of a "fuel dump," experts say.
Amazon's new warehouse robot has a 'sense of touch' that could see it replace human workers
Amazon's Vulcan, the first warehouse robot with touch sensitivity, has begun operations in the company's Spokane, Washington, and Hamburg, Germany, fulfillment centers.
Never-before-seen 'extreme' microbes surrounded NASA robot before it was sent to Mars 18 years ago, new study reveals
DNA analysis has revealed that 26 novel species of "extremophile" bacteria were lurking in a clean room that housed NASA's Phoenix lander before it was launched to Mars in 2007. The hardy microbes might be capable of surviving in space.
