Breaking News
January 13, 2026
Top Science Headlines
updated 8:56am EST
Jan. 13, 2026 A generative AI system can now analyze blood cells with greater accuracy and confidence than human experts, detecting subtle signs of diseases like leukemia. It not only spots rare abnormalities but ...
Jan. 13, 2026 Childbirth depends not just on hormones, but on the uterus’s ability to sense physical force. Scientists found that pressure and stretch sensors in uterine muscles and surrounding nerves work ...
Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists have pulled back the curtain on one of the most extreme solar regions seen in decades, tracking it almost nonstop for three months as it unleashed powerful space weather. By combining ...
Jan. 13, 2026 At extreme pressures and temperatures, water becomes superionic — a solid that behaves partly like a liquid and conducts electricity. This unusual form is believed to shape the magnetic fields of ...
Jan. 13, 2026 Honey bees can normally keep their hives perfectly climate-controlled, but extreme heat can overwhelm their defenses. During a scorching Arizona summer, researchers found that high temperatures ...
Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists tracking Earth’s water from space discovered that El Niño and La Niña are synchronizing floods and droughts across continents. When these climate cycles intensify, far-apart regions ...
Jan. 13, 2026 Scientists at Tufts have found a way to turn common glucose into a rare sugar that tastes almost exactly like table sugar—but with far fewer downsides. Using engineered bacteria as microscopic ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Some antibiotics stop bacteria from growing without actually killing them, allowing infections to return later. Scientists at the University of Basel created a new test that tracks individual ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Waiting to eat when your food arrives first feels polite—but it may be mostly for your own peace of mind. Researchers found people feel far more uncomfortable breaking the “wait until everyone is ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Researchers have discovered a brain activity pattern that can predict which people with mild cognitive impairment are likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Using a noninvasive brain scanning ...
Jan. 13, 2026 MIT engineers have developed a pill that can wirelessly report when it’s been swallowed. Inside the capsule is a biodegradable antenna that sends a signal within minutes of ingestion, then safely ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Most U.S. adults have risk factors tied to a little-known condition called CKM syndrome, which connects heart disease, kidney problems, diabetes, and obesity into one powerful health threat. When ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are changing how Americans spend money on food. A large Cornell study found households cut grocery spending by over 5% within six months, with even bigger ...
Jan. 11, 2026 A new international trial has delivered striking results for people on dialysis, showing that daily fish oil supplements can sharply reduce serious ...
Jan. 11, 2026 Roasted coffee may do more than wake you up—it could help control blood sugar. Researchers discovered several new coffee compounds that inhibit α-glucosidase, a key enzyme linked to type 2 ...
Jan. 11, 2026 KAIST researchers have developed a way to reprogram immune cells already inside tumors into cancer-killing machines. A drug injected directly into the tumor is absorbed by macrophages, prompting them ...
Jan. 11, 2026 In a striking real-world experiment, flu patients spent days indoors with healthy volunteers, but the virus never spread. Researchers found that limited coughing and well-mixed indoor air kept virus ...
Jan. 10, 2026 Although the gut renews itself constantly, its stem cells accumulate age-related molecular changes that quietly alter how genes are switched on and off. Scientists found that this “epigenetic ...
Jan. 10, 2026 Sleep isn’t just about feeling rested—it may be one of the strongest predictors of how long you live. Researchers analyzing nationwide data found that insufficient sleep was more closely tied to ...
Jan. 10, 2026 New research shows that aging blood can accelerate Alzheimer’s-like changes in the brain, while younger blood may offer protection. In mouse experiments, older blood worsened memory performance and ...
Jan. 12, 2026 A small group of people experience no pleasure from music despite normal hearing and intact emotions. Brain imaging reveals that their auditory and reward systems fail to properly communicate, ...
Jan. 11, 2026 A large genetic screen has revealed how stem cells transform into brain cells, exposing hundreds of genes that make this process possible. Among the discoveries is PEDS1, a gene now linked to a ...
Jan. 8, 2026 A large review of studies suggests that exercise can ease depression about as effectively as psychological therapy. Compared with antidepressants, exercise showed similar benefits, though the ...
Jan. 8, 2026 Exercise doesn’t just challenge the body; it challenges how the brain interprets effort. Scientists discovered that vibrating tendons before cycling allowed people to push harder without feeling ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Researchers in Japan built a miniature human brain circuit using fused stem-cell–derived organoids, allowing them to watch the thalamus and cortex interact in real time. They found that the ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Teens who sleep in on weekends may be giving their mental health a boost. A new study found that young people who made up for lost weekday sleep had a significantly lower risk of depression. While ...
Jan. 6, 2026 A familiar mouth bacterium best known for causing cavities may also be quietly influencing the brain. Scientists found that when this microbe settles in the gut, it produces compounds that can travel ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Many people with multiple sclerosis struggle with balance and coordination, and this study uncovers a hidden reason why. Researchers found that inflammation in the brain disrupts the energy supply of ...
Jan. 5, 2026 A long-running debate over Tamiflu’s safety in children may finally be settled. Researchers found that influenza, not the antiviral medication, was linked to serious neuropsychiatric events like ...
Jan. 5, 2026 Nearly all women in STEM graduate programs report feeling like impostors, despite strong evidence of success. This mindset leads many to dismiss their achievements as luck and fear being “found ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Sugar-loving mouth bacteria create acids that damage teeth, but arginine can help fight back. In a clinical trial, arginine-treated dental plaque stayed less acidic, became structurally less harmful, ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Scientists at USC are launching a new trial to test a tiny stem cell implant that could restore vision in people with advanced dry macular degeneration. The hair-thin patch replaces damaged retinal ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Foods that rely heavily on preservatives may be doing more than extending shelf life. In a large study spanning more than a decade, people with the highest intake of preservative additives were far ...
Jan. 9, 2026 A new study finds that TikTok videos about gout frequently spread confusing or inaccurate advice. Most clips focus on diet changes and supplements, while barely mentioning the long-term treatments ...
Jan. 8, 2026 Scientists are uncovering why Brazil may be one of the most important yet underused resources for studying extreme longevity. Its highly diverse population harbors millions of genetic variants ...
Jan. 8, 2026 A brief, intense workout may do more than boost fitness—it could help fight cancer. Researchers found that just 10 minutes of hard exercise releases molecules into the bloodstream that switch on ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Bariatric surgery far outperformed GLP-1 weight loss drugs in a new real-world comparison of more than 50,000 patients. Two years after treatment, surgery patients lost about 58 pounds on average, ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Researchers at USF Health have discovered a new way opioid receptors can work that may lead to safer pain medications. Their findings show that certain experimental compounds can amplify pain relief ...
Jan. 5, 2026 The idea that we make over 200 unconscious food choices a day has been repeated for years, but new research shows the number is more illusion than insight. The famous figure comes from a counting ...
Jan. 5, 2026 A large study has revealed that dozens of widely used chemicals can damage beneficial gut bacteria. Many of these substances, found in pesticides and everyday industrial products, were never thought ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Florida State University scientists have engineered a new crystal that forces atomic magnets to swirl into complex, repeating patterns. The effect comes from mixing two nearly identical compounds ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Scientists at Fermilab’s MicroBooNE experiment have ruled out the existence of the elusive sterile neutrino, a particle proposed for decades to ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Scientists observing the red giant star R Doradus have found that starlight isn’t strong enough to drive its stellar winds, overturning a ...
Jan. 11, 2026 The accelerating expansion of the universe is usually explained by an invisible force known as dark energy. But a new study suggests this mysterious ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Scientists in South Korea have discovered a way to make all-solid-state batteries safer and more powerful using inexpensive materials. Instead of adding costly metals, they redesigned the battery’s ...
Jan. 8, 2026 A team of physicists has discovered a surprisingly simple way to build nuclear clocks using tiny amounts of rare thorium. By electroplating thorium onto steel, they achieved the same results as years ...
Jan. 8, 2026 Nearly everything in the universe is made of mysterious dark matter and dark energy, yet we can’t see either of them directly. Scientists are developing detectors so sensitive they can spot ...
Jan. 8, 2026 Einstein’s claim that the speed of light is constant has survived more than a century of scrutiny—but scientists are still daring to test it. Some theories of quantum gravity suggest light might ...
Jan. 8, 2026 When scientists repeatedly drove a strongly interacting quantum system with laser “kicks,” they expected it to heat up and grow chaotic. Instead, the atoms abruptly stopped absorbing energy and ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Researchers have built a new platform that produces ultrashort UV-C laser pulses and detects them at room temperature using atom-thin materials. The ...
Jan. 10, 2026 Scientists have discovered an enormous stream of super-hot gas erupting from a nearby galaxy, driven by a powerful black hole at its center. The jets ...
Jan. 10, 2026 Crystals hidden in Australia’s oldest rocks have revealed new clues about how Earth and the Moon formed. The study suggests Earth’s continents didn’t begin growing until hundreds of millions of ...
Jan. 10, 2026 Astronomers have uncovered the long-hidden cause behind Betelgeuse’s strange behavior: a small companion star carving a visible wake through the giant’s vast atmosphere. Using nearly eight years ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Hubble has revealed a strange cosmic object called Cloud-9, a dark matter–dominated cloud with no stars at all. Scientists believe it is a “failed galaxy,” a leftover building block from the ...
Jan. 8, 2026 Using NASA’s IXPE, astronomers captured an unprecedented view of a white dwarf star actively feeding on material from a companion. The data revealed giant columns of ultra-hot gas shaped by the ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Scientists have detected a surprisingly hot galaxy cluster dating back to the universe’s infancy. The cluster formed far earlier and burned far hotter than current models predict. Researchers ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Europa’s buried ocean has made it one of the most exciting places to search for life beyond Earth. However, new calculations suggest its seafloor may be calm, cold, and largely inactive, with ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Around the bright star Fomalhaut, astronomers spotted glowing clouds of debris left behind by colossal collisions between large space rocks. One of these clouds was even mistaken for a planet before ...
Jan. 6, 2026 A distant pulsar’s radio signal flickers as it passes through space, much like stars twinkle in Earth’s atmosphere. By monitoring this effect for 10 months, researchers watched the pattern slowly ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Mars looks familiar from afar, but surviving there means creating a protective oasis in a hostile world. Instead of shipping construction materials from Earth, researchers are exploring how to use ...
Jan. 11, 2026 Scientists have unveiled a new way to capture ultra-sharp optical images without lenses or painstaking alignment. The approach uses multiple sensors to collect raw light patterns independently, then ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Stanford researchers have developed an AI that can predict future disease risk using data from just one night of sleep. The system analyzes detailed physiological signals, looking for hidden patterns ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Tessellations aren’t just eye-catching patterns—they can be used to crack complex mathematical problems. By repeatedly reflecting shapes to tile a surface, researchers uncovered a method that ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Scientists are learning to engineer light in rich, multidimensional ways that dramatically increase how much information a single photon can carry. This leap could make quantum communication more ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Researchers have created microscopic robots so small they’re barely visible, yet smart enough to sense, decide, and move completely on their own. Powered by light and equipped with tiny computers, ...
Jan. 6, 2026 A new chip-based quantum memory uses nanoprinted “light cages” to trap light inside atomic vapor, enabling fast, reliable storage of quantum information. The structures can be fabricated with ...
Jan. 4, 2026 New research shows that AI doesn’t need endless training data to start acting more like a human brain. When researchers redesigned AI systems to better resemble biological brains, some models ...
Jan. 3, 2026 Scientists have developed molecular devices that can switch roles, behaving as memory, logic, or learning elements within the same structure. The ...
Dec. 31, 2025 A philosopher at the University of Cambridge says there’s no reliable way to know whether AI is conscious—and that may remain true for the foreseeable future. According to Dr. Tom McClelland, ...
Dec. 28, 2025 Researchers found that U.S. metal mines already contain large amounts of critical minerals that are mostly going unused. Recovering even a small fraction of these byproducts could sharply reduce ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Microscopic ocean algae produce a huge share of Earth’s oxygen—but they need iron to do it. New field research shows that when iron is scarce, phytoplankton waste energy and photosynthesis ...
Jan. 11, 2026 Scientists have used CRISPR to give the goldenberry a modern makeover, shrinking the plant by about a third and making it easier to farm. Goldenberries are tasty and nutritious but notoriously ...
Jan. 11, 2026 A rapid climate collapse during the Late Ordovician Mass Extinction devastated ocean life and reshuffled Earth’s ecosystems. In the aftermath, jawed vertebrates gained an unexpected edge by ...
Jan. 10, 2026 Scientists have identified a brand-new species of worm living in the Great Salt Lake, marking only the third known animal group able to survive its extreme salinity. The species, named ...
Jan. 9, 2026 A large genetic study shows that many people carry DNA sequences that slowly expand as they get older. Common genetic variants can dramatically alter how fast this expansion happens, sometimes ...
Jan. 9, 2026 Coral reefs appear to run a daily timetable for microscopic life in nearby waters. Scientists found that microbial populations above reefs rise and fall over the course of a single day, shaped by ...
Jan. 8, 2026 DNA doesn’t just sit still inside our cells — it folds, loops, and rearranges in ways that shape how genes behave. Researchers have now mapped this hidden architecture in unprecedented detail, ...
Jan. 8, 2026 Spruce bark beetles don’t just tolerate their host tree’s chemical defenses—they actively reshape them into stronger antifungal protections. These stolen defenses help shield the beetles from ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Researchers have reconstructed ancient herpesvirus genomes from Iron Age and medieval Europeans, revealing that HHV-6 has been infecting humans for at least 2,500 years. Some people inherited the ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Scientists have created a new way to watch plants breathe—live and in high definition—while tracking exactly how much carbon and water they exchange with the air. The breakthrough could help ...
Jan. 12, 2026 Plastic pollution is not just in oceans and soil. Scientists have now found enormous amounts of microscopic plastic floating through urban air, far exceeding earlier estimates. Road dust and rainfall ...
Jan. 7, 2026 Scientists have discovered that wildfires release far more air-polluting gases than previously estimated. Many of these hidden emissions can transform into fine particles that are dangerous to ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Earthquakes happen daily, sometimes with devastating consequences, yet predicting them remains out of reach. What scientists can do is map the hidden layers beneath the surface that control how ...
Jan. 6, 2026 When a huge earthquake struck near Kamchatka, the SWOT satellite captured an unprecedented, high-resolution view of the resulting tsunami as it ...
Jan. 5, 2026 A meltwater lake that formed in the mid-1990s on Greenland’s 79°N Glacier has been draining in sudden, dramatic bursts through cracks and vertical ice shafts. These events have accelerated in ...
Jan. 5, 2026 CO2 can stimulate plant growth, but only when enough nitrogen is available—and that key ingredient has been seriously miscalculated. A new study finds that natural nitrogen fixation has been ...
Jan. 4, 2026 Overfished coral reefs are producing far less food than they could. Researchers found that letting reef fish populations recover could boost sustainable fish yields by nearly 50%, creating millions ...
Jan. 1, 2026 Scientists are uncovering new clues that a cosmic explosion may have rocked Earth at the end of the last ice age. At major Clovis-era sites, researchers found shocked quartz—evidence of intense ...
Jan. 1, 2026 A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck northern Chile in July 2024—and it wasn’t supposed to be that strong. Unlike Chile’s infamous shallow “megathrust” quakes, this one ruptured deep ...
Dec. 31, 2025 Microplastics in rivers, lakes, and oceans aren’t just drifting debris—they’re constantly leaking invisible clouds of chemicals into the water. New research shows that sunlight drives this ...
Jan. 5, 2026 One of the most complete human ancestor fossils ever found may belong to an entirely new species, according to an international research team. The famous “Little Foot” skeleton from South Africa ...
Jan. 4, 2026 New research shows Karnak Temple was built on a rare island of high ground formed as Nile river channels shifted thousands of years ago. Before that, the area was too flooded for settlement, making ...
Jan. 3, 2026 Scientists may have cracked the case of whether a seven-million-year-old fossil could walk upright. A new study found strong anatomical evidence that Sahelanthropus tchadensis was bipedal, including ...
Jan. 3, 2026 Researchers have uncovered thousands of preserved metabolic molecules inside fossilized bones millions of years old, offering a surprising new window into prehistoric life. The findings reveal ...
Dec. 31, 2025 A strange little snake fossil found on England’s south coast has finally revealed its secrets—more than 40 years after it was discovered. The newly named Paradoxophidion richardoweni lived around ...
Dec. 30, 2025 A spectacular fossil trove on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen shows that marine life made a stunning comeback after Earth’s greatest extinction. Tens of thousands of fossils reveal fully aquatic ...
Dec. 29, 2025 Scientists have uncovered ancient wolf remains on a small Baltic island where wolves could only have been brought by humans. These animals weren’t dogs, but true wolves that ate the same marine ...
Dec. 23, 2025 Scientists exploring Romania’s Hațeg Basin have discovered one of the densest dinosaur fossil sites ever found, with bones lying almost on top of each other. The K2 site preserves thousands of ...
Dec. 21, 2025 Sediments from a Roman latrine at Vindolanda show soldiers were infected with multiple intestinal parasites, including roundworm, whipworm, and Giardia — the first time Giardia has been identified ...
Dec. 21, 2025 Researchers have found that fossilized dinosaur eggshells contain a natural clock that can reveal when dinosaurs lived. The technique delivers surprisingly precise ages and could revolutionize how ...
Jan. 6, 2026 Dogs began diversifying thousands of years earlier than previously believed, with clear differences in size and shape appearing over 11,000 years ago. A massive global analysis of ancient skulls ...
Jan. 4, 2026 Researchers compared a traditional Chinese medicine, Yueju Pill, with a standard antidepressant and found both reduced depression symptoms. However, only Yueju Pill increased a brain-supporting ...
Jan. 4, 2026 UK experts are warning that access to new weight-loss drugs could depend more on wealth than medical need. Strict NHS criteria mean only a limited number of patients will receive Mounjaro, while many ...
Jan. 1, 2026 Moss may look insignificant, but it can carry a hidden forensic fingerprint. Because different moss species thrive in very specific micro-environments, tiny fragments can reveal exactly where a ...
Dec. 31, 2025 A major update to how obesity is defined could push U.S. obesity rates to nearly 70%, according to a large new study. The change comes from adding waist and body fat measurements to BMI, capturing ...
Dec. 30, 2025 Scientists have discovered a clever way to turn carrot processing leftovers into a nutritious and surprisingly appealing protein. By growing edible fungi on carrot side streams, researchers produced ...
Dec. 27, 2025 Stanford scientists have uncovered how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can very rarely trigger heart inflammation in young men — and how that risk might be ...
Dec. 24, 2025 What we put on our plates may matter more for the climate than we realize. Researchers found that most people, especially in wealthy countries, are exceeding a “food emissions budget” needed to ...
Dec. 24, 2025 The familiar fight between “mind as software” and “mind as biology” may be a false choice. This work proposes biological computationalism: the idea that brains compute, but not in the ...
Dec. 24, 2025 AI writing tools are supercharging scientific productivity, with researchers posting up to 50% more papers after adopting them. The biggest beneficiaries are scientists who don’t speak English as a ...
Nov. 29, 2025 Millions face Medicare decisions each year, but many don’t take advantage of tools that can save them money and stress. Insurance marketing often overshadows unbiased options like SHIP, leaving ...
Nov. 24, 2025 Europe is investing in a coordinated effort to develop high-power optical vortex technologies and train new specialists in the field. The HiPOVor network unites academia and industry to advance ...
Nov. 21, 2025 Scientists have directly measured the minuscule electron sharing that makes precious-metal catalysts so effective. Their new technique, IET, reveals how molecules bind and react on metal surfaces ...
Oct. 6, 2025 Despite massive technological and industrial changes, American cities have stayed remarkably coherent in how their economies fit together. This hidden order governs how cities diversify, grow, and ...
Aug. 21, 2025 Industrial forests, packed with evenly spaced trees, face nearly 50% higher odds of megafires than public lands. A lidar-powered study of California’s Sierra Nevada reveals how dense plantations ...
Aug. 13, 2025 A sweeping international study has revealed that when faced with complex decisions, people across cultures—from bustling megacities to remote Amazon communities—tend to rely on their own judgment ...
May 27, 2025 A new study shows that people who proactively reorganise their family routines -- such as adjusting childcare schedules or redistributing domestic responsibilities -- are more likely to demonstrate ...
May 22, 2025 As the US national debate intensifies around immigration, a new study is challenging conventional wisdom about 'brain drain'--the idea that when ...
May 21, 2025 The way people express emotions while helping others can influence whether their assistance is welcomed, resented, or reciprocated, according to new ...
May 14, 2025 Being appreciated by colleagues can help employees cope with negative experiences at work, according to a new study. Researchers found that employees experience 'embitterment' -- an emotional ...
Dec. 13, 2025 Researchers discovered that children who went back to school during COVID experienced far fewer mental health diagnoses than those who stayed remote. Anxiety, depression, and ADHD all declined as ...
Dec. 10, 2025 Researchers discovered that unusually high temperatures can hinder early childhood development. Children living in hotter conditions were less likely to reach key learning milestones, especially in ...
Nov. 30, 2025 Five hundred years ago, a Bible accidentally printed with a backwards map of the Holy Land sparked a revolution in how people imagined geography, borders, and even nationhood. Despite the blunder, ...
Nov. 23, 2025 Ideas about Vikings and Norse mythology come mostly from much later medieval sources, leaving plenty of room for reinterpretation. Over centuries, writers, politicians, and artists reshaped these ...
Oct. 27, 2025 New research shows that the rise of Sumer was deeply tied to the tidal and sedimentary dynamics of ancient Mesopotamia. Early communities harnessed predictable tides for irrigation, but when deltas ...
Oct. 2, 2025 Gaslighting, often seen as a form of manipulation, has now been reframed by researchers at McGill University and the University of Toronto as a learning process rooted in how our brains handle ...
Sep. 19, 2025 A sweeping investigation has revealed widespread fraud in mathematics publishing, where commercial metrics and rankings have incentivized the mass production of meaningless or flawed papers. The ...
Sep. 16, 2025 Preschoolers with ADHD are often given medication right after diagnosis, against medical guidelines that recommend starting with behavioral therapy. Limited access to therapy and physician pressures ...
Aug. 30, 2025 Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have unveiled an AI-powered system designed to expose predatory scientific journals—those that trick scientists into paying for publication without ...
Aug. 26, 2025 Australian teachers are in crisis, with 9 in 10 experiencing severe stress and nearly 70% saying their workload is unmanageable. A major UNSW Sydney study found teachers suffer depression, anxiety, ...