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Top Science News

January 20, 2026

Scientists have uncovered a surprising reason why some chronic wounds refuse to heal, even when treated with antibiotics. A common bacterium found in long-lasting wounds does not just resist drugs. It actively releases damaging molecules that ...
Scientists have uncovered new clues about why diabetic foot infections can become so severe and difficult to treat. By analyzing the DNA of E. coli bacteria taken from infected wounds around the world, researchers found an unexpected level of ...
A nearby active galaxy called VV 340a offers a dramatic look at how a supermassive black hole can reshape its entire host. Astronomers observed a relatively weak but restless jet blasting outward from the galaxy’s core, wobbling like a spinning ...
NASA’s Artemis II rocket has reached its launch pad after a painstaking overnight crawl across Kennedy Space Center. Engineers are now preparing for crucial fueling and countdown tests ahead of the ...
Long before humans became master hunters, our ancestors were already thriving by making the most of what nature left behind. New research suggests that scavenging animal carcasses wasn’t a desperate last resort, but a smart, reliable survival ...
Sensitive hearing may have evolved in mammal ancestors far earlier than scientists once believed. By modeling how sound moved through the skull of Thrinaxodon, a 250-million-year-old mammal predecessor, researchers found it likely used an early ...
A major new scientific review brings reassuring news for expectant parents: using acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy does not increase a child’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability. Researchers analyzed 43 ...
Scientists at Johns Hopkins have uncovered a surprising new way to influence brain activity by targeting a long-mysterious class of proteins linked to anxiety, schizophrenia, and movement disorders. Once thought to be mostly inactive, these ...
Physicists have unveiled a new way to simulate a mysterious form of dark matter that can collide with itself but not with normal matter. This self-interacting dark matter may trigger a dramatic collapse inside dark matter halos, heating and ...
As global energy demand surges—driven by AI-hungry data centers, advanced manufacturing, and electrified transportation—researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have unveiled a breakthrough that could help squeeze far more power ...
A deadly fungus that has wiped out hundreds of amphibian species worldwide may have started its global journey in Brazil. Genetic evidence and trade data suggest the fungus hitchhiked across the world via international frog meat markets. The ...
Plastic-coated fertilizers used on farms are emerging as a major but hidden source of ocean microplastics. A new study found that only a tiny fraction reaches beaches through rivers, while direct drainage from fields to the sea sends far more ...

Latest Top Headlines

updated 2:36am EST

Health News

January 20, 2026

A simple change in how primary care clinics approach weight management is delivering big public health wins. PATHWEIGH lets patients openly request help and gives doctors the tools to focus entire visits on weight care. In a massive real-world ...
Bamboo shoots may be far more than a crunchy side dish. A comprehensive review found they can help control blood sugar, support heart and gut health, and reduce inflammation and oxidative stress. Laboratory and human studies also suggest bamboo may ...
A vitamin A byproduct has been found to quietly disarm the immune system, allowing tumors to evade attack and weakening cancer vaccines. Scientists have now developed a drug that shuts down this pathway, dramatically boosting immune responses and ...
New research suggests statins may protect adults with type 2 diabetes regardless of how low their predicted heart risk appears. In a large UK study, statin use was linked to fewer deaths and major cardiac events across all risk levels. Even those ...
Pancreatic cancer uses a sugar-coated disguise to evade the immune system, helping explain why it’s so hard to treat. Northwestern scientists discovered this hidden mechanism and created an ...
Researchers have discovered a rare new type of diabetes that affects babies early in life. The condition is caused by changes in a single gene that prevent insulin-producing cells from working properly. When these cells fail, blood sugar rises and ...
A new discovery may explain why so many people abandon cholesterol-lowering statins because of muscle pain and weakness. Researchers found that certain statins can latch onto a key muscle protein and trigger a tiny but harmful calcium leak inside ...
Scientists are taking a closer look at monk fruit and discovering it’s more than just a sugar substitute. New research shows its peel and pulp contain a rich mix of antioxidants and bioactive compounds that may support health. Different varieties ...
A massive international brain study has revealed that memory decline with age isn’t driven by a single brain region or gene, but by widespread structural changes across the brain that build up over time. Analyzing thousands of MRI scans and memory ...
Some people get drunk without drinking because their gut bacteria produce alcohol from food. Researchers have now identified the microbes and biological pathways behind this rare condition, auto-brewery syndrome. Tests showed patients’ gut samples ...
Despite longstanding guidelines, many dementia patients are still prescribed brain-altering medications that can raise the risk of falls and confusion. A new study shows that while prescribing has decreased overall, people with cognitive impairment ...
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 together to trigger coordinated contractions. When ...

Latest Health Headlines

updated 2:36am EST

Physical/Tech News

January 20, 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 of work with delicate crystals — but far more ...
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 particle interactions that might occur once in years or ...
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 Martian soil as the raw ingredient. Two tough ...
Scientists have found a way to see ultrafast molecular interactions inside liquids using an extreme laser technique once thought impossible for fluids. When they mixed nearly identical chemicals, one combination behaved strangely—producing less ...
A new advance in bromine-based flow batteries could remove one of the biggest obstacles to long-lasting, affordable energy storage. Scientists developed a way to chemically capture corrosive bromine during battery operation, keeping its ...
Astronomers have uncovered a massive hidden planet and a rare “failed star” by combining ultra-precise space data with some of the sharpest ground-based images ever taken. Using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaiʻi, the OASIS survey tracked subtle ...
A new AI developed at Duke University can uncover simple, readable rules behind extremely complex systems. It studies how systems evolve over time and reduces thousands of variables into compact equations that still capture real behavior. The method ...
Researchers have revealed that so-called “junk DNA” contains powerful switches that help control brain cells linked to Alzheimer’s disease. By experimentally testing nearly 1,000 DNA switches ...
BISC is an ultra-thin neural implant that creates a high-bandwidth wireless link between the brain and computers. Its tiny single-chip design packs tens of thousands of electrodes and supports advanced AI models for decoding movement, perception, ...
Researchers have built a fully implantable device that sends light-based messages directly to the brain. Mice learned to interpret these artificial patterns as meaningful signals, even without touch, sight, or sound. The system uses up to 64 ...
SQUIRE aims to detect exotic spin-dependent interactions using quantum sensors deployed in space, where speed and environmental conditions vastly improve sensitivity. Orbiting sensors tap into ...
Researchers engineered a strained germanium layer on silicon that allows charge to move faster than in any silicon-compatible material to date. This record mobility could lead to chips that run cooler, faster, and with dramatically lower energy ...

Latest Physical/Tech Headlines

updated 2:36am EST

Environment News

January 20, 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 can become unusually wet or dangerously dry at the ...
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 falters. Climate-driven changes may reduce iron delivery ...
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 of extra meals each year. Countries with high ...
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 fungal mycelium that can replace traditional ...
When researchers lowered whale bones into the deep ocean, they expected zombie worms to quickly move in. Instead, after 10 years, none appeared — an unsettling result tied to low-oxygen waters in the region. These worms play a key role in breaking ...
Deep ocean hot spots packed with heat are making the strongest hurricanes and typhoons more likely—and more dangerous. These regions, especially near the Philippines and the Caribbean, are expanding as climate change warms ocean waters far below ...
A new eco-friendly technology can capture and destroy PFAS, the dangerous “forever chemicals” found worldwide in water. The material works hundreds to thousands of times faster and more ...
The search for life on Earth is speeding up, not slowing down. Scientists are now identifying more than 16,000 new species each year, revealing far more biodiversity than expected across animals, plants, fungi, and beyond. Many species remain ...
New research reveals when glaciers around the world will vanish and why every fraction of a degree of warming could decide their ...
Much of the western U.S. is overdue for wildfire, with decades of suppression allowing fuel to build up across millions of hectares. Researchers estimate that 74% of the region is in a fire deficit, meaning far more land needs to burn to restore ...
New research shows that crops are far more vulnerable when too much rainfall originates from land rather than the ocean. Land-sourced moisture leads to weaker, less reliable rainfall, heightening drought risk. The U.S. Midwest and East Africa are ...
A sudden, unexplained mass die-off is decimating sea urchins around the world, including catastrophic losses in the Canary Islands. Key reef-grazing species are reaching historic lows, and their ability to reproduce has nearly halted in some ...

Latest Environment Headlines

updated 2:36am EST

Society/Education News

January 20, 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 out.” Research links impostorism to worse mental ...
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 person has been. Researchers reviewing 150 years of ...
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 people who were previously considered healthy. Many ...
Stanford scientists have uncovered how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can very rarely trigger heart inflammation in young men — and how that risk might be reduced. They found that the vaccines can spark a ...
Long before opioids flooded communities, something else was quietly changing—and it may have helped set the stage for today’s crisis. A new study finds that as church attendance dropped among middle-aged, less educated white Americans, deaths ...
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 in-person learning resumed. Healthcare spending tied ...
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 reading and basic math skills. Those facing ...
Ultra-processed foods are rapidly becoming a global dietary staple, and new research links them to worsening health outcomes around the world. Scientists say only bold, coordinated policy action can counter corporate influence and shift food systems ...
Historians have traced myths about the Black Death’s rapid journey across Asia to one 14th-century poem by Ibn al-Wardi. His imaginative maqāma, never meant as fact, became the foundation for centuries of misinformation about how the plague ...
New research from UBC Okanagan mathematically demonstrates that the universe cannot be simulated. Using Gödel’s incompleteness theorem, scientists found that reality requires “non-algorithmic understanding,” something no computation can ...
People living in socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods may face higher dementia risks, according to new research from Wake Forest University. Scientists found biological signs of Alzheimer’s and vascular brain disease in those from ...
Inside your body, an intricate communication network constantly monitors breathing, heart rate, digestion, and immune function — a hidden “sixth sense” called interoception. Now, Nobel laureate ...

Latest Society/Education Headlines

updated 2:36am EST