Science
SpaceX launches 21 satellites to orbit for the US military after 5-day delay (video)
SpaceX launched 21 "data transport" satellites for the U.S. military today (Oct. 10), sending them up from California's central coast.
APOD: 2026 October 10 – Lunar Farside
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 10… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos…
Climate crisis is coming to crush many of world’s best surf breaks, study warns
Changing tide levels, shifting sands and hardened shorelines put waves at risk, affecting more than just surfersThe climate crisis is coming for some of the world’s greatest surf …
Northern California Community Wants Stronger Oversight of Dangerous Refineries Nearby
MARTINEZ, Calif.—Scores of people tired of living near accident-prone refineries packed an elementary school auditorium to hear what their government officials were doing to prote…
Looking for Oil in Alaska, No Environmental Strings Attached
Oil companies will no longer be required to conduct environmental reviews before exploring for fossil fuel reservoirs in the Western Arctic, the largest tract of federally managed…
Michigan Spill Prompts Federal Probe of Energy Transfer Pipelines’ Safety
A crude oil pipeline spill last month in the Detroit suburbs has prompted federal authorities to open an investigation into the safety of all 20,000 miles of hazardous liquids pip…
Mysterious 10-minute X-ray burst from a distant galaxy may have come from 2 dead stars colliding
Astronomers investigating mysterious flashes of X-rays believe that these blasts could hide collisions between neutron stars, the events that forge elements like gold, silver, and…
Three quantum-inspired cores leave opposite fingerprints on the ringing of black holes
Every black hole hides a question at its center. Einstein's theory predicts that whatever falls in is crushed into a singularity, a point of infinite density where the theory itse…
Aspens 'remember' past drought in their leaves, 3-year experiment finds
Drought is written into trees, appearing as narrow bands in their annual growth rings. But aspen may go farther, creating "functional memories" of previous dry years reflected in …
NASA advances LISA mission contributions with new test telescope
NASA has taken the next step in the process of developing a new all-glass telescope for the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, a space observatory designed to dete…
Plant-bacteria partnership reveals how roots access iron locked in soil
A new study led by Paul Schulze-Lefert from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research in Cologne, in collaboration with Ricardo F.H. Giehl at the Leibniz Institute of P…
'Dark Matter' showrunner and author Blake Crouch talks the 'daunting' task of moving beyond the original book for season 2 (interview)
'It's very humbling to get to work with so many smart people who are all trying to execute your vision.'
Climate change drives new species combinations, prompting calls to rethink conservation goals
The fact that ecosystems change is nothing new. What is new, however, is the speed and scale at which new species communities are emerging as a result of climate change. Processes…
Fluorescent imaging tracks metabolism of cells in real time
Cornell researchers have designed a new, faster form of two-photon fluorescence imaging for observing cell metabolism in real time, a method that could enable quicker screening of…
Nightjar wings reveal a trade-off between hunting slowly and traveling far
The European nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) is a nocturnal migratory bird that travels between Europe and southern Africa each year. However, its wings are not only used for lon…
Genetic analysis reveals that some specialty coffee seeds do not match their commercial identity
Genetic analysis revealed that several seeds from a batch sold as Sidra were not, in fact, Sidra; their genetic profile was closer to that of Batian, a Kenyan variety.
Discovery marks the first detection of variable water clouds outside of the solar system
A Jupiter-sized world just 7.5 light-years away is cloudy, chemically complex and, it turns out, more like home than anyone expected. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, Brittan…
NASA Seeks US Industry Plans for Commercial Space Stations
NASA is advancing American leadership in space by taking the next step toward a future where commercial space stations lead the way in low Earth orbit. On Friday, the agency relea…
'Mix-and-match' material's properties can be tuned by changing its metallic 'recipe'
Scientists have created a new family of materials whose behavior can be tuned by changing their metallic "recipe"—opening new possibilities for uses including gas storage and sens…
Why is Orion lying down? How The Hunter taught me how the sky moves
We learn constellations from diagrams that stay conveniently upright. The real sky has other ideas — as I discovered when Orion returned looking distinctly wonky.
SEC Issues Warning to Investment Firms That Challenged ExxonMobil
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued an unusual warning this week to the country’s largest asset managers and a climate-focused investor group over their roles in a …
AI reveals how coating thickness changes the link between surface roughness and pitting resistance
Localized pitting corrosion can cause sudden failure in aluminum components even when overall corrosion rates are low. Steam coating offers a water-vapor-based route to protective…
Strong magnetic fields could allow white dwarfs to grow beyond the Chandrasekhar limit
When a dying star runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers, its remaining core can become an approximately Earth-sized, extremely dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf. Fo…
Researchers call for national consortium to battle agriculture cyber threats
The threat of cyberattacks against American agriculture and food systems is growing, and Washington State University researchers are helping to lead a call for a national consorti…