Science
Watch Rocket Lab launch a private Japanese Earth-observing satellite to orbit today
Rocket Lab will launch its ninth mission for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS this morning (Aug. 20), and you can watch the action live.
It’s finally raining. Will it be enough to end the drought? – podcast
After a summer that has seen England and Wales experience the driest July since records began, rain is finally on the horizon. But with reservoirs at ‘exceptionally low’ levels, w…
Warming waters draw summer 'feeding frenzies' by whales off Greenland
The effects of global warming depend on species: The losers are legion, but a lucky few are winners. Now, researchers have shown that baleen whales are taking advantage of a newly…
An Uncommon Drifter in the Denmark Strait
A large iceberg, observed in summer 2026, had drifted more than 1,000 kilometers south from the northeastern Greenland bay where it likely originated.
Levitating molten metal on ISS could refine ultra-strong metallic glass
The research team led by materials scientist Ralf Busch from Saarland University is preparing for its first science-in-space mission. If everything goes to plan, from 31 August th…
Innovation enhances multiomics workflow, eliminates sample preparation
A patent-pending method developed and tested for multiple applications at Purdue University eliminates sample preparation, a bottleneck that currently dominates a laboratory scien…
Racing to build a radio telescope on the moon
Remember the "Wow!" signal? That high-energy radio signature occurred in 1977, when Earth was much "quieter" in the radio band. If it happened today, it probably wouldn't even mov…
Scientists discover learning and memory formation in model membranes
A decades-long collaboration between two scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is reshaping how we understand learning.
Perovskite-based sensor detects ammonia leaks at concentrations as low as 1 ppm
A team led by principal researcher Myungkwan Song of the Energy & Environment Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) has developed an ultra…
California becomes first US state to set efficiency rules for replacement tires
Regulations that would block sale of older tires praised by environmental groups amid rightwing backlashCalifornia has become the first state in the nation to mandate that replace…
Changing bacterial feedstock unlocks flexible biopolymers with stronger antibacterial effects
Changing the carbon source used during bacterial fermentation—essentially, what bacteria are fed—can significantly influence the properties of the sugar polymers they produce, kno…
Kyoto's gardens provide habitats for local amphibians
Where they could once hop and amble freely, urbanization is diminishing amphibians' habitats. Yet small-scale water bodies managed by people—such as those found in the gardens of …
Rye reference genome uncovers diversity that could strengthen wheat breeding
Rye is not only a hardy and high-yielding crop, but also possesses a valuable gene pool for wheat breeding. An international research team led by the IPK Leibniz Institute has sig…
3D-printed ceramic waveguide lasers could surpass the power of glass fiber lasers by 10 times
At the bottom of the ocean, optical fibers transmit telecommunications and internet data around the world. Waveguides make that feat possible by channeling and amplifying the ligh…
Recent Rain Slowed Southwestern Montana Wildfires. Now the Heat Is Returning.
Firefighters are gaining ground on three large wildfires that have burned more than 47,000 acres across southwestern Montana, but unhelpful warmer temperatures, lower humidity and…
Too much RNA can starve cells of energy, study finds
A new study from researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has uncovered a previously unknown consequence of viral infection: Too …
'Ecology of fear' can dramatically change the behavior of blue mussels
For a blue mussel, a good meal does not come entirely without risk. Blue mussels feed by filtering microscopic algae from seawater. But some unwelcome guests can slip in along wit…
Why apples react differently to climate change than wheat
Although climate change is already having a negative impact on crops, declines in yields have so far been offset by technological advances in agriculture. For field crops that do …
'Disarming' discovery could help scientists fight deadly fungal infections
Researchers from Monash University, in collaboration with the University of Warwick, have discovered how the bacterial antibiotic "gladiolin" can disarm Candida albicans, one of t…
Scientists just found the fastest known star in the Milky Way. It zooms around our black hole at 15,500 miles per second
Astronomers have found the fastest known star in the Milky Way, a faint object racing around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy.
Dark Stars may have left gravitational-wave echoes across the universe
A mysterious background of extremely low-frequency gravitational waves detected by networks of pulsars may carry information about events that began more than 13 billion years ago…
Were Denisovans tall compared to other ancient humans? We should be skeptical
Take a walk in London's Trafalgar Square this summer, and people of all body sizes—some tall, some short—will be wilting in the heat: a real mix of sizes.
How we found a new transmissible cancer in bullhead catfish
For more than a decade, anglers on Lake Memphremagog—which straddles the Quebec–Vermont border—have been catching brown bullhead catfish marked with distinctive black lesions.
Universal pattern revealed in quantum matter
When different materials transition from one phase to another, such as water coming to a boil or a magnet losing its ability to attract metals, something remarkable can happen: Th…