Science
Matt Kean warns climate crisis ‘isn’t someone else’s problem’ as largest coal project in NSW history greenlit
Exclusive: Climate Change Authority chair says planning commission did not account for climate-related economic damage in NSWSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton…
Catalog of mitochondria across life's family tree unearths unusual functions
A research consortium has generated the broadest look yet at the proteins that make up mitochondria, capturing the organelle's diversity across multiple branches on the tree of co…
Eye-eating amoeba resists treatment—understanding its biochemistry could help
In water, soil and air all around us lives a free-living, single-celled organism called Acanthamoeba. Most of the time, Acanthamoeba keeps to itself. On rare occasions, though, th…
Following ancient rain toward life-related chemistry clues on Mars
The Mars we know today is a cold, dry world of dust and rocks. However, around 3.8–3.6 billion years ago, it may have looked very different. Geological and mineral evidence sugges…
Exploring the shapes of exotic nuclei
In the conventional diagram of an atom, the center depicts a nucleus—a spherical cluster of protons and neutrons. But that sphere is a simplification: nuclei can deform into exoti…
A cleaner X-ray view of our galactic center's hot mess
The center of the Milky Way galaxy is a chaotic place. In addition to the 4-million-solar-mass black hole known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the region is full of gas, dust, strong…
Citizen science project recruits volunteers to search for undiscovered black holes
Cosmic detectives are being called on for an interstellar mission to hunt down thousands of invisible black holes lurking in our own backyard. Space scientists from the University…
Chameleon embryos reveal early developmental feature once thought unique to mammals
Before most women know they're pregnant, an embryo has already begun organizing itself into the structures that will shape a developing body. Scientists have few opportunities to …
NASA’s Webb Provides Crash Course on Planet-Shattering Collisions
In the early history of our solar system, scientists theorize that a Mars-sized object called Theia smashed into the infant Earth, vaporizing massive amounts of rock and blasting …
Device detects 'Devil's Breath' in beverages in just 10 minutes
Assault facilitated by drugs such as scopolamine (popularly known as Devil's Breath) is a serious public health and forensic concern. This drug is especially hazardous due to its …
Letting light wander through milk—a surprising approach to better imaging
Light scattered in tissue usually ceases to be a useful source of information. But what if, instead of forcing it to travel along a single path, we allowed it to wander a little d…
Is Trump to blame for Americans getting explosive diarrhea? | Arwa Mahdawi
As the midterms approach, Americans’ digestive health has become a bizarre talking pointDonald Trump seems to spend an unusual amount of time thinking about toilets.Back in 2019, …
All Hail Electrification. But Let’s Talk About the Hard Part.
If one form of energy becomes the cheapest, most secure and cleanest, you’d probably adjust your economy to use more of it, right? That’s one of the ideas underpinning a report th…
New parallel gate entangles diamond qubits 10 times faster at room temperature
Quantum technologies rely on qubits, units of information that can exist in combinations of the states 0 and 1 instead of being limited to one or the other like conventional bits.…
Why do pickles glow? Researcher investigates explosive answer
If you mount a pickle on two metal forks and plug it into a socket, one end will light up in a brilliant orange glow. It's a classic K–12 science demonstration, but the exact phys…
Trump the environmentalist? How his Iran war exposed the fragility of dirty energy
Gavin Newsom says Trump is a ‘gift’ to the climate cause for dispelling notions of fossil fuel energy securityOf all the epithets hurled at Donald Trump since he became US preside…
I went to America’s largest gathering of astrologers. It was a battle over how to read the stars
Now a $15bn industry, astrology is more mainstream in the US than ever. But its practitioners are still debating: who gets to have authority on the celestial bodies?“The dwarf pla…
‘Mega-Industrial’ Trawlers Threaten Europe’s Ocean Health
For Europe’s fishing industry, it turns out size does matter. Of 60,000 European-flagged fishing boats, just 638 are responsible for most of the harm, according to a new report by…
Regulators Release a Plan to Help Repair the Contaminated Roanoke River
PLYMOUTH, N.C.—Fall had just arrived when a nor’easter began stewing in the Atlantic Ocean, its gale-force winds carrying the pungent smell of chlorine westward, away from downtow…
Rice work: Dutch test new crop to save sinking peatlands
In a soggy field between Amsterdam and The Hague, farmer Sander Roeleveld plows a small white combine harvester into his crops, gathering a grain never before harvested in the Net…
Thursday briefing: The long, long wait for a male contraceptive pill may soon be over
In today’s newsletter: Reversible male hormonal contraception could reach the market within five to 10 years. But why has this development been so slow?Good morning. Since the fir…
Think more rain means more river water? Not necessarily
Some rivers are receiving more rain than before but have lower water flow, according to a studyMore rain and snow equals more water in rivers, right? Not necessarily. A new study …
90-plus-day spaceflights linked to higher rates of hip fractures in astronauts
New research has found that the rate of hip fractures among astronauts after spaceflights lasting more than 90 days was higher than after shorter spaceflights or among people who …
APOD: 2026 October 1 – Harvest Moon with Erupting Mount Etna
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 October 1 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmo…