Science
It’s Jon Ossoff’s Moment
What will he do with it?
The Atlantic·
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Early heat waves hit wheat yields hardest but boost resilience to subsequent heat waves
New research published in the Journal of Experimental Botany reveals that wheat crops are more sensitive to grain yield losses from heat waves that occur before reaching their flowering stage than those occurring later. However, exposure to heat waves early in the growing season…
Phys.org·
Science
Could expanding the U.S. nuclear arsenal make Americans less safe?
A new report from the Brookings Institution presents evidence that increasing the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal could make nuclear crises more likely. This raises an important challenge to arguments that the U.S. must consider increasing its stockpile in response to China's…
Phys.org·
Science
Baby orangutans in India expose 'frightening' scale of trafficking
Five baby orangutans abandoned in an Indian forest have exposed a "massive" exotic wildlife trade, with traffickers smuggling increasingly rare species into the country, experts say.
Phys.org·
Science
Bolivia's tilcayo tiger cat becomes first new wildcat species in 100 years
Scientists have discovered a new species of wild cat for the first time in more than a century, a Bolivian researcher told AFP on Thursday.
Phys.org·
Science
APOD: 2026 September 18 – Messier 33: The Triangulum Galaxy
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 18 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a…
NASA·
Science
Grass and clover can provide more than animal feed
Growing leys—grass and clover—is nothing new in Swedish agriculture. But in the arable farming regions dominated by cereal production, leys are less common. One reason is that there needs to be a market for what is harvested.
Phys.org·
Science
In hottest summer on record, 2 in 3 Americans say climate change is increasing heat-related illnesses
Nearly two-thirds of the American public say climate change is increasing the risk of respiratory diseases and heat- and insect-related illnesses, according to a new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) of the University of Pennsylvania.
Phys.org·
Science
When prepping for disaster, don't forget to pack your teddy bear
Imagine it's the dead of night. Your phone pings with a text—it's a government emergency alert: "Leave your home immediately! Only take with you enough supplies for the next three days." What would you want in your go-bag?
Phys.org·
Science
Robots grow and package lettuce year-round in Norway's fully automated farm
Norway's first fully automated facility for vegetable production was put into operation last fall. This spring, the first products hit store shelves.
Phys.org·
Science
Museums on prescription: How cultural activities are becoming crucial to the public health debate
On June 18, 2026, on the sidelines of the European Council in Brussels, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the European Union signed a joint declaration making culture a strategic priority for the first time.
Phys.org·
Science
Toxic algae can pose a hidden danger to dogs swimming in freshwater
Diving into cool water can be a quick way to escape the summer heat, but during certain times of year, freshwater can pose hidden dangers to people and pets.
Phys.org·
Science
From toothbrushes to aerospace: Graphene research advances fibers that conduct heat efficiently
KAIST's discovery of graphene oxide liquid crystals in 2011 laid the foundation for 15 years of research worldwide, leading to technologies for producing graphene fibers with high strength and thermal conductivity. The fundamental materials research that helped bring…
Phys.org·
Science
Europe's earliest glacier loss day in years signals a reckoning for the Alps
On June 29, 2026, the snow accumulated by Switzerland's glaciers over the course of the previous winter had melted. Known as Glacier Loss Day, this date marks the point at which further melting begins to erode the glaciers' mass until snow accumulation resumes in the fall.…
Phys.org·
Science
Fossil plankton shells reveal reduced nitrogen fixation in warmer oceans 3 million years ago
Nitrogen is a key nutrient because it fuels the growth of plankton, which forms the basis of the marine food web. Two opposing processes determine the global nitrogen cycle: nitrogen fixation and denitrification.
Phys.org·
Science
Circular economy pilot projects show hotels can reduce waste and costs
The new EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR) has been in effect since Aug. 12, 2026. Under this regulation, beginning in January 2030, the food service industry may no longer buy food or toiletries packaged in single-use plastic—for example, ketchup packets or individually wrapped…
Phys.org·
Science
RFK Jr.’s Bold Reassurance to Anti-Vaxxers
“You have friends in the White House,” he said at a conference hosted by the anti-vaccine organization he founded.
The Atlantic·
Science
Buttigieg: Democrats Need to Get Serious About Amending the Constitution
The former transportation secretary spoke with The Atlantic’s editor in chief about what comes next for Democrats should they win big in November.
The Atlantic·
Science
Why Democrats Might Choose to Impeach Cabinet Members
The power to impeach secretaries and other executive-branch officers is not well known, but it’s an effective accountability measure.
The Atlantic·
Science
Pay No Attention to the Russian Oligarch at My Wedding Weekend
He’s just a dear friend we know nothing about!
The Atlantic·
Science
NASA Awards Launch Services for StarBurst Gamma-Ray Detector
NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agency’s StarBurst mission, a small satellite designed to investigate neutron star mergers and the origins of short gamma-ray bursts. StarBurst will launch aboard a Bandwagon rideshare mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from…
NASA·
Science
NASA Invites Media to SpaceX’s 35th Resupply Launch to Space Station
Media accreditation is open for the next cargo launch that will deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. The 35th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for NASA will lift off on a Falcon 9…
NASA·
Science
‘The Best Thing That Happened to Him Was Losing in 2020’
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan explain how the four years between Donald Trump’s first and second terms changed the presidency.
The Atlantic·
Science
Photos: Fighting Against Desertification in China
For decades, residents and workers in northern and western China have been battling growing deserts using multiple methods, including “straw checkerboards,” to slow the shifting sands and boost fertility.
The Atlantic·
Science
NASA Unveils Enterprise, the First Space Shuttle
Fifty years ago, on Sept. 17, 1976—Constitution Day of America’s bicentennial year—NASA unveiled its first space shuttle orbiter, OV-101, to the public. NASA had originally planned to name the vehicle Constitution, but a letter-writing campaign changed the agency’s plans. Nearly…
NASA·
Science
Where Does the Quantum World End and Ours Begin?
Jonathan Halliwell explains how quantum decoherence is key to understanding how we transition from a world with a wave-like nature of matter and energy to the classical macroscopic world that we’re used to. The post Where Does the Quantum World End and Ours Begin? first appeared…
Quanta Magazine·
Science
Scientists discover a mysterious new frog hiding in the Amazon
Scientists discovered a new frog species in the flooded forests of the western Amazon, distinguishing it from nearly identical relatives through DNA and its unique call. Adenomera varcena highlights how much Amazonian biodiversity remains hidden even as habitat loss and climate…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Astronomers just found the youngest known planet ever
Astronomers have confirmed a Jupiter-size planet less than a million years old, making Elias 2-24 b the youngest known planet and giving scientists a rare look at a world still being born. Its surprisingly rapid formation challenges leading theories about how giant planets come…
ScienceDaily·
Science
When Meditation Has a Dark Side
Could there really be such a thing as too much mindfulness?
The Atlantic·
Science
JWST’s mysterious little red dots may be black holes growing at incredible speeds
New supercomputer simulations suggest JWST’s puzzling Little Red Dots are rapidly growing black holes from the early Universe. Extreme radiation may have helped create unusually massive black hole seeds, while dense surrounding gas allowed them to grow dozens of times faster…
ScienceDaily·
Science
College Is Coming Apart
Successive, overlapping crises reveal that American higher education makes no sense.
The Atlantic·
Science
Why the Bomb Is Bad for Democracy
A famous documentarian’s new book suggests that secrecy is a major impediment to sensible nuclear policy.
The Atlantic·
Science
Who Made America Poorer and Dirtier?
The people in charge are really hoping you’ll blame someone else.
The Atlantic·
Science
The Dead Silence of AI Therapy
What happens when our therapists are no longer able to feel?
The Atlantic·
Science
Textbooks may have misdrawn this basic brain structure for 100 years
Scientists discovered that brain-cell axons may not be smooth tubes as textbooks have shown for more than a century, but instead naturally resemble strings of tiny pearls. Those pearl-like structures can change with neural activity and may help control how quickly electrical…
ScienceDaily·
Science
A Plan to Pay Married Mothers Not to Work
J. D. Vance has a terrible proposal.
The Atlantic·
Science
New mesothelioma drug turns cancer’s own defenses against it
Scientists are testing a counterintuitive way to fight mesothelioma, an aggressive asbestos-linked cancer with few effective treatments. A new experimental mesothelioma drug kills cancer cells by disabling PRX3, an antioxidant defense that tumors use to survive intense oxidative…
ScienceDaily·
Science
NASA’s New Horizons spots signs of liquid nitrogen flowing on Pluto
Scientists have found the first evidence that liquid may have flowed across Pluto’s surface in the recent past. Dark features on the enormous Sputnik Planitia glacier appear consistent with liquid nitrogen rising through cracks from deep beneath the ice. Computer models show…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Summer Goes Out With a Heat Dome
Temperature records toppled across the central and southern U.S. as the autumnal equinox approached.
NASA·
Science
Hidden “immune organ” in the skull may help fight brain cancer
Scientists discovered a hidden “immune organ” inside the skull that acts as a rapid first responder against brain cancer in mice. Strengthening this local immune defense improved tumor rejection and survival, raising the possibility of new treatments that target the skull…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Kash Patel Refuses to Take a Republican’s Lifeline
The FBI director allowed a Senate hearing to turn into a discussion of bestiality.
The Atlantic·
Science
Passion Meets Precision at NASA’s Flight Research Lab
Long before they helped shape NASA’s future aerospace breakthroughs, Derek Abramson, Justin Hall, and Justin Link were in their garages and homes building radio‑controlled aircraft, testing new ideas, and flying their creations at hobby events. That early passion now fuels the…
NASA·
Science
NASA’s Moon Orbiter Spots New, ‘Once-in-Century’ Moon Crater
It started as a routine data-quality check. But as Robert Wagner, a scientist with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), scanned a giant Moon map on his computer screen, an unusually large bright spot circled by a dark halo caught his eye, as it implied that surface…
NASA·
Science
NASA Celebrates Restoration of Guam Station Damaged by Typhoon Mawar
NASA celebrated the full restoration of its Guam Remote Station with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 10, closing out more than three years of recovery after Super Typhoon Mawar devastated the site in 2023. Engineers from across the agency completed the final and most complex step of…
NASA·
Science
NASA Watches Earth’s Weight, Finds Center of Mass
Seasonal changes redistribute enough water around Earth to shift the planet’s center of mass back and forth by fractions of an inch relative to its geometric center. NASA scientists are on the case, tracking the oscillations because Earth’s center of mass is a crucial reference…
NASA·
Science
Ctenophores Aren’t Just Beautiful. They’re Biological Wonders.
Comb jellies are helping answer fundamental questions in biology, from how the earliest nervous systems evolved to how bioluminescence works. The post Ctenophores Aren’t Just Beautiful. They’re Biological Wonders. first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine·
Science
Scientists turn seawater into fresh water without harmful brine
Scientists have developed a solar-powered desalination system that turns seawater into fresh water while removing nearly all of the leftover salt as a solid instead of producing harmful brine. The self-cleaning technology could also recover valuable minerals such as lithium,…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Scientists find an immune “false alarm” that may drive rapid aging
Scientists have discovered that some severe genetic disorders linked to rapid aging may be driven not just by damaged DNA, but by the body’s overreaction to that damage. When broken DNA fragments leak into the wrong part of a cell, an immune sensor called cGAS can mistake them…
ScienceDaily·
Science
A 240-million-year-old fossil just changed the dinosaur timeline
A newly identified 240-million-year-old animal from Tanzania is forcing scientists to rethink the early dinosaur timeline. Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda belongs to a group previously known only from South America, linking fossil deposits on the two continents. That connection…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Scientists recreated what mice saw from brain activity alone
Scientists reconstructed videos from the brain activity of mice, producing 10-second clips based only on signals from neurons in the visual cortex. The breakthrough could help reveal how the brain reshapes what we see before it becomes our perception of reality.
ScienceDaily·
Science
Venus may have swallowed its own moon
Venus may have once had a moon, but new research suggests the planet’s incredibly slow rotation could have doomed it. Computer simulations showed that instead of gradually drifting away like Earth’s moon, a Venusian moon would likely spiral inward until it crashed into the…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Scientists “truly astonished” by discovery that challenges Earth’s origin story
A new study suggests Earth formed almost entirely from material in the inner Solar System, challenging the idea that water-rich material from beyond Jupiter played a major role. If correct, Earth’s water may have been present much closer to the young Sun than scientists…
ScienceDaily·
Science
James Webb reveals Chariklo’s mysterious rings are changing faster than expected
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed surprising changes in the rings around Chariklo, a small object orbiting between Saturn and Uranus. Over just a few years, its inner ring became more opaque while its outer ring became less opaque. The results suggest that rings around…
ScienceDaily·
Science
Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar Over Webb Telescope’s ‘Little Red Dots.’
The James Webb Space Telescope spots mysterious “little red dots” everywhere. A bold new theory suggests they’re suns dozens of times larger than our entire solar system. The post Black Holes or Black Hole Stars? Astronomers Spar Over Webb Telescope’s ‘Little Red Dots.’ first…
Quanta Magazine·
Science
Why Do These Fossil Shells Flip Their Spirals Every Few Millennia?
The mystery of the flipping foraminifera may conceal a rarely observed evolutionary process playing out across the planet. The post Why Do These Fossil Shells Flip Their Spirals Every Few Millennia? first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine·
Science
The Four-Color Theorem Gets a Rare New Proof
By revisiting the famous problem — which was controversially solved in the 1970s with the help of computers — mathematicians have gained important new insights into the nature of graphs. The post The Four-Color Theorem Gets a Rare New Proof first appeared on Quanta Magazine
Quanta Magazine·