Science

They already have the bill of a duck, the tail of a beaver, lay eggs like reptiles and have venom like snakes.

As global warming accelerates, extreme heat waves are causing widespread death of tropical reef corals. Most corals rely on tiny algae cells living within their tissues that photosynthesize and produce energy. Corals use this energy to build their skeletons that create the reef structure.

This week, researchers reported that malaria influenced population distribution in Africa thousands of years ago. Mathematicians at MIT report that classical physics formulations can explain quantum phenomena. And a study found that electron spin causes mirror-image molecules to behave differently from one another.

One study found that TV can be an 'enrichment activity' for your feline friend. The post The best YouTube channels for your cat (and why cats like them) appeared first on Popular Science.

A pioneering project led by researchers from the University of Stirling and the Max Planck Institute has opened the door for new insights into the evolutionary origins of human intelligence, by compiling the largest dataset of great ape cognition available globally.

Greenworks 60V mowers are $150 off, the Mammotion LUBA 2 robot mower is $260 off, and a 3,500 PSI gas pressure washer is half price at Walmart this week. The post Walmart’s massive spring sale has electric and gas-powered yard tools dropped to clearance prices appeared first on Popular Science.

April 25, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend

Save $15 on a 3-month pass & stack 3 codes for a 9-month subscription. The post $74.99 gets you 500+ games—Game Pass Ultimate stays undefeated appeared first on Popular Science.

A British start-up recently pulled off a key maneuver for electric vertical flight—but certification, infrastructure and demand will decide whether air taxis fill our skies

Nacre-inspired ceramics could be the basis for the next generation of energy-efficient technology

Why do some constellations stay in the sky all year, while others disappear?

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear reactor melted down, but the rest of the world wouldn't learn how close it came to nuclear Armageddon until weeks later.

In February, mining company Alcoa was hit with a $55 million penalty for illegally clearing about 2,000 hectares of WA's Northern Jarrah Forest. About $40 million was earmarked for so-called "permanent ecological offsets," for Alcoa to repair the damage in terms of ecology lost.

In the exotic world of particle physics, neutrinos may be the most mysterious members. They rarely interact with other matter, have almost no mass, and have no electrical charge. These characteristics make them extremely difficult to study. Even detecting them requires specialized facilities in deep caves, in thick Antarctic ice, or on the ocean floor.

Tens of thousands of private security guards in California play a critical role in public safety, but poverty-level wages and poor training put both the guards and the public at risk, according to a new study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

A major international study involving researchers from The University of Manchester has found that education is one of the strongest predictors of how long people live. Using a new statistical approach to overcome gaps in global data, the research shows that people with more education live significantly longer—even in countries where official records are incomplete. The research is published in the journal Demographic Research.

A study published this month in Reading Research Quarterly is challenging the long-held stereotype of the sedentary gamer. In their new paper, Dr. Fiona Scott, Dr. Liz Chesworth, Dr. Cath Bannister, Daniel Kuria, Shabana Roscoe and Yao Wang argue that instead of viewing digital play as a passive or inherently unhealthy activity, educators and parents should recognize it as a complex, embodied form of literacy that can actively support a child's well-being.

April 26 marks the 40th anniversary of the explosion at Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The accident caused the largest ever release of radioactive material into the environment, and at the time people predicted that the affected area would be rendered uninhabitable, devoid of life for thousands of years. But the reality is quite different.

Some innovations in physics come from entirely new technologies, others from fresh theoretical insights. Others still take shape by bringing together existing tools in new ways, working out how to combine them to outperform other solutions. The branch of particle physics that studies weakly interacting particles—such as neutrinos and some types of dark-matter candidates—could use innovative detection approaches: technological challenges in this research area quickly become practical as well […]

An El Niño event is expected to develop from mid-2026, impacting global temperature and rainfall patterns, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The latest monthly Global Seasonal Climate Update from WMO signals a clear shift in the Equatorial Pacific: sea-surface temperatures are rising rapidly, pointing to a likely return of El Niño conditions as early as May-July 2026. Forecasts indicate there is a "nearly global dominance of above-normal land surface temperatures" in […]

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have implemented an advanced microscopy technique to visualize multiple biomolecules inside the nucleus of a cancer cell simultaneously at incredibly high resolution. The biomolecules they visualized include critical components of the cell's transcription machinery and proteins that provide structural support to the nucleus—providing one of the first detailed maps of nuclear organization.

Many important objects in the world can be divided into two categories based on their chirality or handedness, including molecules important for life such as amino acids. Such chiral objects (formally defined as objects which are not identical to their mirror images) are often characterized by a structure which twists in a given direction.

Gene editing has emerged as a powerful approach for targeting the genetic causes of disease, but getting the editing machinery into the right cells efficiently, safely, and at the scale needed for therapies remains one of the biggest set of challenges in the field.

Past research has shown that even though science is commonly viewed as essential for effective policymaking, Democrats and Republicans cite different scientific research when creating policy—even when addressing the same topic. Now, a new Northwestern study analyzing congressional reports, hearings and think tank publications from around the country, has found that bipartisan citations, while rare, highlight papers of exceptional scientific influence. Policy documents citing these papers also […]

A research team led by Professor Jin Yong Lee from the Department of Chemistry of Sungkyunkwan University, with co-first author HyoungChul Ham, and in collaboration with research teams from Korea University and the National University of Singapore, has developed a next-generation phototherapeutic agent, "NDI-COE." This agent induces pyroptosis (inflammatory cell death) in hypoxic tumor tissues by directly oxidizing intracellular water.

Urea is an extremely important chemical, especially for fertilizers. But, making urea is energy intensive and relies heavily on fossil fuels. However, new findings from Griffith University and the Queensland University of Technology have highlighted new ways to produce urea electrochemically, using electricity and waste gases such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NO) instead.

Researchers have demonstrated the first "all-in-one" cocatalyst for photocatalytic overall water splitting, a breakthrough that could simplify the production of clean hydrogen fuel. The discovery marks an important step toward practical technologies that use sunlight and water to generate hydrogen, a key energy carrier expected to play a major role in building a decarbonized and sustainable society.

Designing molecules is one of chemistry's most complex challenges. From life-saving drugs to advanced materials, each compound requires a precise sequence of reactions. Planning these steps demands both technical knowledge and strategic insight, making it a task that often relies on years of experience.

Earth’s gravitational force, g, has been known for centuries. But the exact value of G, the universal gravitational constant, is elusive

A study led by Wageningen University & Research shows that human interventions have significantly changed tides in river estuaries over the past centuries. In many regions around the world, the difference between high and low tide has increased, and the tidal wave is moving inland faster. These changes often appear to have a greater impact than the effects of sea-level rise.

‘Oh! You busted the bubble!’ The post Watch the Artemis II astronauts have fun with bubbles appeared first on Popular Science.

DNA does not float freely in the cell. Instead, it is wrapped around histone proteins to form structures called nucleosomes. These histones carry numerous chemical modifications that act as molecular signals, controlling how tightly the DNA is packaged and which genes are active. During cell division, this DNA-histone complex—known as chromatin—must be further condensed into compact, rod-shaped chromosomes. Histone modifications play a key role in this process: They change significantly […]

A new article published in Science argues that governments should adopt three integrated energy demand goals by 2035, warning that climate policy will fall short unless it focuses not only on how energy is produced, but also on how it is used.

The over 3,000-year-old statement piece belonged to Ramses the Great. The post Archaeologists discover 7-foot-tall statue of legendary Egyptian pharaoh appeared first on Popular Science.

Researchers at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln have developed a vaccine approach that shows promise in protecting against highly pathogenic bird flu, demonstrating strong efficacy in both mice and cattle. Avian influenza (H5N1) has disrupted agricultural systems globally, leading to the culling of more than 166 million commercial poultry birds in the United States since 2022. In 2024, the virus spread to dairy cattle—an unprecedented interspecies transfer—and subsequently caused […]

During the development of marine organisms—from fertilization through to juvenile stages—it is often observed that the eggs released into the water column are initially supplied with only a small fraction of the energy they require. The remaining reserves needed for growth must be obtained from the environment through filtering food—like phytoplankton—from the water column. This strategy of providing many eggs with only a small amount of energy each often leads to the loss of almost all […]

Researchers have developed a powerful new tool that can track how microbes spread between people with unprecedented precision, offering new ways to prevent infections and improve treatments in the future. The research, published April 24 in Nature Microbiology, describes how the new tool, called TRAnsmision Clustering of Strains (TRACS), uses genomics to distinguish between closely related strains of microbes.

One of the biggest challenges in cancer research is understanding why some tumor cells become especially aggressive, invasive and resistant to treatment. Scientists have increasingly linked these dangerous traits to polyploid cancer cells—cells with extra sets of chromosomes—but exactly how those extra chromosomes help tumors spread has remained unclear.

Building a dam in the Bering Strait might preserve the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, but experts warn it could also threaten wildlife, Indigenous people and shipping — and could actually speed up its demise.

As the U.S. economy becomes more consolidated, the strategic decisions of senior leaders at leading companies carry ever-greater weight. A lot is riding on how these companies are run, yet in most cases, their day-to-day decision-making remains obscure. But the banking industry is an exception. As Barbara Su, assistant professor of accounting at Costello College of Business at George Mason University, notes, "Because the banking industry is heavily regulated, it allows us to have access to […]

But the X-class events aren't even close to the most powerful flare on record. The post The sun just fired off two massive solar flares appeared first on Popular Science.

A team of astrophysicists from Nanjing University and University of Bonn have demonstrated that, rather than being random, the mass of new stars born inside a star cluster is actually governed by a defined process of self-regulation. Their work has been published in the journal Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., referred to ibogaine as the most promising treatment for PTSD and depression “that anybody’s ever seen.” Does the science hold that up?

Carbon nanotubes are one technology that many observers believe hasn't quite lived up to the extreme hype that surrounded them when they first appeared on the scene in the late 1990s. At that time, much was made of their extraordinary electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties, with predictions that they would revolutionize materials science, electronics, and daily life. But could we be closer to realizing some of that promise?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking to accelerate the review process for three companies that are studying psilocybin and an MDMA-like drug as treatments for depression and PTSD

No matter what your mom is into, we have perfect gift suggestions from budget-friendly options to full-on splurges. The post 2026 Mother’s Day gift guide: An updating list of great presents to give your mom appeared first on Popular Science.

Measurements of this interstellar comet’s molecular makeup show an excess of heavy water molecules that is dramatically different from anything known to have ever formed around our sun

Light pollution is dangerous for birds flying over towns and cities. Here’s how you can help

Doctors are pulling out new techniques and drugs in an effort to cure devastating brain infections.

Thríhnúkagígur is a volcano near Reykjavík in Iceland with an empty magma chamber decorated with vivid colors that scientists and tourists can access via an open cable elevator.