Science News: Recent scientific discoveries and expert analysis

New research suggests that the unexpected intensity of the ongoing solar maximum may be partly tied to a lesser-known, 100-year solar cycle. If true, solar activity could spike further in the coming decades. But some experts are skeptical.

Roughly 20 "shooting stars" per hour may be visible during the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower overnight on Monday, April 21-22.

The land beneath the former Aral Sea in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan is rising and will continue to do so for many decades. Now, scientists have an explanation that involves the sea drying up.

Scientists have discovered evidence of large quantities of biosignature chemicals — only known to be made by life on Earth — on an exoplanet more than 100 light-years away. It could be the most promising sign yet of alien life.

The exotic quantum phase, predicted over half a century ago, could lead to advances in quantum computing, sensors and communication technology.

A 7,500-year-old antler unearthed in Sweden had characteristic breakage patterns that suggest it was the handle for a battle ax.

Human skeletons from a large stone tomb may help archaeologists understand a mysterious pre-Inca population in Peru.

Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is an extremely rare disease that affects patients' behavior and cognitive skills.

Yellowstone's Junction Butte wolf pack failed in a recent attempt to kill a bison, but the pack appears to be thriving again after the death of its former alpha female, Wolf 907F.

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered Zhúlóng, a candidate for the most distant spiral galaxy in the universe. The perplexing Milky Way 'twin' dates to 1 billion years after the Big Bang, and appears too big to explain.

Hood River County in Oregon reported three cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare human brain disease very similar to "mad cow."

Remnants of a liquid layer of magma near Earth's core, formed in the first few hundred million years of the planet's history, may still persist today as odd anomalies in the mantle.

Genes affect different aspects of music enjoyment — from the emotional reactions that compositions evoke to the social connection music can foster.

SpaceX's Starlink internet satellite constellation has become a prime target for Russia and China, according to a new report assessing the counterspace capabilities of a dozen countries over the past year.

Solar eruptions created a northern lights display in North America and Europe overnight, with more auroras expected through Thursday.

A colossal squid has been filmed in its natural habitat for the first time ever, a century after it was first identified by scientists.

The quasi-periodic eruptions of X-rays from a black hole 300 million light-years away are unlike any researchers have ever seen before.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is an extremely rare and fatal brain-wasting disease that's like a human version of "mad cow."

Scientists thought they saw a distant star swallow a planet for the first time ever. But new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope suggest something very different, but equally rare, may have happened instead.

A Tyrannosaurus rex researcher has found that there are now more scientifically valuable T. rex specimens in private or commercial ownership than in public museums, hampering research.