Science News

We may be on the cusp of quantum supremacy. But what does that actually mean?

By digitally modeling muscles and tendons for the skeleton of Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis), researchers determined that our hominin ancestors could run well but topped out around 11 mph.

AI dominated tech news this year, but has the technology actually been improving? We review the leaps we've seen, as well as what's new in the world of quantum computing.

When human activities disrupt and unbalance ecosystems, such as by way of climate change and biodiversity loss, things go wrong.

Soaring carbon emissions, an unexpected new source of global warming, and collapsing ocean currents shocked scientists in 2024. Here are our picks for this year's top climate change stories.

Frosted branch angiitis is a rare condition that makes the blood vessels that supply the retina look like the frosted branches of a tree.

It's not a competition, but if it were, Saturn would be winning.

A new effort to map the rumblings in spacetime caused by enormous black hole collisions paints a surprisingly loud and lopsided picture of the universe.

What knocked this black hole over onto its side? It's a cosmic "whodunnit" that NASA scientists using the Hubble and Chandra space telescopes are trying to solve.

A massive, energetic jet from Virgo A could help scientists understand how matter behaves around a black hole.

From bloodsucking fly mites to fish being swallowed whole, photographers get up close and personal with an array of animals in this year's shortlisted entries for the Close-up Photographer of the Year 2024.

An excavation of three Viking graves in Norway reveals beads, coin jewelry and a stone carved to look like female genitalia.

Here are our biggest archeology stories of 2024.

Life expectancy prediction using data collected over four decades reveals southern right whales' exceptionally long lives — far longer than scientists previously thought.

The James Webb Space Telescope has caught a napping monster black hole in the early universe. The cosmic giant is slumbering after a massive meal like a reveler on Christmas Day.

A patient went to the doctor for cataract surgery, but her physicians were surprised to find a huge, foreign mass under her eyelid.

A display of auroras is expected to light up the skies on Christmas Day, thanks to a powerful M8.9 solar flare enroute to Earth.

Researchers have found that stick insects keep evolving the same 20 body plans, from the "tree lobster'" to the "bark hugger" and the "large-headed stick."

Massive reductions in Antarctic sea ice in recent years has been correlated with more stormy days in the Southern Ocean, and could have implications for vital ocean currents.

On Christmas Eve, NASA's Parker Solar Probe flew closer to the sun than any human-made object ever — a stunning technological feat that scientists liken to the historic Apollo moon landing in 1969.