Scientists may have seen a star collapse directly into a black hole without exploding first
A new study looked at how a massive star in the Andromeda Galaxy disappeared due to the formation of a black hole
Space
Artemis II update: NASA targets March 6 for launch of historic moon mission following successful 'wet dress rehearsal'
NASA is targeting March 6 as the earliest possible launch date for the Artemis II mission to the moon following a successful 'wet dress rehearsal' on Thursday.
Bungled Boeing Starliner mission was the highest order of mishap that put stranded astronauts at risk, report says
The 2024 Starliner mission, which left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stranded in space for nine months, has received NASA's worst mishap classification in a damning report.
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City-size, cold-volcano comet transforms into a glowing 'snail shell' after major explosive outburst
Following a massive cryovolcanic eruption, the mysterious Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann has been morphed into a giant spiral and is now shining 100 times brighter than normal.
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NASA starts countdown clock for second Artemis II wet dress rehearsal after rocky first attempt
NASA will attempt to fuel its Artemis II rocket again tomorrow after hydrogen leaks derailed the first wet dress rehearsal and delayed what is scheduled to be a historic crewed flight around the moon.
Supercomputers simulated the orbits of 1 million satellites between Earth and the moon — and less than 10% survived
Researchers used a pair of powerful supercomputers to simulate the potential trajectories of 1 million satellites in a cislunar orbit between Earth and the moon. Less than 10% of these orbits remained stable throughout the simulations, but this is not as disastrous as it may sound.
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Planet Earth
Ancient 'Asgard' microbe may have used oxygen long before it was plentiful on Earth, offering new clue to origins of complex life
A new study suggests that ancient microbes once cast as oxygen haters may have actually learned to use the gas, offering a clue to how the first complex cells — and, eventually, all plants and animals — evolved.
The biggest trees in the Peruvian Amazon store the most carbon — and they also face the greatest threat from humans
The Amazon's biggest trees store disproportionately more carbon than smaller trees do, new study finds. But in the Peruvian Amazon, large trees are currently prioritized for harvest.
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Missing megaflood: How did the Mediterranean transform from a salt-filled bowl to a deep sea if it wasn't a cataclysmic deluge?
Researchers have long believed that a sudden, massive deluge filled a dry, salt-filled Mediterranean 5 million years ago. Turns out that probably didn't happen, but there was still drama aplenty.
archaeology
A coffin holding a dead 'princess' fell from an eroded cliff over 100 years ago — archaeologists just solved a major mystery about her
Dendrochronological analysis of a mysterious log coffin that tumbled from a cliff a century ago reveals clues to life in Roman-era Poland.
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2,500-year-old 'primitive prosthetic' found on jaw of mummified Scythian woman who survived complex jaw surgery
Researchers used CT scans to peer inside a partially mummified skull and discovered the woman survived jaw surgery 2,500 years ago.
'Absolute surprise': Homo erectus skulls found in China are almost 1.8 million years old — the oldest evidence of the ancient human relatives in East Asia
A new date for Homo erectus skulls found in central China provides new insight into how and when ancient human relatives reached eastern Asia.
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LATEST ARTICLES
Animals
Our adorable, noodle-like ancestor had 4 eyes, half-a-billion-year-old fossils reveal
The earliest recorded vertebrates had four eyes to escape predators in the ancient Cambrian ocean, according to half-a-billion-year-old fossils from China that shed light on our evolutionary origins.
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Snakes keep evolving into cannibals — here's what scientists think is going on
A review of over 500 reports of cannibalistic behavior in snakes finds it's appeared multiple times in different evolutionary lineages, leading researchers to hypothesize it's beneficial for snakes under certain circumstances.
Archaeopteryx, one of the world's first proto birds, has a set of weird, never-before-seen features, new study reveals
Iconic transition species between dinosaurs and birds may have had weird 'teeth' on roof of its mouth and a highly mobile tongue, study reveals
Extraordinary photo captures first appearance of Siberian peregrine falcon in Australia's arid center
An ecologist has captured a photo of a peregrine falcon subspecies in an unprecedented location.
Spotted lanternflies are invading the US. They may have gotten their evolutionary superpowers in China's cities.
The alarming spread of spotted lanternflies across the U.S. has been made possible by cities acting as evolutionary incubators, fine-tuning the insects and enabling them to thrive.
Health & Human Behavior
What is rigor mortis, and why does it happen?
Bodies usually stiffen after death in a process known as rigor mortis. But why does this happen, and how long does it last?
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'Universal' nasal-spray vaccine protects against viruses, bacteria and allergens in mice
In an early animal test, a new nasal-spray vaccine has shown promise against a variety of germs and a common allergen, scientists report.
New tech allows parents to 'score' IVF embryos for desirable traits — and it's in desperate need of regulation
Opinion Companies now offer polygenic embryo selection to prospective parents undergoing IVF. But the technology is dangerously underregulated.
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Diagnostic dilemma: 83-year-old man's unusual form of syphilis had an 'uncertain' source
A man went to the emergency room after being in and out of hospitals for a month, and doctors found a surprising explanation for his illness.
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Technology
Your own voice could be your biggest privacy threat. How can we stop AI technologies exploiting it?
Voices contain countless cues about their owners, and new research suggests that computers might use them to facilitate a range of bad behaviors.
Physics, Math & Chemistry
Physicists recreated the first millisecond after the Big Bang — and found it was surprisingly soupy
Scientists saw a quark plowing through primordial plasma for the first time, offering a rare look at the first moments after the Big Bang
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Record-breaking gravitational wave puts Einstein's relativity to its toughest test yet — and proves him right again
A record-breaking gravitational wave signal let scientists "listen" to a distant black hole merger and put Einstein's gravity to its toughest test yet.
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Quizzes & Games
Live Science crossword puzzle #31: First person to walk on the moon — 11 across
Science crossword Test your knowledge on all things science with our weekly, free crossword puzzle!
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