Science News: Recent scientific discoveries and expert analysis

A shortfin mako shark, the fastest-swimming shark in the world, was caught on camera with an octopus catching a ride on its back off the coast of New Zealand.

Scientists uncovered a key genetic pathway in the origin of feathers, but they found that evolution is stubborn in turning back the clock.

The bonobo Kanzi, who learned to make stone tools, play Minecraft and communicate at the level of a 2-year-old human, has died.

U.K. start-up Pulsar Fusion has unveiled plans to build a fleet of reusable nuclear fusion-powered rockets, known as Sunbirds, that could cut journey times across the solar system in half. But not everyone is convinced.

A study of a woman who died in 2024 as the oldest person on Earth attempts to untangle the factors that enable some people to ward off disease in old age.

Scientists have made the record-breaking detection of oxygen in an ancient galaxy that existed just 300 million years after the Big Bang. The detection is prompting astronomers to rethink how quickly stars and galaxies formed in the young universe.

The left hip and leg bones from a young female Paranthropus robustus discovered in South Africa show she was extremely short — and ended up as a leopard's lunch.

Breakthrough could pave the way for next-generation GPS in drones, smartphones and self-driving cars, scientists say.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an Egyptian army where an Israelite king was killed. The discoveries at Megiddo, which inspired "Armageddon," reinforce biblical stories about King Josiah of Judah.

Most people exposed to the parasites behind babesiosis don't get sick, but for others, the infection can be deadly.

Findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) suggest that dark energy could be evolving over time. If they're right, cosmology will need a new model.

Flagstones, an ancient monument and burial ground in England, is older than Stonehenge, a new radiocarbon-dating study finds.

The giant sea spiders can have leg spans of up to 20 inches (51 centimeters).

As Venus approaches its inferior conjunction, astrophotographers have snapped some striking shots of the crescent planet looking like a giant rainbow in space.

During its final hours on the lunar surface, the Blue Ghost spacecraft captured stunning photos of a lunar sunset.

A quartet of small, rocky exoplanets likely circle Barnard's Star, around 6 billion light-years from Earth, putting them in contention as targets of missions for future human generations.

Oxytocin, a hormone linked to bonding behaviors, might also help mice modulate their pregnancies. Someday, this line of research could improve our understanding of human fertility.

Google X has introduced the Taara chip, a fingernail-sized invention that taps the "virtually limitless" potential of light-based internet connectivity.

After finding the debris of two colliding stars swimming in the ocean, researchers are after more evidence from the lunar soil.

Bedmap3 is the most fine-grain map to date of the landscape beneath Antarctica's ice. Scientists created it using more than 60 years' worth of data from satellites, ships and dog-drawn sleds.