Today's biggest science news: Japan earthquake | Comet 3I/ATLAS X-ray | Robot kicks CEO
Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
Top Martian priorities
Our top priority when humans reach Mars should be to hunt for past or present life on the Red Planet, a new report from leading U.S. scientists argues.
The report, released by the National Academy of Sciences today (Dec. 9), lays out a road map of scientific priorities for the (hopefully) coming crewed mission to Mars.
That, of course, could be years away: NASA doesn't anticipate humans reaching Mars before the 2030s. But the gears are in motion. NASA’s Artemis moon mission could launch as early as this February, after years of delays. Artemis was always planned as a stepping stone to an eventual Mars mission.
If we do make it to the Red Planet in the next decade, we should also look for evidence of CO2 and water cycles, investigate the geological history of Mars, and study the physiological and psychological effects of both spaceflight and the Martian environment on potential astronauts living there, the report says.
Lower down on the list, scientists say we should explore Mars searching for resources we could exploit for future colonies, analyze the effects of the Martian environment on DNA and its replication, and characterize microbial communities that may be brought along for the ride through the solar system. As part of the new road map, they also lay out which types of measurements and instrumentation may be required to address each of those priorities.
It's a big and somewhat daunting list, but it's hard to imagine investing the staggering amount of money and technological innovation required to reach the Martian surface if we're not going to learn as much as we can from the process.
RFK's FDA takes aim at RSV preventative treatments
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has informed pharma executives that it will be reevaluating already-approved treatments designed to protect infants from RSV, according to exclusive reporting from Reuters.
RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) is an infection that spreads seasonally and is particularly dangerous to young children, standing as the most common cause of hospitalization in infants. Annually, 100 to 300 children under 5 die from the infection in the U.S. To drive that number down, in recent years, scientists have invented, tested and earned FDA approval for antibody-based drugs that protect infants during RSV season. These treatments have been thoroughly researched in large clinical trials and shown to be both safe and effective at lowering the risk of serious RSV that requires a doctor's appointment, ER visit or hospitalization.
The treatments are recommended to all infants under 8 months old in their first RSV season, excluding babies whose mothers got an RSV vaccine before birth. (The vaccine prompts the mother to make antibodies that get passed to the baby.) Additionally, select kids with health conditions are recommended another dose during their second RSV season.
The antibody shots are sometimes lumped into conversations and controversy surrounding vaccines, despite not being vaccines themselves. They supply the body with ready-made antibodies; they do not teach the immune system to make its own, as a vaccine would.
The FDA has informed makers of the antibody drugs that it will be asking further safety questions about the treatments, and for now, it's unclear if that reevaluation might lead to changes in the drugs' availability or approval status.
What we do know is that the pattern is reminiscent of a move made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week, in which the agency overturned established guidance about the hepatitis B vaccine with no data suggesting they should make the change — and ample data suggesting they should not. Such moves align with the stance of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who posits that the risks of many pharmaceutical products have not been properly studied and casts doubt on established science.
Learn more about the RSV antibody treatments here.
Ubiquitous cold virus may raise risk of bladder cancer
Cancer isn't infectious — but we now know that several types of infections do raise the risk of cancer down the line. Among the well-known microbes known to fuel cancer are HPV, the primary cause of cervical cancer; hepatitis B, which causes liver cancer; and Helicobacter pylori, which raises stomach cancer risk.
Live Science contributor Jennifer Zieba has a fascinating new piece on another cancer which may be fueled, at least in part, by past infection.
Although most of us have never heard about the virus, it is a common infection that tons of us get as kids. To learn more about the virus, and how researchers think it may raise cancer risk, read the full story here.
'Gold hydrogen' sufficient to power human civilization for 170,000 years
Staff writer Sascha Pare has a fascinating feature on the hunt for "gold hydrogen," or hydrogen that's naturally found in large quantities separate from natural gas.
Hydrogen could power a green economy, but the naturally occurring stuff has historically been found with natural gas, which produce greenhouse gases when burned. But a 2016 find in Mali changed our understanding of how much hydrogen is lurking in Earth's crust, and where it's likely to be found.
Read more to learn about this hydrogen "gold rush" in her Science Spotlight story here.
More parents refusing the vitamin K shot for their babies
New research in JAMA finds that more parents are opting out of giving their babies a recommended vitamin K shot at birth. And that puts babies at risk, experts say.
"We know unequivocally that infants that don't receive vitamin K are at significantly higher risk of getting serious bleeding," the lead study author told Scientific American.
All newborns are recommended to receive an injection of vitamin K, a nutrient that helps the body form blood clots. Older children and adults get vitamin K from their diets and their gut microbiomes, but babies are born with very little.
The nutrient doesn't easily pass through the placenta and babies' microbiomes are too immature to make it; breast milk also contains relatively little vitamin K, and regardless, vitamin K given to babies by mouth isn't absorbed well. That means babies are vulnerable to vitamin K deficiency, which can lead to dangerous bleeding, and in turn, permanent brain damage or death.
The one-time vitamin K shot protects babies from this deficiency extremely effectively and safely. Since universal administration of the vitamin was started in 1961, the U.S. has "nearly eliminated" vitamin K deficiency bleeding. But now, our numbers are slipping.
The JAMA analysis found that, between 2017 and 2024, the rate of vitamin K shot refusal has risen nearly 80%, with the proportion of newborns not given the shot rising from 2.92% to 5.18%.
Anecdotally, I've seen my share of breathless, online influencers spreading misinformation about vitamin K shots. Their efforts are closely tied to — if not indistinguishable from — the anti-vaccine movement, despite vitamin K shots not being vaccines. Often, the influencers promote unproven alternatives to the shot, which they personally happen to sell.
But to put it plainly: when vitamin K administration goes down, the rate of babies dying goes up. The new JAMA study calls attention to that disturbing trend. You can learn more about the vitamin K shot from the American Academy of Pediatrics and their informational site, Healthy Children.
Comet 3I/ATLAS gets an X-ray
Comet 3I/ATLAS has been viewed through an X-ray space telescope for the first time, revealing an X-ray glow stretching about 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) around the interstellar visitor.
This is the first time researchers have been able to detect X-rays emanating from an interstellar comet.
The comet was observed as part of the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), a collaboration between the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
Researchers across the globe are scrambling to learn all they can about comet 3I/ATLAS before this rare interstellar visitor exits our solar system next year.
XRISM observed comet 3I/ATLAS between Nov. 26 and Nov. 28, just as the comet moved far enough away from the sun to be visible to the telescope’s instruments.
"Comets are enveloped by clouds of gas produced as sunlight heats and vaporizes their icy surfaces," XRISM representatives wrote in a statement. "When this gas interacts with the energetic stream of charged particles flowing from the Sun — the solar wind — a process called charge-exchange reaction occurs, producing characteristic X-ray emission."
The researchers described the glow in the X-ray image as a "faint emission structure" and said it was potentially the result of a diffuse cloud of gas.
However, the researchers also noted that instrumental effects such as vignetting or detector noise can create similar structures in images, so they'll have to do follow-up analysis to confirm whether the extensive emission structure belongs to the comet.
"Moving forward, the XRISM team will continue refining its data processing and analysis to further reveal the activity of this interstellar comet and the nature of its interaction with the solar wind," the representatives wrote.
Another climate milestone
2025 is set to tie for the second-warmest year on record, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service has announced.
As of November, this year is tied with 2023 for annual global surface temperature, but the temperature is slightly cooler than it was in 2024, the warmest year on record.
The latest data suggests that next month we'll be able to say that the last three years were the warmest on record — an ominous consequence of global warming.
Researchers measure global temperature rise above the estimated average temperature between 1850 and 1900, known as pre-industrial levels.
World leaders promised to limit this warming to preferably below 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) and well below 3.6 F (2 C) in the 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted at the United Nations' COP21 climate conference. Unfortunately, they're failing.
"For November, global temperatures were 1.54 C above pre-industrial levels, and the three-year average for 2023–2025 is on track to exceed 1.5 C for the first time," Samantha Burgess, the strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which implements the Copernicus program, said in a statement.
"These milestones are not abstract — they reflect the accelerating pace of climate change and the only way to mitigate future rising temperatures is to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Burgess added.
It's worth remembering that last month, climate deliberations at the COP30 conference in Brazil ended in an underwhelming compromise. The final text of the COP30 agreement didn't contain any clear mention of fossil fuels, which are the primary source of increased greenhouse gas emissions.
Kick me with your best shot
75kg class head-on brawl! EngineAI T800 kicks the boss: Is this kick personal?#EngineAI #robotics #newtechnology #newproduct pic.twitter.com/UCRrP0qBazDecember 6, 2025
EngineAI said that the purpose of the simulated fight was to counter claims that its latest model was a CGI creation, CNN reports.
While the T800 appears to have a decent kick, it doesn't go unnoticed that Tongyang was standing still, waiting patiently for his robot to strike.
With that in mind, don't expect to see robots beating UFC fighters anytime soon.
Auroras incoming
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has a strong G3 geomagnetic storm watch in place for today (Dec. 9), with the potential for visible auroras over many U.S. states from the lower Midwest to Oregon.
The geomagnetic storm is associated with the eruption of a solar flare on the sun, which is thought to have sent a blast of plasma (coronal mass ejection, or CME) toward Earth.
Space weather forecasters have been expecting the CME to clash with Earth's magnetic field and trigger the geomagnetic storm, along with the potentially visible auroras.
The CME could also have limited, minor effects on technological infrastructure, but this can usually be mitigated, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.
A Christmas star
Jupiter is shining bright in the night sky this winter, with Live Science contributor Jamie Carter drawing comparisons between it and the "Star of Bethlehem."
Does this biblical star have any astronomical origins? Find out more by reading Carter's full story here.
Megaquake advisory
Japan is now on "mega-quake" alert for a week, with the Japan Meteorological Agency warning that a magnitude 8 or higher earthquake could strike over the next few days.
The northeastern region of Japan was hit by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake in 2011, the deadliest in its history, just two days after it experienced an earthquake in the magnitude 7 range.
The government, therefore, issues a mega-quake warning whenever the region is hit by a significant earthquake, according to Reuters.
However, earthquakes are notoriously unpredictable.
Japan earthquake update
Old oil learns a new trick
What should you do with the leftover cooking oil in your pot after dinner? Pour it down the drain and feed the growing fatberg under your town? Or maybe do what a team of chemists just did, and use it to make a super-sticky adhesive polymer with unbelievable strength.
As described in a recent study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, the researchers devised a way to break down waste oil molecules, then recombine them in a variety of ways. One recombination resulted in a super-adhesive polyester plastic.
When the team used this polyester to glue two metal plates together, they found it could hold up hundreds of pounds of weight, and even tow a car. Read all about the amazing discovery in contributor Mason Wakley's new story on Live Science.
Watch 3 astronauts return from the ISS
Three astronauts — NASA's Jonny Kim and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky — will be making the long journey home tonight. The trio has orbited Earth together 3,920 times, traveling a mind-boggling 104 million miles (167 million kilometers) since they launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in April, according to NASA.
The trio is scheduled to leave the ISS via a Soyuz spacecraft today at 8:41 p.m. EST (0141 GMT on Dec. 9) and will land in Kazakhstan near the city of Dzhezkazgan, Live Science's sister site Space.com is reporting.
The journey is scheduled to last around 3.5-hours — a speedy trip when you consider that it takes about 6 hours to fly between New York and San Francisco on a commercial plane.
Space.com is streaming the return trip live, so you can watch the journey there.
Dark matter hunt fails — and scientists are excited
A Herculean effort to search for dark matter has found no evidence for the elusive substance. That's the takeaway from a gigantic particle detector located a mile underground in South Dakota.
The 417-day-long experiment, known as LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), looked at the light signatures released as particles collide with xenon atoms in a giant vat, which is placed deep underground so that most particles from space cannot muddy the results.
Dark matter, which emits no light yet exerts gravitational force, is thought to make up most of the universe. And the new findings tightly constrain the properties of one the leading candidates for dark matter.
You can read all about why scientists are actually happy about these negative results in contributor Elizabeth Howell's story here.
You blockhead!
In Charles Schultz's Peanuts comic strip, Lucy often calls Charlie Brown a "blockhead." Archaeologists in Mexico recently discovered another kind of blockhead — a man whose skull had been shaped as an infant into something resembling a cube.
While head-shaping (also called cranial vault modification) is a practice that people around the world and through time have done to their kids, this particular shape was a surprise to researchers, who'd never seen it in that area of Mexico before.
For more information on the skull and the man it belonged to over a millennium ago, check out my coverage here.
Earthquake injuries and damage
There have been some reports of injuries and damage in Japan as a result of the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that struck off Japan's main island earlier today. However, these initial reports are limited.
Sky News reported that several people have been injured in coastal communities, but that it was unclear how many.
A hotel employee in Hachinohe City told the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, NHK, of multiple injuries. In this case, everyone involved was conscious.
Japan's Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, told reporters on Tuesday morning local time that seven injuries had been reported, according to Reuters. The government has set up a task force in response to the earthquake.
Nuclear power plants appear to be working normally, according to NHK.
This is a developing story and we expect more details to emerge over the next 24 hours.
Tsunami hits Japan
A tsunami has hit Japan following a magnitude 7.6 earthquake off the northeastern coast of Honshu, the country's main island, earlier today.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has recorded tsunami waves hitting Japan's eastern coastline. The precise height of the waves is unclear at this time, but most are in the 3-foot-tall (1 meter) or less category.
There are no reported deaths at this time, although there are some reports of injuries.
Japan downgrades tsunami warning
Japan has downgraded its tsunami warning to a tsunami advisory. The initial warning meant that the authorities expected a maximum tsunami height of between 3.3 feet and 9.8 feet (1 and 3 m).
However, an "advisory" level means that the expected maximum height has been reduced to 3.3 feet, in keeping with the wave heights recorded thus far.
Look out for Northern Lights
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a strong G3 geomagnetic storm watch for tomorrow (Dec. 9), with the potential for visible auroras over many U.S. states from the lower Midwest to Oregon.
The aurora forecast comes as multiple blasts of plasma, or coronal mass ejections (CMEs), hurtle toward Earth from the sun. CMEs have the potential to clash with Earth's magnetic field and trigger geomagnetic storms.
Tomorrow's strong geomagnetic storm forecast is associated with the eruption of a solar flare on Saturday. The resulting CME is predicted to arrive at midday tomorrow.
The Space Weather Prediction Center noted that the CME could also have limited, minor effects on technological infrastructure, but this can usually be mitigated.
And tonight…
Parts of the Northern Hemisphere could see some auroras on Monday, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com.
The Space Weather Prediction Center has forecast a less intense G1 geomagnetic storm as a result of a separate CME that left the sun on Dec. 4, while the U.K.'s Met Office has the more intense G3 watch in place for tonight and tomorrow.
Our sun is very active at the moment. The Space Weather Prediction Center recorded another powerful solar flare earlier today. The X1.1-level flare triggered high-frequency radio disruptions over parts of Australia and southern Asia, according to NOAA.
Rare sacrificial complex found in Russia
Russian archaeologists recently discovered a collection of hundreds of horse bridle bits and bronze beads near the burial mounds of high-status nomads from the fourth century B.C.
While the artifacts themselves are not exactly surprising — after all, these nomadic peoples relied on horses for travel — their collection as a kind of "sacrifice" is unusual.
To learn more about this discovery, which oddly included a gold plaque depicting a tiger, check out my coverage here.
Japan hit by major earthquake
A magnitude 7.6 earthquake has hit off the northeastern coast of Japan's main island, Honshu. The earthquake struck at 11:15 p.m. local time (9:15 a.m. EST).
The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued tsunami warnings in three regions: the central part of the Pacific Coast of Hokkaido region, the Pacific Coast of Aomori Prefecture and Iwate Prefecture. The expected maximum tsunami height is between 3.2 and 9.8 feet (1 and 3 meters).
The earthquake was most intense in Hachinohe City where there was a seismic intensity of 6+ — such intensity means it is "impossible to remain standing or to move without crawling," according to the Japan Meteorological Agency's explanation of seismic intensity.
Tsunami Info Stmt: M7.6 Hokkaido, Japan Region 0615PST Dec 8: Tsunami NOT expected; CA,OR,WA,BC,and AKDecember 8, 2025
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center tweeted at 9:32 a.m. EST that a tsunami was not expected in California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia or Alaska.
Live Science news roundup
- Lost Indigenous settlements described by Jamestown colonist John Smith finally found
- Strangely bleached rocks on Mars hint that the Red Planet was once a tropical oasis
- 1,800-year-old 'piggy banks' full of Roman-era coins unearthed in French village
- New NASA, ESA images show 3I/ATLAS getting active ahead of its close encounter with Earth
'Hobbit' extinction
A drought may have doomed the small ancient human species Homo floresiensis, nicknamed "the hobbit," Live Science contributor Owen Jarus reports.
New research suggests that declining rainfall could have reduced the population of Stegodon (extinct elephant relatives) that H. floresiensis relied on for food, and, in turn, forced the Hobbit to compete with modern humans (us).
H. floresiensis lived in Indonesia from at least 100,000 years ago until about 50,000 years ago. Researchers still have a lot to learn about these enigmatic ancient humans, the remains of which have only ever been found in one cave, and it remains uncertain whether they interacted with us.
Species typically go extinct for multiple reasons. In the case of H. floresiensis, a volcanic eruption may have also been a significant factor in their demise.
Read the full story here.
Camera lost in lava fountain
Good morning, science fans! Patrick here to launch another week of our science news blog coverage.
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano erupted with spectacular, giant lava fountains over the weekend and consumed a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) camera.
The remotely operated camera filmed its own demise inside the Halema'uma'u crater on Saturday (Dec. 6) as a wall of volcanic debris approached and knocked it offline.
Kilauea volcano is one of the world's most active volcanoes and has erupted almost continuously on Hawaii's Big Island for more than 30 years.
The latest activity marked the 38th episode of the Kilauea summit's eruption cycle, which began on Dec. 23, 2024. We've seen plenty of lava fountains before, but the USGS's cameras are rarely this close to the action.
