The origins of an enigmatic type of lightning in the upper atmosphere has been traced to a 10-microsecond flash of bright blue light.

Dozens of animals and even some plants in the American Southwest take advantage of water-filled holes dug by these nonnative equids.

The farthest known quasar challenges ideas about how the first supermassive black holes in the universe formed.

Americans drastically overestimate how much the government spends on science. But when correctly informed, they want the government to spend more.

A Peruvian burial that indicates that women speared large prey as early as 9,000 years ago sheds new light on gender roles of ancient hunter-gatherers.

A century after she published a groundbreaking mathematical theory, Emmy Noether gets her due.

Researchers reflect on Stephen Hawking's contributions to the field and the cosmological puzzles he left behind.

Preserved pieces of backbone suggest that megalodon sharks were about 2 meters long at birth.

A new calculation reveals the strange gravitational waves LIGO and Virgo could see if a black hole were falling into a hypothetical tunnel in spacetime.

In a first-of-its-kind comparative study, researchers show that primates were masturbating 40 million years ago and that the behavior may help males keep their sperm fresh.

Astronomers used a network of telescopes around the world to take a picture of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87.

Richard Feynman, born a century ago, was a curious character in every sense of the word.

A new species from the sky islands of Africa’s Nimba Mountains shows bats’ colorful streak.

Astronomers have detected molecular oxygen in another galaxy for the first time. The discovery is only the third sighting of O2 beyond our solar system.

Too many toys may lead to more shallow play for toddlers, a new study suggests.

Astronomers used distant blazars to tally up all the stray photons roaming through space.

Astronomers first announced the discovery of the worlds in July 2018, and have now named them for goddesses and spirits of Greek and Roman mythology.

Quantum physics could be behind birds’ magnetic sense of direction, new measurements indicate.

A new calculation reveals the strange gravitational waves LIGO and Virgo could see if a black hole were falling into a hypothetical tunnel in spacetime.

Rakus the orangutan appeared to be treating a cut to his face with a plant that’s also used in traditional human medicine.

The bizarre geometry of a disk of gas and dust around three stars in the constellation Orion could be formed by “disk tearing” or a newborn planet.

Therapies that unleash immune system brakes against cancer have earned the 2018 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

Deoxyribose, the sugar of DNA, was created in a lab simulating ice in space.

Results from a study in China suggest that some COVID-19 patients will be left with long-term lung problems.

Scientists can program the stealth cells to die before creating new tumors.

Materials that conduct electricity without resistance might mimic black hole physics.

With its gaseous halo and tail, the second discovered interstellar object, 2I/Borisov, looks basically like your run-of-the-mill solar system comet.

Inuit reports of polar bears using tools to kill walruses were historically dismissed as stories, but new research suggests the behavior does occur.

The tiny, repeating structure could reveal weird behavior of electrons in fractional dimensions.

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft spied a vortex growing high over Saturn’s north pole, whose hexagonal shape mirrors a famous underlying cyclone.

In a first, astronomers may just have detected gravitational waves from a black hole merging with a neutron star.

Simulations suggest that the theoretical substance known as nuclear pasta is 10 billion times as strong as steel.

Einstein struggled for years to solve the puzzle of general relativity. The pieces all fell into place in November 1915.

Researchers report ultraprecise imaging of a postmortem human brain.

The newly described critters, found in the northern forests of Madagascar, may be threatened by deforestation.

A century after she published a groundbreaking mathematical theory, Emmy Noether gets her due.

A century after she published a groundbreaking mathematical theory, Emmy Noether gets her due.

Researchers at Powdermill Nature Reserve near Pittsburgh spotted a bird with pink male coloring on half of its body and yellow female hues on the other.

A study in mice finds that the cerebellum helps control social behavior, a result that has implications for autism and schizophrenia.

Particles inside protons seem to be linked on a scale smaller than a trillionth of a millimeter.

Researchers reflect on Stephen Hawking's contributions to the field and the cosmological puzzles he left behind.

The Event Horizon Telescope’s iconic image of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 once again shows Einstein was right.

Sleeping zebrafish have brain and body activity similar to snoozing mammals, suggesting that sleep evolved at least 450 million years ago.

Researchers at Powdermill Nature Reserve near Pittsburgh spotted a bird with pink male coloring on half of its body and yellow female hues on the other.

An analysis of brain waves offers new evidence that people subconsciously process information about the planet’s magnetism.

Earth has nearly a billion hectares suitable for new forests to start trapping carbon, a study finds.

To survive high levels of arsenic, a fern sequesters the heavy metal in its shoots with the help of three proteins.

Pinning down the source of protons’ spin is surprisingly hard to do.

Pi Day may be fun, but it’s based on a flawed mathematical constant.

In 1970, scientists were studying a brain-eating amoeba that had been implicated in a newfound disease. Today, infections by the parasite are still poorly understood.

Scientists can program the stealth cells to die before creating new tumors.

For the first time, astronomers have detected water vapor and possibly signs of clouds and even rain in the air of a potentially habitable exoplanet.

The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to a trio of scientists for their work on the most mysterious objects in the universe: black holes.

Researchers report ultraprecise imaging of a postmortem human brain.

Lab-made antibodies developed by Regeneron marshal an immune response and curb the Ebola virus’s ability to infect cells.

Newly described patterns of brain activity may help reveal the level of awareness in people with brain injuries.

The measles virus can usher in other infections for months, or even years.

Scientists have found a new species of marine reptiles called nothosaurs from around 240 million years ago.

Researchers found that a compound in psychedelic mushrooms eased depression symptoms, but larger studies are needed.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft has sent back unexpected details about Jupiter, giving scientists their first intimate look at the giant planet.

Two spacecraft confirm that time passes more slowly closer to Earth’s surface.

Analyzing supernovas indicates that expansion rates agree within 1 percent across large regions of sky.

Astronomers found a dozen previously unknown moons of Jupiter, and one may be a remnant of a larger moon that was all but ground to dust.

Researchers are using electric jolts to correct the faulty brain activity that sparks depression.

A century after she published a groundbreaking mathematical theory, Emmy Noether gets her due.

Earth’s inner core began to solidify sometime after 565 million years ago — just in time to prevent the collapse of the planet’s magnetic field, a study finds.

Voyager 2 just became the second probe ever to enter interstellar space, and the first with a working plasma instrument.

Researchers report ultraprecise imaging of a postmortem human brain.

New study indicates that the proton is much more than just the sum of its parts.

Astronomers used a network of telescopes around the world to take a picture of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy M87.

The newly described critters, found in the northern forests of Madagascar, may be threatened by deforestation.

An analysis of brain waves offers new evidence that people subconsciously process information about the planet’s magnetism.

Scientists are gearing up to release the first image of the black hole at the center of the galaxy. Here’s what they hope to find out.

A recent experiment put tardigrades’ indestructibility to the test by firing the critters at speeds up to 1,000 meters per second.

The sun creates energy through nuclear fusion. Now scientists have too, in a controlled lab experiment, raising hopes for developing clean energy.

Planetary scientists detected hydrogen sulfide in Uranus’ upper clouds — the same compound that gives rotten eggs their terrible smell.

Scientists finally spotted a pair-density wave in a high-temperature superconductor.