Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people

— Carl Sagan

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Updated: 18 hours 17 min ago

How Are Annual Flu Vaccines Made?

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 1:45pm

Immunologist Zachary Rubin explains how the World Health Organization decides which strains of influenza end up in annual flu vaccines.

Categories: Astronomy

Chimpanzee Metacognition Allows Humanlike Belief Revision

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 1:00pm

Are we the only rational thinkers? New research on our primate cousins suggests otherwise

Categories: Astronomy

Seismometers Picked Up Hurricane Melissa’s Historic Power Like an Earthquake

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 12:08pm

Seismometers picked up the ferocious winds and waves of Hurricane Melissa, showing how the tools can be used to better understand storms today and those from the past

Categories: Astronomy

Trump’s Baffling Call for Resuming U.S. Nuclear Tests

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 11:45am

“The only countries that will really learn more if [U.S. nuclear] testing resumes are Russia and, to a much greater extent, China,” says Jeffrey Lewis, an expert on the geopolitics of nuclear weaponry

Categories: Astronomy

Nanotyrannus Isn’t a Juvenile T-Rex—It’s a Separate Dinosaur

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 11:00am

An analysis suggests Nanotyrannus is a separate, smaller dinosaur that lived alongside T. rex, settling a 30-year debate

Categories: Astronomy

FDA Is Investigating the Abortion Pill Mifepristone despite Decades of Studies Showing It’s Safe

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 10:30am

Some scientists are concerned that the Trump administration will use “junk science” when reviewing mifepristone’s safety record

Categories: Astronomy

How an Error in Cult Classic Game Doom Sparked New Appreciation for Pi

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 7:00am

What would the world look like if we changed the value of pi? Whether in the real world or a game environment, the answer is complex

Categories: Astronomy

Glowing Sperm Reveals How Female Mosquitos Control Sex

Thu, 10/30/2025 - 6:00am

Female Aedes mosquitoes signal that copulation can proceed by subtly extending their genitalia

Categories: Astronomy

Does Hurricane Melissa Show It’s Time for a Category 6 Designation?

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 3:00pm

Hurricane Melissa’s powerful winds and drenching rains devastated Jamaica. But is its wrath a sign that we need a new designation for monster storms?

Categories: Astronomy

Spider Web Patterns May Help Arachnids Sense Vibrations from Prey

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 1:00pm

Researchers simulated the effects that different web decorations had on vibrations, adding fresh insight to a decades-old debate about the function of these structures

Categories: Astronomy

Russia’s Burevestnik Nuclear-Powered Missile Is a Very Bad Idea

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 12:45pm

Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed his nation conducted a successful flight of a nuclear-powered cruise missile. Here’s how that missile might work

Categories: Astronomy

The Neuroscience behind the ‘Parenting Paradox’ of Happiness

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 9:30am

Separate brain processes cope with moment-to-moment versus big-picture experiences, which helps explain how parenting both increases and decreases aspects of well-being

Categories: Astronomy

H9N2 Bird Flu Virus Could Pose Human Pandemic Risk, Experts Warn

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 7:00am

Experiments suggests H9N2 has adapted to human cells, but cases of person-to-person transmission haven’t been reported yet

Categories: Astronomy

What TikTok’s U.S. Spin-off Means for Its Algorithm and Content Moderation

Wed, 10/29/2025 - 5:00am

TikTok’s U.S. spin-off could reshape its algorithm and the way culture is curated online.

Categories: Astronomy

Hurricane Melissa Images and Videos Show the Horrifying Power of Third Strongest Atlantic Storm Ever

Tue, 10/28/2025 - 1:45pm

These images of Hurricane Melissa show the Category 5 storm in all its power

Categories: Astronomy

The Science of How Hurricane Melissa Became So Extreme

Tue, 10/28/2025 - 12:19pm

A nearly perfect alignment of factors has enabled Hurricane Melissa to become one of the most intense Atlantic storms ever recorded

Categories: Astronomy

China’s Chang’e 6 Mission Found Rare Meteorite Fragments on Moon

Tue, 10/28/2025 - 8:45am

These rare samples, uncovered on the moon by China’s Chang’e 6 mission, might help to reveal secrets of how the solar system evolved

Categories: Astronomy

Did Astronomers Photograph UFOs Orbiting Earth in the 1950s?

Tue, 10/28/2025 - 8:00am

New peer-reviewed research reporting strange lights in the pre-space-age sky is sparking curiosity and controversy

Categories: Astronomy

Did Dark Matter Help Supersize the Universe?

Tue, 10/28/2025 - 7:00am

Theorists have found that a “warm” version of cosmic inflation is consistent with known physics, linking it to the hunt for dark matter

Categories: Astronomy

What’s Behind This Luxury ‘Cat Poo’ Coffee’s Unique Flavor

Tue, 10/28/2025 - 6:00am

Civets enrich coffee beans they eat and excrete with two fatty acids often used in dairy products, study finds

Categories: Astronomy