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: 23 hours 46 min ago

Scientists make AI play Battleship to help it do science better

Fri, 05/08/2026 - 6:45am

AI models and people played “collaborative” Battleship to test strategies for efficiently solving problems

Categories: Astronomy

Is Pluto a planet? That’s asking the wrong question

Fri, 05/08/2026 - 6:45am

The problem with Pluto isn’t its planetary or nonplanetary status—it’s our insistence on declaring the world must be one or the other

Categories: Astronomy

The science behind social media’s peptide obsession

Fri, 05/08/2026 - 6:00am

As peptide “stacking” takes over social media feeds, we separate the science from the hype of the Internet’s latest wellness obsession

Categories: Astronomy

David Attenborough celebrates his 100th birthday

Fri, 05/08/2026 - 5:00am

David Attenborough once directed programming at the BBC and has hosted numerous award-winning nature documentaries, but he’s always stayed down-to-earth, colleagues say

Categories: Astronomy

Trump administration cut funding to study hantavirus, the virus behind deadly cruise ship outbreak

Thu, 05/07/2026 - 3:45pm

The Centers for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases were designed to study viruses that could jump from animals to people, including hantavirus, but in 2025 the National Institutes of Health said the work wouldn’t continue

Categories: Astronomy

Slower biological aging may tied to getting the same amount of rest each day

Thu, 05/07/2026 - 2:00pm

Stable rhythms of rest and activity are associated with healthier biological age markers, a new study suggests

Categories: Astronomy

Math and statistics help explain the FBI's ‘missing scientists’ cases

Thu, 05/07/2026 - 12:00pm

Statistical principles show you don’t need a nefarious plot to explain clusters of missing scientists and lab workers

Categories: Astronomy

Shake it off—NASA’s Curiosity rover gets its robotic arm stuck inside a rock on Mars

Thu, 05/07/2026 - 11:15am

Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, but the Mars rover Curiosity just keeps on groovin’—even if its handlers had to spend several days freeing its drill from a rock

Categories: Astronomy

Poop, stomach oil and ostrich eggshells keep records of Earth’s ancient climate

Thu, 05/07/2026 - 6:45am

Earth's ancient climate is written in... ostrich eggshells and stomach oil?

Categories: Astronomy

Skeletons of four doomed Franklin Expedition sailors identified with DNA

Thu, 05/07/2026 - 6:00am

The latest studies bring the number of remains identified from this doomed 1845 expedition to six of the 129 who set out to the Arctic

Categories: Astronomy

The hantavirus cruise ship outbreak is a dangerous experiment

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 4:15pm

The tragic and fatal outbreak of hantavirus onboard a luxury cruise ship highlights the gaps in research and treatments for the rare and mysterious infection—including how the virus spreads among people

Categories: Astronomy

MAHA voters support lower health care costs above vaccine safety and limitation of pesticides, poll finds

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 1:51pm

A new KFF poll found that voters aligned with the “Make America Healthy Again” movement consider the cost of health care as their top policy priority

Categories: Astronomy

Could this fungus live on Mars? Maybe it already does

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 1:35pm

An almost unkillable fungal strain isolated from NASA’s ultrasterile clean rooms hints at “critical gaps” in interplanetary quarantine

Categories: Astronomy

The return of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award likely won’t improve children’s health, experts say

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 1:30pm

Researchers say that President Donald Trump’s resurrection of widely maligned fitness testing in schools is “half-baked” and unlikely to move the needle on youth physical activity alone

Categories: Astronomy

Gas prices are spiking. So why aren’t U.S. oil companies drilling more?

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 11:15am

As the U.S. and Iran fight for dominance in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. gas prices are continuing to rise—and production might not keep up

Categories: Astronomy

The brain processes overheard words under anesthesia, but it may not remember them

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 11:10am

A study of people who underwent surgery to treat epilepsy suggests the hippocampus may process words and speech when people are under general anesthesia, even though the study participants didn’t remember them

Categories: Astronomy

The Trump administration is bringing back flavored vapes. Advocates and lawmakers say the risks outweigh the benefits

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 10:45am

The president had vowed to “save vaping” on the campaign trail in 2024, but the decision is already drawing fire from antinicotine advocates and a bipartisan group of lawmakers

Categories: Astronomy

A 1,500-foot tsunami took scientists by surprise. Now we know why it happened

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 8:00am

By chance a tour boat avoided a deadly tsunami set off by the retreat of Alaska's coastal glaciers. Scientists are working to spot landslides like the one that caused the massive wave to warn people in harm's way

Categories: Astronomy

‘Touchy-feely’ dark matter is having a moment

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 7:00am

Models giving dark matter more complex behavior could help solve multiple cosmic mysteries

Categories: Astronomy

What are AI agents? Inside a real experiment where AI ran a start‑up

Wed, 05/06/2026 - 6:00am

Journalist Evan Ratliff explores what happens when AI agents are given real autonomy to build and run a start‑up from scratch

Categories: Astronomy