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Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? The odds of snow on the big day comes down to a mix of climate and weather, scientists explain

From an interstellar comet to breathtaking auroras and from brand-new rockets to iconic space telescopes, here are some of our favorite images from the cosmos in 2025

Astronomers thought they had seen the "first hints of life on an alien world" this year, but they disappeared under closer scrutiny

Astronomers thought they had seen the "first hints of life on an alien world" this year, but they disappeared under closer scrutiny

A look back at 2025’s biggest science stories—from federal upheaval and public health setbacks to climate policy reversals and groundbreaking discoveries in space.

Mysterious ‘little red dots’ seen by the James Webb Space Telescope can be explained by a new kind of black hole enshrouded in an enormous ball of glowing gas

Mysterious ‘little red dots’ seen by the James Webb Space Telescope can be explained by a new kind of black hole enshrouded in an enormous ball of glowing gas

We have only just started to understand how our brains clean themselves, but columnist Helen Thomson finds promising evidence for how to boost this process

We have only just started to understand how our brains clean themselves, but columnist Helen Thomson finds promising evidence for how to boost this process

What’s happening over that tree?

Where are all of these meteors coming from?

During November 2025, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) used five of its science instruments to observe 3I/ATLAS. The instruments collected information about how the comet is behaving and what it is made of.

Engineers need good data to build lasting things. Even the designers of the Great Pyramids knew the limestone they used to build these massive structures would be steady when stacked on top of one another, even if they didn’t have tables of the compressive strength of those stones. But when attempting to build structures on other worlds, such as the Moon, engineers don’t yet know much about the local materials. Still, due to the costs of getting large amounts of materials off of Earth, they will need to learn to use those materials even for critical applications like a landing pad to support the landing / ascent of massive rockets used in re-supply operations. A new paper published in Acta Astronautica from Shirley Dyke and her team at Purdue University describes how to build a lunar landing pad with just a minimal amount of prior knowledge of the material properties of the regolith used to build it.

Year in images 2025

Our year through the lens: a selection of our favourite images for 2025

What would it be like to fly over the

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of international researchers has discovered chemical fingerprints of gigantic primordial stars that were among the first to form after the Big Bang.

The four astronauts set to fly around the Moon during NASA’s Artemis II test flight depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, during a dress rehearsal for launch day on Dec. 20, 2025. From left are CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch.

The launch day rehearsal, called a countdown demonstration test, simulated the launch day timeline, including the crew suiting up in their spacesuits and climbing in and out of their Orion spacecraft. Because the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket upon which they will launch is not yet at the launch pad, the crew boarded Orion inside Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where engineers are conducting final preparations on the spacecraft, rocket, and ground systems.  

Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Photo Credit: NASA/Jim Ross

The four astronauts set to fly around the Moon during NASA’s Artemis II test flight depart the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, during a dress rehearsal for launch day on Dec. 20, 2025. From left are CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Christina Koch.

The launch day rehearsal, called a countdown demonstration test, simulated the launch day timeline, including the crew suiting up in their spacesuits and climbing in and out of their Orion spacecraft. Because the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket upon which they will launch is not yet at the launch pad, the crew boarded Orion inside Kennedy’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where engineers are conducting final preparations on the spacecraft, rocket, and ground systems.  

Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to explore the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and build the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars.

Photo Credit: NASA/Jim Ross

The U.S. reportedly plans to overhaul the country’s childhood vaccine schedule. The move could set public health back decades, experts say