Science News | The latest news from all areas of science

The exploding star V572 Velorum appears like a blue glowing orb with four rays extending out in a cross shape. It sits amid much dimmer blue and yellow stars and an inky night sky.

A rare chance to see two exploding stars is happening in the southern sky

Exploding stars V462 Lupi and V572 Velorum are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere. One has been spotted from the United States.

By McKenzie Prillaman13 hours ago

A woman with her eyes closed holds her forehead in pain.

Popular weight-loss drugs may ease migraines too

By Laura Sanders15 hours ago

A looping video of a small, six-legged robot with sensors walking steadily forward along a narrow gravel path in a lush garden setting.

Tech

A new ‘eye’ may radically change how robots see

By Kathryn Hulick18 hours ago

What looks like different colored balls (smooth muscle cells seen in false color) sit atop a turquoise patch studded with tiny nanoneedles.

Health & Medicine

This painless nanoneedle patch might one day replace certain biopsies

By Payal DharJune 30, 2025

This side-by-side image shows an uninfected cell (left) with its innards spread throughout the cell, and one infected by the herpesvirus (right). The cell's insides are now compacted into a small area in the center of the cell.

Health & Medicine

See how the herpesvirus reshapes our cells’ DNA in just eight hours

By Amanda HeidtJune 30, 2025

a sweating man sits in a chair front of a house

Climate

Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves

By Nikk OgasaJune 27, 2025

A photo of the lichen C. lacinulatum

Life

A barrage of radiation couldn’t kill this hardy life-form

By Katherine KorneiJune 27, 2025

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

Spotlight on Vaccines

A doctor wipes an alcohol pad on a child's shoulder to prep them for a vaccine.

HHS says new vaccines should be tested against placebos. They already are

Placebo testing has been part of the process since the 1940s. It’s unclear what additional measures would achieve — but it may slow development.

By McKenzie PrillamanMay 14, 2025
Lack of Evidence: Vaccine additive not linked to developmental problems
Epidemics have happened before and they’ll happen again. What will we remember?

Science News Magazine

July 2025 cover of Science News

July 1, 2025 Vol. 207 No. 7

From the Archives

Panda Pandemonium

June 28, 1975 Vol. 107 No. #26

Featured Media

A person prepares to hit a squash ball with a racket.

No player can return this killer shot. Physics explains how it works

Squash’s killer “nick shot” has a formula. It’s all about height and timing, a new study shows.

Two killer whales are shown rubbing a small piece of brown kelp between their bodies. One whale is to the upper left. The other is to the bottom right. The second whale's nose comes about halfway up the first's body, lining up with its dorsal fin.

Killer whales may use kelp brushes to slough off rough skin

A black circle perfectly blocks the sun in an artificial solar eclipse. The sun's corona and wispy rays radiate from it in lime green.

Two spacecraft created their first images of an artificial solar eclipse

A whale shark looks toward the camera in an underwater photograph. Black-and-white striped fish swim in front of the shark and a scuba diver is in the distance.

50 years after ‘Jaws,’ sharks face their own terror

A seal with speckled gray and black fur swims through an underwater kelp forest, facing the camera.

U.S. seal populations have rebounded — and so have their conflicts with humans

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More Stories

Life

The first cicada concert was 47 million years ago

By Larissa G. CapellaMay 27, 2025
Gila monsters may struggle to survive climate change

By Jake BuehlerApril 4, 2025
Dark coats may have helped the earliest mammals hide from hungry dinosaurs

By Jake BuehlerMarch 13, 2025

Humans

100 years after the Scopes trial, science is still under attack

By Darren IncorvaiaJune 16, 2025
FDA cuts imperil food safety, but not how you might think

By Meghan RosenJune 9, 2025
Ancient horse hunts challenge ideas of ‘modern’ human behavior

By Bruce BowerApril 18, 2025

Climate

This paint ‘sweats’ to keep your house cool

By Larissa G. CapellaJune 13, 2025
Penguin poop gives Antarctic cloud formation a boost

By Carolyn GramlingMay 22, 2025
Losing a key U.S. climate report would hurt future disaster prep

By Carolyn GramlingMay 2, 2025

Astronomy

Mysterious ‘little red dot’ galaxies have a possible origin story

By Ken CroswellJune 27, 2025
Black hole–shredded megastars power a new class of cosmic explosions

By McKenzie PrillamanJune 16, 2025
A dwarf galaxy just might upend the Milky Way’s predicted demise

By Nikk OgasaJune 2, 2025

Physics

Rainbows of sound are a reality thanks to a new device

By Emily ConoverJune 11, 2025
How to get the biggest splash at the pool using science

By Elie DolginJune 9, 2025
Scientists used a levitating magnet to hunt for dark matter

By Emily ConoverMay 21, 2025

Health & Medicine

Many U.S. babies may lack gut bacteria that train their immune systems

By Tina Hesman SaeyJune 25, 2025
Mailed self-sample kits boosted cervical cancer screening

By Aimee CunninghamJune 24, 2025
Cancer DNA is detectable in blood years before diagnosis

By Meghan RosenJune 20, 2025

Earth

Earth’s oldest rocks may be at least 4.16 billion years old

By Carolyn GramlingJune 26, 2025
Climate change is coming for your cheese

By Meghie RodriguesJune 10, 2025
Small earthquakes can have a big impact on the movements of major faults

By Nikk OgasaJune 4, 2025

Science & Society

A Supreme Court ruling on nuclear waste spotlights U.S. storage woes

By Emily ConoverJune 18, 2025
How attacks on evolution in classrooms have shifted over the last 100 years

By Erin WaymanJune 17, 2025
Is nuclear energy good? A new book explores this complex question

By Alka Tripathy-LangJune 17, 2025