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A black and white historical photograph of Trofim Lysenko measuring wheat heads in a field. Lysenko is kneeling and squinting at part of the plant. He has slicked-back hair and is wearing a pin on his jacket. Two men on the right side of the photo bend over him. Both are wearing brimmed, flat-topped caps. The man in the middle of the photo has a long beard.

Science & Society

Here’s what happens when you put politicians in charge of science

Proposed federal rules would rely on political appointees to decide how a lot of U.S. science gets done. History shows the consequences of such actions.

By Tina Hesman Saey45 minutes ago

The cover of "Lost in Curiosity," a book by Roberta Kwok, on a bright red background. The book's cover features a night sky with stars and a nebula above lush plants, flowers, a wolf, a planet, and scientific objects like binoculars and a camera. The subtitle on the book reads “Field Notes from Scientists’ Adventures into the Unknown.”

Science & Society

Lost in Curiosity reveals the messy reality of doing science

By Shi En Kim2 hours ago

An Andean leaf-eared mouse sits on a rock against a black background.

Animals

Summit living isn’t a problem for this tiny mouse

By Erin Garcia de Jesús22 hours ago

An image featuring different types of birth control, including pills, condoms, a patch, contraceptive shot and more.

Health & Medicine

Support goes a long way to boost birth control effectiveness

By Aimee CunninghamJuly 9, 2026

An illustration shows a Neandertal child and a modern human child facing each other, depicted at roughly the same height.

Neandertal babies were a lot like ours — but didn’t stay that way

By Tom MetcalfeJuly 9, 2026

A satellite image of hot sea surface temperatures, shown by shades of red and orange, in the eastern Pacific Ocean that signaled the start of an El Niño event.

Climate

Can geoengineering blunt El Niño’s fury?

By Carolyn GramlingJuly 8, 2026

An illustration showing a cluster of satellites orbiting above Earth.

Space

A shoebox-sized satellite could expose hidden nuclear weapons in space

By Emily ConoverJuly 8, 2026

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

Spotlight on Extreme Heat and Health

A man pours water from a plastic bottle onto his face.

Extreme heat is cutting the time people can safely be active outdoors

Heat and humidity now severely limit light physical activity for millions of people around the world, with older adults facing the greatest burden.

By Nikk OgasaMarch 16, 2026
Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves
Extreme heat taxes the body in many ways. Here’s how

Science News Magazine

July 2026 cover of Science News

July 1, 2026 Vol. 208 No. 7

From Science News Investors Lab

Featured Media

Sea cucumbers harbor ‘zombie’ tissues that won’t die

Detached tissues from the sea cucumber's tube feet and feeding tentacles survived for more than three years, a find that could shape the study of aging.

An illustration shows a baby version of an early vertebrate that would have made the transition from water to land. It's a mini version of an adult-sized one seen in the background of this underwater scene.

A textbook assumption about early land vertebrates may be wrong

A ‘Super El Niño’ may be on the way. What does that mean?

A photo illustration that splices together parts of the moon, a satellite and graphics related to space travel.

NASA seems to be backing away from hunting for life on Mars

Illustration of a turntable where the spinning record morphs into a cosmic disk with planets and swirling space above.

Otherworldly music albums feature space weather data

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More Stories

Life

The natural history of every U.S. state is on display at a new D.C. exhibit

By Aaron Tremper and Mandana TadayonJuly 2, 2026
Can DEET attract mosquitoes? A lab study offers clues

By Erin Garcia de JesúsMay 28, 2026
Cows’ methane burps may be fueled by a newfound organelle in gut microbes

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 30, 2026

Humans

Have a taste of our favorite food stories from 2025

By Carly KayDecember 24, 2025
‘Black Religion in the Madhouse’ examines psychiatry and race post-Civil War

By Aimee CunninghamDecember 12, 2025
Ancient southern Africans took genetic evolution in a new direction

By Bruce BowerDecember 3, 2025

Climate

A robot swarm is on a mission to map Greenland’s perilous ice sheets

By Mićo TatalovićJuly 7, 2026
The North Atlantic’s ‘cold blob’ may signal a major current’s decline

By Carolyn GramlingJune 15, 2026
Huge volcanic eruption offers clues to fighting climate change

By Javier BarbuzanoMay 27, 2026

Astronomy

Even quiet black holes create winds, new Milky Way observations reveal

By Mara Johnson-GrohJune 4, 2026
Astronomers may have found a record-breaking pair of black holes

By Mara Johnson-GrohMay 11, 2026
The earliest evidence of the first stars may lie in a distant gas clump

By Mara Johnson-GrohApril 24, 2026

Physics

Pickles glow when you plug them in. Science explains why

By Emily ConoverJuly 6, 2026
A potential hindrance to fusion power may help instead

By Emily ConoverJune 24, 2026
Here’s what would happen if you tried to break a photon in half

By Maria TemmingJune 12, 2026

Health & Medicine

Many U.S. teens underestimate fentanyl’s deadly risk

By Aimee CunninghamJuly 7, 2026
Acetaminophen in pregnancy shows no link to autism or ADHD, again

By Aimee CunninghamJune 29, 2026
Even ‘safe’ air pollution levels may affect heart health

By Isha IshtiaqJune 23, 2026

Earth

A tropical permafrost layer in Peru may be one of the world’s largest

By Danielle BeurteauxJune 22, 2026
A 2011 earthquake bounced a seismic wave off Earth’s core, nudging Japan east

By Katherine KorneiJune 18, 2026
Earth’s stratosphere is a mysterious superhighway for microbes

By Douglas FoxJune 10, 2026

Science & Society

A discovery about this bat’s diet was hiding in a Renaissance painting

By Bethany BrookshireJune 29, 2026
The truth about brain rot, according to science

By Kathryn HulickJune 18, 2026
How real is the Cyclops in The Odyssey?

By Lily BurtonJune 17, 2026