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Closeup photo of a water sample kit held by a Potomac River Keeper Network employee wearing disposable latex gloves

Health & Medicine

How to scout a safe summer swimming hole

Best practices, including checking public E. coli reports and keeping your head above water can keep you safe while swimming.

By Nikk Ogasa48 minutes ago

Oceans

The outlook for a climate-regulating ocean current is…not good

By Carolyn Gramling3 hours ago

The cover of the book "Morbid" by Saul Justin Newman against an orange background.

Health & Medicine

Morbid doesn’t want you to fall for antiaging hype

By Meghan Rosen5 hours ago

An illustration of a silhouette free diving in the dark surrounded by air bubbles

Health & Medicine

What freediving can reveal about human health — and our limits

By Elizabeth Pennisi24 hours ago

A photograph of a whale in San Francisco Bay.

Animals

AI-powered whale-spotting tech may help save San Francisco Bay’s gray whales

By Carolyn GramlingMay 19, 2026

A microscopy image showing a red splotch of DNA passing between cells on a black background.

Health & Medicine

Damaged DNA can spread between human cells. What could that mean for cancer?

By Meghan RosenMay 19, 2026

A photograph of snow-covered Antarctica, which faces a growing fungal threat from a plant-pathogenic fungus, shown in an inset image.

Climate

Antarctic plants may face a growing fungal threat from warming soils

By Carolyn GramlingMay 19, 2026

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

Spotlight on Health

A small white boat pulls away from the black hull of a ship on which the name Hondius is visible in white letters. Eight people in blue medical garb with white showercaps on their heads and wearing N95 masks sit in the back of the boat. A person in a full body white suit including a hood and N95 mask is standing at the front left bow while another person in full white protective gear is in the cabin. These are American citizens being evacuated from a cruise ship after an Andes hantavirus outbreak onboard.

Hantavirus questions grow in the wake of a cruise ship outbreak

Scientists still don’t know why Andes hantavirus is the only one shown to spread from person to person.

By Tina Hesman SaeyMay 13, 2026
What to know about a rare hantavirus outbreak at sea
Peptides are unproven as health aids. FDA may unleash them anyway

Science News Magazine

May 2026 cover of Science News

May 1, 2026 Vol. 208 No. 5

From Science News Investors Lab

Featured Media

Crabs’ sideways walk may have evolved just once

A study of 50 crab species in Japan traces the iconic sideways walk to a single ancestor, suggesting the trait drove the group's remarkable diversity.

Water drops on soap bubble films act like merging galaxies

An artist's reconstruction of a dinosaur with wings using them to hunt insects

If wings came before flight, what were they for?

25 people learned to fly with virtual wings. Here’s how the brain changed

A collage of flowers on a blue background.

Celebrate America’s 250th birthday at a new state flower exhibit

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More Stories

Life

Cows’ methane burps may be fueled by a newfound organelle in gut microbes

By Tina Hesman SaeyApril 30, 2026
Smithsonian secrets most likely to blow your mind

By Meghan Rosen and Stephen VossApril 14, 2026
Talking dogs and chatty cats could one day ‘speak’ in our language

By Laura SandersApril 13, 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

Emperor penguins are marching toward extinction. Antarctica fur seals too

By Carolyn GramlingApril 9, 2026
City skylines influence cloud formation above them

By Larissa G. CapellaMarch 17, 2026
Extreme heat is cutting the time people can safely be active outdoors

By Nikk OgasaMarch 16, 2026

Astronomy

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
Clouds of water ice thread stellar nurseries in the Milky Way

By Nikk OgasaApril 23, 2026

Physics

To get string theory, you need only four physics assumptions

By Emily ConoverMay 13, 2026
The secret to perfect espresso? It’s physics

By Taylor Mitchell BrownApril 24, 2026
A new measurement reveals gravity is still hard to pin down

By Mara Johnson-GrohApril 16, 2026

Health & Medicine

After Dobbs, miscarriage care looked different in states with abortion bans

By Aimee CunninghamMay 18, 2026
Uterus transplants can provide a path to pregnancy and parenthood

By Aimee CunninghamMay 12, 2026
Some South American rodent-borne viruses may spread as climate warms

By Erin Garcia de JesúsMay 11, 2026

Earth

Never-ending storms make for good plot twists. Could they plague Earth?

By Aaron TremperMay 18, 2026
The crust under Africa is thinning in a way that hasn’t been seen before

By Katherine KorneiMay 13, 2026
Seismic data captured the sound of awe during a solar eclipse

By Maria TemmingApril 29, 2026

Science & Society

Our understanding of Charles Darwin continues to evolve

By Aaron TremperMay 15, 2026
AI can take the friction out of life, but some effort can be good

By Sujata GuptaMay 14, 2026
Know the legal age to buy tobacco products in the U.S.? Many parents don’t

By Aimee CunninghamApril 17, 2026