Science
Wildfires push endangered Sumatran elephants to brink: Indonesian NGO
Critically endangered Sumatran elephants are being pushed closer to the brink as wildfires raze vast swaths of their habitat on the western island of Sumatra, Indonesian conservat…
SpaceX prepares for first orbital flight of Starship rocket
SpaceX announced Tuesday that it was planning to send its flagship rocket, Starship, into orbit, a key step in its project to one day reach the moon or Mars.
US acknowledges for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space
The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly w…
Well-preserved tooth from Pacific mastodon found in a creek in San Francisco Bay Area
Brigid Lynch was working along a wooded creek in a mountainous part of the San Francisco Bay Area when something that didn't look like the rocks she'd been studying caught her eye…
A world 20 light-years away reveals surprisingly organized, Jupiter-like weather
Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have developed a way to unravel changing weather patterns on distant worlds. Using this approach, they discovered that the weather on a well…
Plantwatch: The insect-eating alpine plant that proves Darwin was right
Study shows Saxifraga candelabrum traps and digests midges – just as the evolutionary biologist predicted back in 1875In 1875, Charles Darwin predicted that Saxifraga candelabrum,…
APOD: 2026 September 16 – Webb’s View of M64
APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 16 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the co…
Airlines should pay for CO2 removal if Heathrow expands, say climate advisers
Climate Change Committee says government cannot expand airport without requiring aviation industry to clean up its emissions Heathrow airport should be allowed to expand only if a…
The girl with a will to live: the love, hope and pain of raising Elsie – my one in 163 million daughter
She was born with an ultra-rare genetic disorder. After my decades working in film PR, I now face the biggest campaign of all: the fight for her lifeMy daughter Elsie has beautifu…
Expect even more potholes on UK roads after summer heatwaves, says RAC
Extreme weather has made brittle road surfaces more likely to crack, increasing strain on infrastructureThe UK’s dilapidated roads are expected to get even worse, with motorists w…
Chimpanzees give youngsters the tools to learn tricky techniques
Two-thirds of a century after Jane Goodall observed "David Greybeard" break off a twig to fashion a fishing rod for termites, researchers following in her footsteps have found tha…
How high turnover rates in Tanzania's agro-dealer sector affect farmer fertilizer adoption
Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa adopt agricultural inputs, including fertilizer, at low rates, contributing to low agricultural productivity. Previous research has shown…
A new mechanism for reading extra-long genes in neurons
Neurons in humans and other mammals express many exceptionally long genes, ranging from more than 100 kbp to more than 2 Mbp, that are important for forming synapses and neural ci…
Study explores new photonics advance: Topology imprinting in nonlinear metasurfaces
Light is traditionally described by properties such as wavelength, amplitude, phase and polarization. Advances in optics have shown that light can also be shaped into complex spat…
Greyhound racing just turned 100, and says its dogs are fine. But are they?
This year, greyhound racing in Britain turns 100 years old. The first race took place on July 24, 1926, in Manchester, where six dogs chased a mechanical hare around a track.
NASA Ames Stars of the Month: September 2026
The NASA Ames Science Directorate recognizes the outstanding contributions of (pictured left to right) Steve Ormsby, Aphrodite Kostakis, Alejando Borlaff, Sarah Nickerson, Martina…
Congressional Republicans Aim to Shield Fossil Fuel Companies From Climate Lawsuits
Republicans in Congress are continuing their efforts to shield the fossil fuel industry from legal liability for its role in unleashing the heat-trapping gases linked to a cascade…
New species of 240-million-year-old prehistoric animal could reshape dinosaur origins timeline
A new prehistoric animal species from Tanzania dating to around 240 million years ago, during the Triassic period, has been described by an international team of researchers. Led …
An Environmental Defender Is Murdered Every Three Days
Every three days someone is killed for defending nature. In 2025, watchdog group Global Witness documented 124 such deaths worldwide, a toll researchers say is likely only a frac…
Plasma and electricity convert CO₂ into methanol, butane and other useful chemicals
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be harmful to the environment in large amounts but can be used in the production of fuels and other useful chemicals. Doing so isn't easy, though. Now, Ya…
Pushback Mounts Against Trump’s Attacks on the Endangered Species Act
A Trump administration rule eviscerating widespread habitat protections for endangered species just went into effect. First proposed in April, the rule rescinds the long-held def…
Tracking the path of new world screwworm
New cases of New World screwworm have recently surfaced in the United States, highlighting the critical need to track its paths to determine where future infestations may occur. R…
22 years of science! NASA's Roman Space Telescope doubles its lifetime with super-precise engine burn
Originally planned to have a primary five-year mission followed by a five-year extended mission, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will now operate for over two decades.
Webb reveals dynamic panorama of star formation, including smallest known brown dwarfs
This starry view of the nearby star-forming region IC 348 is one of the largest images released to date from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Using Webb, astronomers searched IC…