Science News

The gold standard of scientific review, peer review by researchers’ colleagues, is in crisis. AI might offer a solution but has problems of its own.

The ambitious expedition aims to fill data gaps about the glacier-sea boundary to predict when the world might tip into a catastrophic climate regime.

A whole-genome analysis of Beefalo, a hybrid bison-cattle breed, suggests very few individuals have any bison DNA at all, a new study reports.

A majority of 8th-graders and roughly a third of 10th- and 12th-graders do not see great risk in using fentanyl once or twice, a study reports.

A scientist, a jar of pickles and a power strip walk into a room. The punchline involves physics, glowing condiments and a scientific party trick.

Homo floresiensis may have scavenged Komodo dragon leftovers instead of hunting small elephant relatives.

Samples collected at daring heights provide evidence for an untested theory of tree drought adaptation, while countering another.

The Smithsonian Natural History Museum’s latest exhibit, “From These Lands,” connects visitors with America’s natural history.

Analysis of 3,000 incidents in Canada reveals which animal–human activity combos are especially risky. Of note: Elk and campgrounds are a bad mix.

Fake, painted decoys suggest immature coloring acts as a social signal, reducing aggression from territorial nesting gulls.

A private rocket mission aims to boost NASA’s Swift telescope before its orbit decays, extending its hunt for gamma-ray bursts.

Walking sharks crawl on their fins across reefs and even out into tide pools. The newfound Dudgeon walking shark brings the known species count to 10.

Euplotes gigatrox’s shape-shifting may reveal how early life learned to act in surprisingly complex ways.

New experiments show that octopuses can understand where an item is based solely on its reflection.

The High-Luminosity LHC, planned to switch on in 2030, could help physicists unravel mysteries about the Higgs boson, dark matter and more.

Renaissance painter Jan Brueghel the Elder painted a bat eating a bird — 400 years before scientists would document the behavior.

New calculations suggest that the insect species inhabiting our planet may be double or triple previous estimates.

Reassuring evidence on acetaminophen’s safety in pregnancy keeps growing, with another study that compares siblings with different prenatal exposures.

New AI models are accelerating the game of cat-and-mouse as cybersecurity experts try to keep ahead of would-be hackers. An AI expert explains the risks.

The enormous deep-sea cousins of your garden’s pill bugs can go five years without food. A gene they pilfered from bacteria may be part of the secret.