Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
A new study suggests Earth formed almost entirely from material in the inner Solar System, challenging the idea that water-rich material from beyond Jupiter played a major role. If correct, Earth’s water may have been present much closer to the young Sun than scientists previously thought.
A search for the most complex elliptic curves has taken mathematicians years. Claude beat the record in days
The patient: A 61-year-old man in IndiaThe symptoms: The man went to an emergency department after fainting. He had felt nauseous just before the episode, which lasted about three minutes and was followed by a second fainting episode lasting about two minutes. He also had swelling around one eye. His family told doctors that he hadn't shown any jerking movements, loss of bladder control or subsequent grogginess, which would have been telltale signs of a seizure.What happened next: Because the man had fainted twice and had a history of heart disease, doctors first looked for problems affecting his brain and heart. An MRI of his brain, used to look for structural abnormalities that could expla...
Rachel Feltman joins Vox’s Unexplainable to discuss the enduring mysteries that continue to challenge science
BERLIN — Lenovo has unveiled a concept laptop that uses high-speed air to silently cool its processor, instead of conventional fans or heat sinks. The new system is powered by a tiny computer chip that can fit between your fingers.The new laptop, called AeroBlade, is fitted with four low-power cooling chips that are both "solid-state," meaning there are no moving parts, and "active" — they use a deliberate cooling mechanism — as opposed to relying on passive thermal energy transfer. The cooling chips contain tiny membranes that vibrate at ultrasonic frequencies to create 2,000 pascals of back pressure, forcing ambient air through tiny internal jets onto a copper base layer at speeds of aroun...
The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed surprising changes in the rings around Chariklo, a small object orbiting between Saturn and Uranus. Over just a few years, its inner ring became more opaque while its outer ring became less opaque. The results suggest that rings around small Solar System bodies may be much more dynamic than scientists previously believed. What is causing the changes remains a mystery.
Eating more ultra-processed foods was linked to greater fat buildup inside thigh muscles, according to MRI scans of 615 adults at risk for knee osteoarthritis. Surprisingly, the association remained even after researchers accounted for calorie intake, physical activity, and other factors. Fatty changes in these muscles may weaken support around the knee and potentially increase osteoarthritis risk.
A naturally occurring molecule called erucamide may help the retina fight back against diseases that cause progressive vision loss. Restoring the molecule activated protective immune responses that helped stabilize retinal tissue and slow aspects of degeneration in preclinical models.
Climate change, driven by humans, is making extreme weather more commonplace
Older adults who changed the balance of fat, carbohydrates, and animal protein in their diets showed signs of reduced biological age after just four weeks. The strongest result appeared in participants eating an omnivorous, lower-fat, higher-carbohydrate diet.
The rings around a strange small body orbiting between Saturn and Uranus look mysteriously different from previous views, new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest.The rings encircle Chariklo, which is a centaur, a strange type of object that shows characteristics of both asteroids and comets. Chariklo is only about 400 miles (250 kilometers) in diameter and is part of a large group of tiny objects in the distant solar system.Scientists first discovered Chariklo's rings in 2013 — making it the first small solar system body found to have rings — and studied them with ground-based telescopes again in 2014 and 2017. When JWST took another look at Chariklo in 2022, a de...
A gift from Live Science ProThis is a Live Science Pro article that we're putting out for free. If you liked this story, please consider subscribing.Artificial intelligence (AI) terrifies us partly because it is new and partly because it is disturbingly familiar. We have invented machines that converse, flatter, argue and improvise with uncanny fluency. Confronted by this synthetic reflection, we behave like early humans seeing a mirror for the first time: We project consciousness behind the glass, then populate it with our expected behaviors, emotions, hopes and nightmares. In other words, we scare ourselves. Today's frontier models are impressively good at writing, coding and math. Yet the...
Amid renewed calls to slow frontier AI, experts are considering what an emergency stop would entail—and who would decide when to use it
Related storiesWhy is it still so hard to make nuclear weapons?'The greatest unknown was how much energy would be released by the weapon': How scientists prepared for the Trinity nuclear testWhat stops nuclear weapons from accidentally detonating?For years, the idea of nuclear weapons in space sounded more like science fiction than a realistic threat. That changed Monday (Sept. 14), when U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced at the Air, Space and Cyber Conference in Maryland that the U.S. had deployed "on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action."While the officials have not said that these weapons are nuclear, the announcement...
Moser’s circle problem can be used to divide a pizza into one, two, four, eight, 16 or 31 slices. It’s a perfect example of how the numbers in a sequence aren’t as clear-cut as they may first appear
A high-ranking official announced yesterday that the U.S. military has deployed weapons into orbit to counter threats from Russia and China
The idea of a humanoid robot folding laundry, loading the dishwasher or vacuuming once sounded like a scene from "The Jetsons." Now, as robotics companies race to develop machines that can navigate everyday environments and handle household tasks, the prospect of a robot taking over our chores feels increasingly real. But just because robots can do the work, that doesn't mean people are ready to welcome them into their homes. Live Science recently polled readers on whether they would want a humanoid robot doing their household chores, and the results reveal just how appealing the idea of a robotic housekeeper really is. As of Sept. 15, over 600 people had responded, with 42% choosing to let ...
Experts say free lunch for every child improves academic performance. Whether it does is murky, according to a Scientific American analysis, but there are definite financial and social benefits
After an OpenAI model presented a possible solution to the Navier-Stokes problem, mathematicians are speculating about which major unsolved question could be resolved next
The Hunga Tonga eruption may have triggered a surprising chemical reaction that destroyed some of the methane released into the atmosphere. Scientists say the discovery could reshape estimates of methane pollution and inspire new methods for slowing near-term global warming.