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Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

Read an extract from Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel
Science News

Read an extract from Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel

Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel is the October read for the New Scientist Book Club In the first spring after the collapse of the United States, the blossoming of the jacaranda trees felt to Ari like grace. The trees bloomed in the same week that international peacekeeping troops withdrew from Los Angeles, and the convergence of flowers with the absence of foreign soldiers brought a delirious kind of hope. Everyone in the spring of 2031 knew the city was one terrorist attack away from disaster, but that peril made the season more vivid, not less. It was Ari’s first spring outside of prison in nearly two decades, and she spent hours at a time walking the streets. Prison is a wasteland of ...

📅 2026-10-02 08:15:00    •    New Scientist
I am a top drone pilot in the Ukrainian Army – this is what it is really like
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I am a top drone pilot in the Ukrainian Army – this is what it is really like

Drones are a key part of the Ukraine-Russia warDmytro Smolienko/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images I joined the army on the day of the Russian invasion. I’d studied computer science and only recently landed a great internship at a game company. But I saw the news and knew my options were to sit and wait for them to come and kill me or go running into the fight. Comparing the early days of the war to now, it’s like two different worlds. Back then there were drones, but most of the damage was still done by artillery. Now, drones are everywhere, from the front line all the way back 30 kilometres. It’s terrifying because you used to be able to come a little way back from the fighting ...

📅 2026-10-02 08:00:00    •    New Scientist
Scientists find an “earthquake gate” as California fault stress hits a 1,000-year high
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Scientists find an “earthquake gate” as California fault stress hits a 1,000-year high

Researchers say stress on Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto faults has reached some of the highest levels seen in a 1,000-year simulation. Because both faults are highly stressed at the same time, the Cajon Pass junction may be increasingly primed for a rupture that could cross both systems, although the study does not predict when an earthquake will happen.

📅 2026-10-02 04:58:10    •    ScienceDaily
Underwater umbrellas for coral reefs could help protect against heat damage
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Underwater umbrellas for coral reefs could help protect against heat damage

High sea temperatures driven by the climate crisis damage corals, bleaching them ghostly white and killing them. While restoration of dead reefs is possible, it's difficult and expensive, and restored corals are vulnerable to future heat waves. Finding ways to stop or slow the damage to existing reefs is crucial.

📅 2026-10-02 04:00:07    •    Phys.org
Cosmic-ray particles help probe powerful electric fields inside thunderstorms
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Cosmic-ray particles help probe powerful electric fields inside thunderstorms

An instrument built to study cosmic rays has turned out to be a powerful tool for investigating thunderstorms. Earlier observations with the GRAPES-3 muon telescope revealed that thunderclouds can develop electrical potential differences far greater than those ever measured directly. But they also uncovered a puzzle: the instrument detected many more thunderstorm events in the eastern part of its field of view than in the western part. A new study by the same team, published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, has now explained why.

📅 2026-10-02 04:00:02    •    Phys.org
Weak sunlight can still damage your DNA, scientists warn
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Weak sunlight can still damage your DNA, scientists warn

Weak sunlight can still damage skin DNA if you spend enough time outdoors, according to a landmark Australian study. Even UV doses too low to cause visible redness triggered cellular damage that could accumulate over time and contribute to skin cancer risk.

📅 2026-10-02 03:41:19    •    ScienceDaily
Electrons slow to a crawl in a strange new quantum state
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Electrons slow to a crawl in a strange new quantum state

Scientists at the University of Chicago have uncovered a surprising quantum state in the layered magnetic material Fe5GeTe2, where huge numbers of electrons move together unusually slowly while remaining quantum coherent. The behavior contradicts existing theoretical predictions about how the material’s magnetism should work and suggests scientists may need to rethink its underlying physics.

📅 2026-10-02 03:10:08    •    ScienceDaily
Scientists may have found a “unifying theory” of chronic fatigue
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Scientists may have found a “unifying theory” of chronic fatigue

Scientists found that five seemingly unrelated conditions, including long Covid, ME/CFS, and PTSD, may disrupt many of the same biological networks involved in immunity, metabolism, and cellular energy. The findings could help explain their shared symptoms and may open the door to new blood tests and treatments.

📅 2026-10-02 01:59:44    •    ScienceDaily
One tiny chemical difference between RNA and DNA may help explain how life began
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One tiny chemical difference between RNA and DNA may help explain how life began

Scientists may have found a clue to one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the origin of life: how fragile RNA molecules could gather and survive before cells existed. New research shows that RNA is unusually good at assembling into tiny liquid-like droplets that concentrate molecules and can harden into protective, gel-like structures. Remarkably, much of this behavior may come down to a single oxygen-containing chemical group that RNA has but DNA lacks.

📅 2026-10-02 01:21:43    •    ScienceDaily
Counteranions reshape molecular packing to tune magnetism in copper complexes
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Counteranions reshape molecular packing to tune magnetism in copper complexes

Magnetic properties in molecular materials depend not only on the molecular components themselves but also on their solid-state organization. In charged π-electronic systems, electrostatic and dispersion forces can organize molecules into distinct ion-pairing structures.

📅 2026-10-01 23:40:01    •    Phys.org
Learning to speak elephant: Choruses of rumbles help groups coordinate
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Learning to speak elephant: Choruses of rumbles help groups coordinate

Choruses of African elephant rumbles appear to become more similar in certain situations, including reuniting or coordinating what to do next. Now, new research published in Scientific Reports provides evidence that elephant rumble choruses function as group signals.

📅 2026-10-01 23:20:01    •    Phys.org
Camelina genome analysis reveals how wild relatives could expand crop breeding options
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Camelina genome analysis reveals how wild relatives could expand crop breeding options

Camelina is a relatively new oilseed gaining interest for its potential use in food, livestock feed and renewable fuel markets. A newly published research paper provides insights into the camelina genome that could give breeders new tools to develop varieties with improved performance, stronger adaptability and traits that matter at the farm level.

📅 2026-10-01 23:00:01    •    Phys.org
Bridging generations: Early findings suggest shared spaces may benefit both children and nursing home residents
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Bridging generations: Early findings suggest shared spaces may benefit both children and nursing home residents

It was the first day of school, and the kids at the Logan Intergenerational Family Education Center were not going to wait a second longer. Normally, the hordes of elementary schoolers would take turns chattering down the hallway to meet and visit their best friends—the senior-citizen residents of the Logan Manor nursing home—during breakfast.

📅 2026-10-01 22:20:06    •    Phys.org