Stay informed about scientific discoveries, research developments and new findings from around the world.
2025 was a brutal year of budget cuts and workforce attrition at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the home base for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Experts worry Goddard—and NASA’s space science—may never recover
In parallel, a race by amateurs and mathematicians has found all 25,000 cases of one “inverse Galois problem”
QUICK FACTSWhere is it? Emi Koussi, Chad [19.825520656, 18.551560720]What's in the photo? A patch of bright-white salt at the summit of the Sahara's tallest volcanoWho took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space StationWhen was it taken? Dec. 29, 2024This intriguing astronaut photo shows a bright-white, salty surprise lurking at the summit of a giant volcano in the Sahara. The ancient, lava-covered peak also holds hidden, shadowy waterways, despite its extremely arid environment.Emi Koussi (also known as Emi Koussou) is a pyroclastic shield volcano in northern Chad. It's located within the Tibesti Massif, a volcanic mountain range that straddles the border between C...
An amateur astronomer searching satellite maps for a Quebec camping spot accidentally discovered a massive ancient impact crater. Scientists later found shatter cones that confirmed the 25-kilometer-wide structure was blasted into Earth roughly 390 million years ago.
Researchers in China have developed a sensor that could reduce the amount of energy that drones and other autonomous hardware use to process visual data.In a study published Aug. 19 in the journal Nature Sensors, scientists detailed the architecture of a new 2D chip dubbed "LightTok," which can convert raw light into tokens used by artificial intelligence (AI) models on the chip itself. The device skips several energy-intensive steps that conventional sensor systems depend on, the scientists said. "Our design idea was to move token generation onto the sensor itself, allowing the chip to directly produce tokens that AI models can process once light reaches the sensor," Miao Feng, director of ...
The Parthenon sits atop a platform that is curved into a subtle hill shape that some say makes the structure appear straighter—but is that true?
A Yellowstone super-eruption would begin not with a sudden surprise, but with weeks of increasingly alarming warning signs such as migrating earthquake swarms, rapid ground uplift, changing geysers, and rising volcanic gases. In a worst-case scenario, those signals could culminate in a VEI 8 eruption that blasts ash tens of kilometers into the atmosphere, unleashes deadly pyroclastic flows, buries parts of the western United States in ash, and cripples transportation, electricity, water systems, agriculture, and communications across much of North America.
U.S. News and World Report has designated MIT as the top school in its annual rankings of the nation’s best universities, announced today. Among the academic specialties that U.S. News evaluates, MIT’s engineering program continues to lead the rankings of undergraduate engineering programs at a doctoral institution. The Institute’s undergraduate computer science and economics programs also ranked No. 1, and its undergraduate business program ranked No. 2.U.S. News ranked MIT highly in several other categories: The Institute is No. 1 for undergraduate research and creative projects, No. 2 on the list of most innovative schools, and No. 3 on the list of best value schools.MIT placed first in f...
Following World War II, the MIT faculty convened a committee to assess the Institute’s principles of education and their relevance “in a new era emerging from social upheaval and the disasters of war.” One of the outcomes of this pivotal report was the establishment of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS). MIT News convened a discussion with three SHASS faculty — David Kaiser, Heather Paxson, and Jonathan Gruber — about what makes the school special and why it’s a core part of the MIT experience. Listen to the conversation or read the transcript below.Peter Dizikes: Welcome to MIT, everybody. My name is Peter Dizikes and I’m a writer for MIT News. Every year, over 1,00...
Researchers have found evidence that long COVID may damage dopamine releasing neurons in the brain, potentially explaining persistent fatigue, low motivation, slowed movement, and memory difficulties. The discovery could lead to new treatments that target the brain's dopamine system.
Genetic evidence has revealed a previously unknown gentoo penguin species on the remote Kerguelen Islands and shown that gentoos actually consist of four distinct species. The discovery also highlights a growing threat, as warming oceans could leave several island populations with little suitable habitat by 2050.
A study of more than 800 fast-food customers suggests that loyalty to a brand is shaped not only by satisfaction with the product or service but also by customers' emotional experiences. The study, published in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, focused on fast-food consumers in Peru but could have implications for fast-food brands in other emerging markets.
Stem cell transplants helped regenerate stroke-damaged brain tissue in mice, producing new neurons and restoring lost motor function. The treatment also improved blood vessels, inflammation, and the blood-brain barrier, raising hopes that a similar approach could eventually help repair the human brain after stroke.
Researchers have found that we know very little about how artificial intelligence use impacts younger school children's ability to learn and think.
Ph.D. candidate Natalia Seliutina has followed gemstones from the -30° temperatures of Siberia to the carving studios of Ōtepoti and the particle accelerators of Taiwan in her quest to discover why pounamu is one of the toughest natural materials on Earth. Fresh from the publication of Natalia's paper in the New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, Kathryn van Beek catches up with her to find out how understanding the properties of pounamu might one day help us explore space.
Who cuts emissions fastest, and who supports others in doing so, are central questions in global climate action. New IIASA-led research shows that building fairness into climate models from the start can inform deliberations without changing the overall climate goal.
Segregation is a multidimensional phenomenon deeply intertwined with historical, social and ecological contexts. Yet this more integrated perspective has received limited attention in the Global South. A recent study focusing on the city of Valdivia offers an exception, examining three key historical moments: colonization, the devastating 1960 earthquake and current struggles to protect urban wetlands.
A synthetic biology technology has been developed that converts easily degraded messenger RNA (mRNA) into a ring-shaped form inside microbial cells, increasing protein production.
Geopolitical rivalry, conflict, authoritarian nationalism and the systematic erosion of rules-based politics are reshaping the global order and putting cooperation under growing pressure. Yet the picture is more nuanced: While disruptive trends dominate the headlines, reforms are taking shape at the same time.
Gloeotrichia echinulata is a type of cyanobacterium that draws scrutiny because it tends to bloom in clear lakes, forming thick mats of visible green or white puffballs in otherwise clean water. Because of the slew of toxic compounds cyanobacteria can produce, blooms (historically called "blue-green algae") are of growing global concern. Yet, a new study by researchers at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and Oregon State University suggests this particular species might not deserve its maligned reputation.
Sulfur-crested cockatoos are surprisingly smart. In Australian cities such as Brisbane and Sydney, they've learned how to turn on drinking fountains by twisting the handle with their feet. In Sydney, they're even able to lift the lids of municipal garbage cans to get to the leftover food scraps inside.
More than 93,000 visible appearances of brands promoting unhealthy food and drink, alcohol, gambling and speculative products were recorded during coverage of the largest FIFA World Cup in history, new research has found. Unhealthy food and drink brands accounted for more than seven in 10, with 65,722 appearances.
While the Discovery Channel's annual Shark Week event has given the public greater familiarity with sharks, much about them—from their mysterious love lives to how their eating habits bring them into conflict with recreational anglers—remains a mystery to scientists. Now, two new studies led by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst peer into these important aspects of shark biology to help guide real-world conservation strategies.
A University of Iowa-led research team has reported in a new study the most detailed observations to date of the bow shock at Jupiter, our solar system's gas giant. The findings from NASA's Juno mission reveal key differences between Jupiter's bow shock and Earth's. They also may lead to a better understanding of the physics of how shocks function in even more powerful energy releases, such as those from dying stars. The research is published in Nature Communications.