Science News
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We report on the latest news in all fields of science. See also @snexplores.bsky.social
Watch these swirling whirlpools on the sun’s surface — they contain energy that might cause solar flares. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-swirls-sun-trigger-solar-flares
These tiny swirls on the sun could trigger solar flares
Scientists have finally seen a long-predicted motion on the sun, and it may help explain explosive solar activity.
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A jab of a protein produced by bullfrogs rescued mice from a lethal dose of saxitoxin, a neurotoxin that's deadly to many animals and causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, researchers report. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bullfrog-antidote-shellfish-poisoning
Bullfrogs may have an antidote to deadly shellfish poisoning
Researchers injected mice with a protein derived from frogs to save them from the same kind of shellfish poisoning that affects people.
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Our learned skills can erode if we rely too much on AI, scientists say. To keep skills or learn new ones, we need to keep our brains in the loop. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-making-us-dumber-learning-skills-risk
Is AI making us dumber? Maybe not. But our skills are at risk
Studies suggest AI can weaken learning when it replaces effort, but tools that guide rather than answer may help people keep their skills.
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An emperor penguin colony in Antarctica had a run-in with a grounded iceberg that may have led to a disastrous breeding season. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/penguin-chicks-starved-iceberg-cause
Emperor penguin chicks like these starved. An iceberg may be the cause
An emperor penguin colony in Antarctica saw a massive decline in chicks in 2025. The contours of a nearby grounded iceberg may have been the cause.
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Imagine a superhero whose power is releasing an odor so strong their enemies stop fighting. For naked mole-rats, such power lies with the queen. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/naked-mole-rat-queens-potent-odor
Naked mole-rat queens rule their colonies with a potent odor
A compound made only by breeding queens keeps naked mole-rat colonies infertile and free of conflict.
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Afraid your man is cheating? Take a note from these pied flycatchers and keep an ear out for red flags. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cheating-birds-song-pied-flycatchers
‘Cheating’ birds change their tune
Female pied flycatchers can tell whether a male is paired or not based on song differences. Mated males sing shorter songs and repeat syllables less.
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Early data suggest that a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease may also help diagnose CTE, a brain condition most often linked to head trauma in contact sports. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/alzheimers-protein-test-brain-cte
To detect CTE while alive, a test for another brain disease may help
A protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease may also ID a brain condition associated with head trauma in contact sports, early findings suggest.
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The average American struggles to get 20 minutes of exercise per day. They probably don’t need more protein. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/protein-diet-craze-everyone-aging
The protein craze may not be for everyone
Getting more protein has been all the rage. In sedentary people, that advice could accelerate aging.
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Fires hum. As they suck in air and belch out hot gas, they give off pressure waves below the range of human hearing. Researchers used that infrasound to track a prescribed burn in Idaho from nearly two kilometers away. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fire-sound-monitoring-tracking
Scientists tracked a fire using sound alone
Researchers tracked a prescribed grassland fire using infrasound, sound waves pitched too low for people to hear.
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More mammals from North America live in the south than vice versa. The animals could have adapted in Mexico, and the extended vacation allowed them to better adjust to the southern continent. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mammals-moving-americas-stopped-mexico
Mammals moving between the Americas stopped over in Mexico
Ancient mammals may have had an easier time moving across the Isthmus of Panama from north to south thanks to Mexico’s climate.
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After rigorous field studies, genetic testing and analyzing vocalizations, scientists have confirmed this rare African monkey as new to science. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-monkey-species-endangered
A new monkey species has been found deep in Congo’s forests
A canopy call, a partial photo and DNA revealed a new primate species — one that may already be at risk of extinction.
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Women who had an experimental therapy to treat their autoimmune disease went on to have healthy pregnancies and newborns, a small study finds. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/healthy-pregnancy-birth-car-t-therapy
Healthy pregnancies and newborns are possible after CAR T cell therapy
Women who received treatment for autoimmune diseases with CAR T cell therapy went on to have regular pregnancies and healthy babies.
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After decades in tourist camps and circuses, African elephants that were returned to the wild are behaving, in many respects, like elephants that were never captive. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/captive-elephants-relearn-live-wild
Elephants can relearn how to live wild after years in captivity
Researchers documented behavioral similarities between 11 rehabilitated elephants and their wild counterparts.
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Killer whales might pulverize sunfish to break them into smaller bites for young orcas — or they might just find it entertaining, researchers report. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/orca-ram-into-sunfish-explodes
Watch an orca ram into a sunfish so hard it explodes
This strategy expands orcas’ already broad repertoire for dispatching different types of prey.
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Both chimpanzees and bonobos appear to use friendly physical touch as a way of easing tension among group members in stressful situations. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ape-physical-touch-stress-relief-chimps
Ape cuddles could prevent conflicts
Humans could learn from chimpanzees and bonobos, who turn to group members for physical comfort during tense moments.
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Bits of rock from the farside of the moon are adding weight to a scientific rethink about the solar system’s adolescence. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/farside-moon-rocks-late-heavy-battering
Different moon rocks tell different tales about a long-ago bombardment
Prior moon rock samples, including from Apollo, seem heavily influenced by one impact. The farside samples tweak the story.
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Humpback whales are famous for working together to trap prey in bubble nets. Now, scientists have documented them teaming up at the seafloor too, coordinating their movements to feed on sand lances. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/humpback-whale-hunting-seafloor
This humpback whale hunting strategy has been out of sight — until now
Scientists documented humpback whales hunting together at the seafloor, coordinating their arrival to scoop up sand lances.
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Exposure to trace metals and “forever chemicals” may be prematurely aging dolphins. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/forever-chemicals-aging-dolphins
‘Forever chemicals’ could be aging dolphins beyond their years
Common dolphins in New Zealand are biologically older than their calendar ages. Trace metals and “forever chemicals” may be to blame.
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Most snake fossils are 2-D. But in 2020, scientists discovered a 3-D fossil in Brazil. Its skull is revealing new insights into the lives of ancient snakes. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/3d-rare-snake-fossil-underground-home
A rare 3-D snake fossil is ssspilling sssecrets of its unusual lifestyle
A new snake’s unique head anatomy suggests early snakes were even more diverse than thought. This one was a rare burrower.
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Astronomers have given a star orbiting the red supergiant Betelgeuse the name Siwarha, meaning “her bracelet,” as a reference to Betelgeuse’s Arabic name meaning “hand of the giant.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-images-betelgeuse-star
New images reveal Betelgeuse’s buddy star
A century of hints has suggested the famed red supergiant had a star pal but seeing it amid Betelgeuse’s brightness has been hard — until now.
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That’s no moon: A newly discovered cosmic object challenges astronomical definition. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/exoplanet-object-moon-planet-unknown
A newly found world blurs the boundary between planet and moon
The object orbits a brown dwarf that orbits a star, and astronomers aren’t sure if it’s a planet, a moon — or something else entirely.
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New research suggests language extinction began with the rise of nation-states not colonialism. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/golden-age-language-history-diversity
The golden age of language was a few thousand years ago
A few millennia ago, people worldwide may have spoken or signed up to 10 times as many languages as they do today.
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A recent study provides the first documentation of humpback whales teaming up to feed at the seafloor. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/humpback-whale-hunting-seafloor
This humpback whale hunting strategy has been out of sight — until now
Scientists documented humpback whales hunting together at the seafloor, coordinating their arrival to scoop up sand lances.
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Orcas have been known to slap around stingrays, punt seals into the air and otherwise play with their food. But killer whales don’t just toy with live prey — some seem to enjoy destroying the carcasses of their kills like piñatas. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/orca-ram-into-sunfish-explodes
Watch an orca ram into a sunfish so hard it explodes
This strategy expands orcas’ already broad repertoire for dispatching different types of prey.
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A newfound species of ancient snake, named Tametara mirim, would have lived alongside ancient birds and sauropod dinosaurs 85 million years ago in what is now Brazil. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/3d-rare-snake-fossil-underground-home
A rare 3-D snake fossil is ssspilling sssecrets of its unusual lifestyle
A new snake’s unique head anatomy suggests early snakes were even more diverse than thought. This one was a rare burrower.
sciencenews.org
Seals, sea lions and walruses — collectively known as pinnipeds — are the only mammals with excellent hearing both above and below the water. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/seals-amphibious-hearing-long-ago
Seals' amphibious hearing developed a long, long time ago
Researchers scanned the ears of hundreds of marine mammals to deduce when pinnipeds evolved to hear well in both air and water.
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How can animals that live around deep ocean hydrothermal vents find new habitats? The answer seems to include a detour to the surface. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sea-snail-journey-hydrothermal-vents
Deep-sea snails ride surface currents to reach distant hydrothermal vents
The finding shows how life spreads between isolated deep-sea vents — and how closely those ecosystems are tied to the sunlit ocean.
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Languages today are disappearing at an alarming rate. Such language extinction might have been even more rapid in the past. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/golden-age-language-history-diversity
The golden age of language was a few thousand years ago
A few millennia ago, people worldwide may have spoken or signed up to 10 times as many languages as they do today.
sciencenews.org
Dwindling numbers of saber-toothed cats could have made tumors like ones found in several cats entombed in the La Brea Tar Pits more likely to develop as populations became more inbred. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/spine-saber-toothed-cat-tumor-extinct
Spines of saber-toothed cats tell a tale of the doomed species
Remains pulled from the La Brea Tar Pits revealed deformed vertebrae and rare tumors, possible signs of inbreeding among now-extinct saber-toothed cats.
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