Planet Earth

Aerial image of Vostok Station in Antarctica.

Lake Vostok: The 15 million-year-old lake buried miles beneath Antarctica's ice

By Sascha Pare published

Buried several miles beneath East Antarctica's ice, Lake Vostok is one of the largest freshwater lakes on Earth, rivaling Lake Ontario in terms of size and volume.

Antarctica

Parts of San Francisco and Los Angeles are sinking into the sea — meaning sea-level rise will be even worse

By Patrick Pester published

A study led by NASA and NOAA has found that California is sinking in some areas, which means the projected sea level rise for parts of Los Angeles and San Francisco has doubled.

Planet Earth
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Space

NASA rover discovers liquid water 'ripples' carved into Mars rock — and it could rewrite the Red Planet's history

By Joanna Thompson published

NASA's Curiosity rover photographed remnants of rippling waves in an ancient Martian lakebed, proving that the Red Planet had open water for longer in its history than previously thought.

Mars
A collection of asteroids in a disk far away from a star

1 million 'interstellar objects' — each larger than the Statue of Liberty — may lurk in the outer solar system

By Harry Baker published

New simulations reveal that around 1 million "macroscopic" objects from our closest stellar neighbors, the Alpha Centauri system, may already reside in the Oort Cloud, far from sight.

Astronomy
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archaeology

Close-up of a wooden diorama showing five human figurines. Two are facing away from the camera, and three face the camera. They are carrying sacks of grain.

Ancient Egyptian 'granary with scribes' diorama: A miniature workplace found buried in a tomb from the Middle Kingdom

By Kristina Killgrove published

A small, wooden diorama found in an ancient Egyptian tomb reflects the importance of grain in an agricultural society.

Ancient Egyptians
Colorful, LEGO-inspired birthday cake with 6 multicolored candles sits on a table with three noisemakers. There are polka-dotted birthday balloons in rainbow colors in the background.

When were birthday parties invented?

By Kristina Killgrove published

Although many researchers assume that birthday celebrations date back to the ancient Egyptians, the earliest textual evidence of a birthday party proves these annual events are much older.

Archaeology
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Health

The US is having its most active flu season in 15 years

By Hatty Willmoth published

The U.S. is currently experiencing very high levels of seasonal influenza across the country. Here's why.

Flu

Scientists just rewrote our understanding of epigenetics

By Jennifer Zieba published

DNA and RNA epigenetics, once thought to be separate, have now been found to work together to fine-tune gene expression.

Genetics
an illustration of a DNA helix

Biological aging may not be driven by what we thought

By Nicoletta Lanese published

A new study draws a line between random genetic mutations and predictable epigenetic changes used to measure biological aging.

Ageing
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Animals

Can animals learn another species' 'language?'

By Marilyn Perkins published

Animals hear other species communicate around them every day. Do they understand what they're saying?

Animals
a photo of two puppies "kissing"

Do other animals kiss?

By Marilyn Perkins published

Kissing is a multifaceted and emotionally loaded behavior. Do other animals do it, too?

Animals
a photo of a man pulling a great white shark into a boat

Massive male great white shark tagged and released off Florida coast in new video

By Patrick Pester published

Scientists have tagged a giant male great white shark off the East Coast. The researchers said "Contender" is the largest male white shark ever caught and studied in the northwest Atlantic.

Sharks
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Human Behavior

Jane Goodall with a chimpanzee

30 amazing women in science and math

By Tom Garlinghouse, Live Science Staff last updated

From the first woman to win a Nobel Prize to the discoverer of jumping genes, here are some of the women who have made major contributions to science and mathematics.

Human Behavior
an abstract illustration showing a menacing face forming out of data streaming from computers

Fake studies are slowing lifesaving medical research — all while fraudsters are getting rich, investigation reveals

By Frederik Joelving, Cyril Labbé, Guillaume Cabanac published

Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research

Human Behavior
A woman is shown embracing her child and looking down at her.

Parents really do have favorites, study suggests

By Emily Cooke published

Parents are more likely to favor daughters and more-agreeable children, new research suggests, although the findings may only apply to people from certain demographics.

Human Behavior
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Physics & Mathematics

A rendering of a retro fallout shelter

Would a fallout shelter really protect you in a nuclear blast?

By Elana Spivack published

Nuclear bunkers aren't a foolproof way to stay safe during a nuclear attack. Here's why.

Physics & Mathematics
A boy hula hoops with multiple colorful hoops

How do Hula-Hoops work?

By Charles Choi published

How do Hula-Hoops keep from falling down as we twirl them around?

Physics & Mathematics
A NASA graphic depicting a galaxy with a red half-circle superimposed over it to represent the mass of dark matter believed to be found there.

'Heavy' dark matter would rip our understanding of the universe apart, new research suggests

By Paul Sutter published

Because we haven't found anything yet, we've started to wonder if dark matter might be lighter or heavier than we thought.

Dark Matter
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Chemistry

a woman wearing many layers clutches her scarf in her hands

New fabric can heat up more than 50 degrees to keep people warm in ultracold weather

By Victoria Atkinson published

A new smart fabric converts light into heat and can raise temperatures by more than 54 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) after just 10 minutes in the sun.

Chemistry
An image of the new nanomaterial.

New wonder material designed by AI is as light as foam but as strong as steel

By Ben Turner published

The new technique could produce materials for use in helicopters, airplanes and spacecraft.

Chemistry
An artist's illustration of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft poised to land on the asteroid Bennu.

Asteroid Bennu contains the 'seeds of life,' OSIRIS-REx samples reveal

By Ben Turner published

Scientists have found all five nucleobases alongisde minerals essential for life as we know it on the potentially hazardous asteroid Bennu.

Chemistry
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Technology

Surprisingly simple coding trick can slash data center energy usage by 30%

By Ruari McCallion published

Scientists discovered that by adding 30 lines to the Linux operating system, they could dramatically reduce the amount of energy that data centers consume.

Computing

Older AI models show signs of cognitive decline, study shows

By Drew Turney published

Older chatbots, just like people, show signs of cognitive impairment, failing on several important metrics in a test normally used on human patients.

Artificial Intelligence
LG laptop.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold Gen 2 review

By Keumars Afifi-Sabet published

Review A unique design and grat display, but performance is only so-so

Review
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