Science News Explores

Victoria Glynn is studying how high temperatures are affecting ocean plankton. She also makes art to help communicate science to the public.

Data from animal studies point to a troubling possibility: Caffeine may alter brain development.

Humidity makes North American sweat bees change color. This trait could be widespread among shiny insects, some biologists now suspect.

New brain scans are helping sort out how our brains process imagined thoughts versus real sensations.

This is a trait in which one kind of sensory input, such as sound, can trigger another sense, such as sight.

In 2022, NASA smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid. New data show how that impact changed the orbit around the sun of this space rock — and its partner.

Though they can look like rocks or plants, corals are animals. Most are made up of colonies of individuals called polyps.

Millions of treasures stashed in this museum storage site — open only to select visitors — tell the history of Earth's inhabitants.

At the 2026 Regeneron ISEF competition, teens showed how they blasted past a problem that has limited use of super-efficient aerospike rocket engines.

As expert echolocators make multiple clicking sounds, their brains process the echoes to help them perceive their surroundings.

A study of ancient artifacts suggests Native American dice games began thousands of years earlier than previously documented.

These massive wildflower blooms create colorful carpets over desert landscapes during unusually rainy years.

Scientists are testing whether plastic pollution from the ocean can be transformed into safe and durable highways.

Learning from the Earth's past climate swings — what happened to life and when — can help us understand where we might be headed.

Here’s a basic breakdown of the different cloud types, as well as how clouds form and why they float.

Methanol is used in plastics, paints and as a race car fuel. It’s been hard to make. But engineers have found a simple trick: Add lightning to methane.

Special pockets in these molecular structures make them useful in medicine, climate science and more.

The footage shows other sperm whales huddled around the mother, helping lift the newborn calf to the surface until it’s ready to swim.

An AI-made picture of an animal or flower might seem harmless, but fake images of people or events can spread misinformation.

Flavonoids from passionflower plants may one day give chewing gums the ability to take the edge off frazzled nerves or anxiety, report two Regeneron ISEF finalists.