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New Research

Paranthropus boisei composite hand

The Top Human Evolution Discoveries of 2025, From the Intriguing Neanderthal Diet to the Oldest Western European Face Fossil

Smithsonian paleoanthropologists examine the year’s most fascinating revelations

Stimulants prescribed for ADHD target the parts of the brain related to wakefulness and reward, shown in yellow and orange, according to a new study.

How Do These ADHD Medications Work in the Brain? The Mechanisms Are Different Than Once Thought, a Study Suggests

Adderall, Ritalin and other stimulants prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder seem to work on brain areas involved with wakefulness and reward, rather than attention

About 50 Apennine brown bears live in central Italy.

After Living Alongside Humans for Millennia, These Italian Brown Bears Have Evolved to Become Less Aggressive

Researchers found genetic differences that likely resulted from humans killing aggressive bears, leaving docile individuals to breed and pass along their genes to offspring

Dark-eyed juncos are small sparrows found throughout North America.

These Urban Birds Evolved Longer Beaks During Covid-19 Lockdowns. Then, They Changed Back

Researchers suspect that dark-eyed juncos living in Los Angeles adapted based on the availability of food scraps tossed by humans

Estrogen may cause certain colon cells, shown in green in this microscope image, to release a hormone called peptide YY. This, in turn, causes a different type of colon cell, colored magenta, to pump out the chemical messenger serotonin, which activates pain-sensing nerve fibers.

Women Are More Likely to Have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This Newfound Gut Pain Pathway Might Explain Why

The hormone estrogen—which female animals typically have more of than males—triggers a molecular cascade in the gut that leads to pain signals, a study in mice suggests

The Hjortspring boat is displayed at the National Museum of Denmark.

New Research

The Mysterious Hjortspring Boat That Sank in Denmark 2,400 Years Ago Is Still Revealing Its Secrets

New research suggests indicates that Scandinavia’s oldest known example of a wooden plank boat may have sailed to attack the island of Als from the east, indicating a planned effort

An artistic representation of a superkilonova

In a First, Astronomers May Have Witnessed a Rare Double Explosion of a Star Called a Superkilonova

A massive star may have burst, leaving behind two dense, dead cores, which then collided and caused another explosion

New research suggests that swearing boosts physical performance by reducing inhibitions.

Need a Quick Boost in Physical Strength? Try Blurting Out Some Curse Words, a Study Suggests

When repeating four-letter words, participants held a challenging physical task for longer than when they said neutral words. Cursing seemed to help them feel more focused, more confident and less distracted

Nanoflowers, which look white, can help healthy cells, colored yellow, deliver mitochondria, colored red, to nearby cells. 

A New Way to Boost the Powerhouses of the Cell Might Combat Aging and Degenerative Diseases, Lab Study Suggests

Creating mini mitochondria factories helped recharge damaged cells in a dish, providing proof-of-concept work that could pave the way to new regenerative medicine therapies

An artistic representation of exoplanet PSR J2322-2650b, on the left, and the pulsar it orbits, on the right

This Lemon-Shaped Planet Has an Atmosphere Unlike Anything Astronomers Have Ever Seen

The James Webb Space Telescope detected an atmosphere rich with carbon and helium, which is unexpected on this hot planet roughly 2,000 light-years from Earth

Morteratsch Glacier in Switzerland

How Many Glaciers Will Survive Until the End of the Century? These Four Scenarios Show It’s Not Looking Good

Researchers calculated every glacier’s lifespan and found that even at the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal, the planet would lose around half of its 200,000 glaciers by 2100

Six infrared images of Titan created with data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft

Saturn’s Moon Titan May Not Have an Underground Ocean After All

A new analysis of data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft may upend Titan’s status as an ocean world. But it might still have pockets of water within a slushy ice layer

Ancient bees built nests in the hollows of rodent skulls, a new study suggests

Fossils Suggest That Some Ancient Burrowing Bees Made Their Homes in Rodent Skulls

While cleaning fossils retrieved from a cave on a Caribbean island, a researcher noticed something strange in the hollow tooth socket of a small skull

Llorenç Alapont, an archaeologist at the University of Valencia, led the recent research on plaster casts of Pompeii victims. 

New Research

If Mount Vesuvius Erupted in August, Why Were Pompeii Victims Wearing Heavy Wool Garments?

New research finds that at least four individuals who died in the eruption were wearing woolen tunics and cloaks, which raises questions about the presumed date of the famous catastrophe

The trove included 60 complete tulas.

New Research

Archaeologists Unearth Cache of Aboriginal Stone Tools Buried in Australia 170 Years Ago

Known as “tulas,” the 60 artifacts are only the second discovery of this size to be found in Australia. Researchers think they may have been created for trade

The growth plates, known as specimens UAMN3760 and UAMN3724, were discovered near Fairbanks in the early 1950s.

Mysteriously Young ‘Mammoth’ Fossils Discovered in Alaska Turned Out to Be Whale Bones

When researchers learned the fossils were merely 1,900 to 2,700 years old—which would be the youngest woolly mammoth fossils ever found—they suspected something was amiss

Illustration of a T lymphocyte white blood cell, depicted in blue, attacking a cancer cell, shown in red

Scientists Engineered Cancer-Fighting Cells Inside Patients’ Bodies—and Two Early Trials Show Promise

Two recent studies show the novel therapy works in people with multiple myeloma, but researchers are trying to minimize side effects

A trail camera in Vermont captured 80 photos of moths fluttering around a moose's head, likely slurping up its tears.

Trail Cameras in Vermont Captured Something Strange: Moths Sipping a Moose’s Tears

Tear-drinking, known as lachryphagy, has mostly been observed in the tropics, so scientists were somewhat surprised to find the unusual behavior so far north

An artist's interpretation of an early human ancestor striking flint on a piece of iron pyrite.

New Research

Could These 400,000-Year-Old Rock Fragments Be the Oldest Known Evidence of Human Fire-Making?

Evidence from a site in southeast England suggests early humans were purposefully and repeatedly igniting blazes roughly 350,000 years earlier than previously thought

The reproductive structures of cycads, an ancient seed plant, heat up with infrared radiation to attract beetle pollinators, a new study suggests. 

Cool Finds

Before the First Brilliantly Colored Flowers Bloomed, Dinosaur-Era Plants Emitted Heat to Attract Pollinators

Some plants produce heat, which has long puzzled botanists. But a new study suggests that infrared radiation is an ancient method to lure beetle pollinators

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