Science News | The latest news from all areas of science

A box of capsules containing menopause estrogen treatment for vaginal use

Health & Medicine

U.S. FDA may nix black box warning on some menopause estrogen treatments

Experts worry the warning on vaginal estrogen menopause treatments is doing more harm than good and is not supported by science.

By Tina Hesman Saey and Sofia Caetano AvritzerJuly 18, 2025

Smiling family of four outdoors, with a man giving a piggyback ride to a young boy, while a woman leans forward beside them, holding another smiling boy in front.

Humans

A child’s biological sex may not always be a random 50-50 chance

By Jake BuehlerJuly 18, 2025

A photo showing people's legs as they sit in chairs set up in a circle.

Health & Medicine

‘Rehab’ exposes the dark underside of U.S. drug treatment centers

By Meghan RosenJuly 18, 2025

A satellite image of heavy precipitation over the United States on July 17, which may cause more flooding.

Climate

What to know about the extreme U.S. flooding — and ways to stay safe

By Carolyn GramlingJuly 17, 2025

A group of Magellanic penguins swims in the ocean.

Animals

Some penguins save energy by riding ocean currents

By Sofia Caetano AvritzerJuly 17, 2025

A small white dog sits on a gray couch facing the TV, with a small box of popcorn next to it

Animals

A dog’s taste for TV may depend on its temperament

By Bethany BrookshireJuly 17, 2025

Montage of illustrations showing various times in our planet's history, from its fiery origins, through the dawn of life, dinosaurs and, finally, the present day. The final image shows a skyscraper surrounded by rising waters with a silhouette of a black sun on a red sky, indicating the perhaps unprecedented effects of climate change.

Earth

How hot can Earth get? Our planet’s climate history holds clues

By Elise CuttsJuly 17, 2025

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

Spotlight on Vaccines

A protestor wearing a black bucket hat holds out a hand-lettered white sign as silver car passes. The sign says "Vaccines cause adults." Vaccines is written in red and cause adults is in black.

Vaccine policy in the U.S. is entering uncharted territory

A key advisory group vows to base decisions on evidence, boost confidence in vaccines and protect health. Experts fear the opposite is happening.

By Tina Hesman SaeyJuly 2, 2025
Lack of Evidence: Vaccine additive not linked to developmental problems
Epidemics have happened before and they’ll happen again. What will we remember?

Science News Magazine

A montage of illustrations showing various times in our planet's history, from its fiery origins, through the dawn of life, dinosaurs and more.

August 1, 2025 Vol. 207 No. 8

From the Archives

Identifying the Switches of Sleep

July 19, 1975 Vol. 108 No. #3

Featured Media

Image of a fossilized dinosaur footprint.

How fast did dinosaurs really go? Birds walking in mud provide new clues

Tracks of dinosaur footprints can hint at how fast the extinct animals moved. Here’s how guinea fowl can help fact-check those assumptions.

An illustration of the New Horizons probe in front of Pluto, with its moon Charon in the background.

New Horizons visited Pluto 10 years ago. We’re still learning from it

A looping video of a small, six-legged robot with sensors walking steadily forward along a narrow gravel path in a lush garden setting.

A new ‘eye’ may radically change how robots see

This side-by-side image shows an uninfected cell (left) with its innards spread throughout the cell, and one infected by the herpesvirus (right). The cell's insides are now compacted into a small area in the center of the cell.

See how the herpesvirus reshapes our cells’ DNA in just eight hours

A person prepares to hit a squash ball with a racket.

No player can return this killer shot. Physics explains how it works

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More Stories

Life

Why these zombie caterpillars can’t stop eating

By Susan MiliusJuly 8, 2025
A 3-D printed, plastic beaker could help algae grow on Mars

By Erin Garcia de JesúsJuly 2, 2025
A barrage of radiation couldn’t kill this hardy life-form

By Katherine KorneiJune 27, 2025

Humans

No, shaken baby syndrome has not been discredited

By Tara HaelleJuly 16, 2025
100 years after the Scopes trial, science is still under attack

By Darren IncorvaiaJune 16, 2025
FDA cuts imperil food safety, but not how you might think

By Meghan RosenJune 9, 2025

Climate

Trees can’t get up and walk away, but forests can

By Sophie HartleyJuly 10, 2025
Climate change could separate vanilla plants and their pollinators

By Bethany BrookshireJuly 3, 2025
Harmful heat doesn’t always come in waves

By Nikk OgasaJune 27, 2025

Astronomy

Nearly half of the universe’s ordinary matter was uncharted, until now

By McKenzie PrillamanJuly 3, 2025
A rare chance to see two exploding stars is happening in the southern sky

By McKenzie PrillamanJuly 1, 2025
Mysterious ‘little red dot’ galaxies have a possible origin story

By Ken CroswellJune 27, 2025

Physics

Scientists 3-D printed a tiny elephant inside a cell

By Emily ConoverJuly 8, 2025
Rainbows of sound are a reality thanks to a new device

By Emily ConoverJune 11, 2025
How to get the biggest splash at the pool using science

By Elie DolginJune 9, 2025

Health & Medicine

Protein signatures may one day tell brain diseases apart before symptoms

By Tina Hesman SaeyJuly 15, 2025
Organ age, not just your birthday, may determine your health risks

By Celina ZhaoJuly 15, 2025
These 5 nutrients might be lacking in your diet

By Meghan RosenJuly 8, 2025

Earth

An ancient Earth impact could help in the search for Martian life

By Douglas FoxJuly 9, 2025
NASA images may help track sewage in coastal waters

By Sofia Caetano AvritzerJuly 7, 2025
Earth’s oldest rocks may be at least 4.16 billion years old

By Carolyn GramlingJune 26, 2025

Science & Society

A Supreme Court ruling on nuclear waste spotlights U.S. storage woes

By Emily ConoverJune 18, 2025
How attacks on evolution in classrooms have shifted over the last 100 years

By Erin WaymanJune 17, 2025
Is nuclear energy good? A new book explores this complex question

By Alka Tripathy-LangJune 17, 2025