Top Science News

March 17, 2026

Top Headlines

Scientists Finally Reveal How This Alzheimer’s Drug Really Works

Mar. 17, 2026 A key Alzheimer’s drug has finally revealed its secret. Researchers discovered that lecanemab works by activating the brain’s immune cells—but only through a specific part of the antibody called the Fc fragment. This piece acts like a trigger, ...

This Massive Crater Could Expose the Heart of a Lost Planet

Mar. 17, 2026 A mysterious metal-rich asteroid called Psyche has been baffling scientists for over two centuries, and its true origin remains one of the biggest unanswered questions in planetary science. Is it the exposed core of a failed planet, or a chaotic mix ...

NASA’s Webb Captures a Bizarre Brain-shaped Nebula Around a Dying Star

Mar. 17, 2026 The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed new details in a bizarre nebula that looks like a brain floating in space. Formed by a dying star, the “Exposed Cranium” nebula shows layered gas and a dark central divide that creates its eerie shape. ...

DNA Origami Vaccines Could Be the Next Leap Beyond MRNA

Mar. 17, 2026 mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during COVID-19 but have limitations like waning immunity and complex production. Scientists are now testing a new platform called DoriVac, which uses folded DNA nanostructures to better control how the immune ...

ADHD Brains Show Sleep-like Activity Even While Awake

Mar. 17, 2026 Researchers have identified a surprising brain pattern that may help explain why people with ADHD often struggle to stay focused. Even while awake, their brains can slip into brief episodes of “sleep-like” activity during demanding tasks. These ...

Fixing a Tooth Infection May Improve Blood Sugar and Heart Health

Mar. 17, 2026 A new clinical study suggests that successful root canal treatment may benefit more than just dental health. Patients treated for infected teeth showed improved blood sugar control, healthier cholesterol levels, and reduced inflammation over time. ...

Rare Supernova from 10 Billion Years Ago May Reveal the Secret of Dark Energy

Mar. 16, 2026 Astronomers may have found an exciting new clue about dark energy—the mysterious force driving the universe’s accelerating expansion. They discovered an extraordinarily bright supernova from more ...

A Strange Twist in the Universe’s Oldest Light May Be Bigger Than We Thought

Mar. 16, 2026 Scientists studying a mysterious effect called cosmic birefringence—a subtle twist in the polarization of the universe’s oldest light—have developed a new way to reduce uncertainty in how ...

Scientists Inject One Tumor and Watch Cancer Vanish Across the Body

Mar. 16, 2026 A redesigned cancer immunotherapy is showing striking early results after decades of disappointment with similar drugs. Researchers engineered a more powerful CD40 agonist antibody and changed how it’s delivered—injecting it directly into tumors ...

Common Pesticide May More Than Double Parkinson’s Disease Risk

Mar. 16, 2026 A new UCLA Health study suggests that long-term exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos may dramatically raise the risk of Parkinson’s disease. Researchers found that people living in areas with sustained exposure had more than 2.5 times the ...

Just 24 Minutes of Specially Designed Music Could Significantly Reduce Anxiety

Mar. 16, 2026 A clinical trial found that listening to specially designed music with auditory beat stimulation can significantly reduce anxiety. Among several listening lengths tested, a 24-minute session ...

Scientists Discover What Really Happens During Sourdough Fermentation

Mar. 16, 2026 New research shows that sourdough fermentation does more than make bread rise—it transforms wheat fibers in unexpected ways. Scientists found that enzymes already present in wheat, activated by the sourdough’s acidic environment, break down key ...

Latest Headlines

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The Smell of Egyptian Mummies Is Revealing 2,000-Year-Old Secrets

Mar. 16, 2026 The distinctive smell of ancient mummies is helping scientists decode the secrets of Egyptian mummification. By analyzing tiny traces of chemicals in the air around mummy samples, researchers ...

Cells Can Sense 10x Farther Than Expected and It May Explain Cancer Spread

Mar. 16, 2026 Scientists have discovered that cells can sense far beyond the surfaces they touch. While individual cancer cells can probe about 10 microns ahead by tugging on surrounding collagen fibers, clusters ...

Scientists Just Discovered a Tiny Signal That Volcanoes Send Before They Erupt

Mar. 15, 2026 A new detection method called “Jerk” could dramatically improve how scientists forecast volcanic eruptions. By using a single broadband ...

Life Rebounded Shockingly Fast After the Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs

Mar. 15, 2026 The asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs didn’t keep life down for long. New research shows that microscopic plankton began evolving into new species within just a few thousand years—and ...

Astronomers Just Found the Source of the Brightest Fast Radio Burst Ever

Mar. 15, 2026 Astronomers have discovered the brightest fast radio burst ever detected and traced it to a nearby galaxy using a new network of CHIME Outrigger telescopes. The flash, nicknamed RBFLOAT, lasted only ...

Scientists Discover Hidden Water Beneath Mars That Could Have Supported Life

Mar. 15, 2026 New research suggests Mars may have remained habitable much longer than scientists once thought. Ancient sand dunes in Gale Crater appear to have ...

The Financial Crisis That Quietly Stunted a Generation

Mar. 15, 2026 When the Asian financial crisis sent rice prices soaring in Indonesia in the late 1990s, the shock didn’t just strain household budgets—it left lasting marks on children’s bodies. Researchers ...

Crops Irrigated With Wastewater Store Drugs in Their Leaves

Mar. 15, 2026 Scientists studying crops irrigated with treated wastewater discovered that trace pharmaceuticals often collect in plant leaves. Tomatoes, carrots, and lettuce absorbed medications such as ...

Scientists Discover ALS Protein That Links DNA Repair to Cancer and Dementia

Mar. 15, 2026 A protein tied to ALS and dementia may have a much bigger role in disease than scientists realized. Researchers found that TDP43 controls a key DNA ...

Hidden Deep-Sea Proteins Could Supercharge Disease Tests

Mar. 14, 2026 Hidden in volcanic lakes and deep-sea vents, scientists have discovered tough new DNA-binding proteins built to survive extreme conditions. After scanning huge genetic databases, researchers found ...

Our Sun May Have Escaped the Milky Way’s Center With Thousands of Twin Stars

Mar. 13, 2026 Scientists have uncovered evidence that our Sun may have traveled across the Milky Way as part of a massive migration of Sun-like stars billions of years ago. The journey may have carried the solar ...

A Lab Mistake at Cambridge Reveals a Powerful New Way to Modify Drug Molecules

Mar. 14, 2026 Cambridge scientists have discovered a light-powered chemical reaction that lets researchers modify complex drug molecules at the final stages of development. Unlike traditional methods that rely on ...

Scientists Discover Ancient DNA “switches” Hidden in Plants for 400 Million Years

Mar. 14, 2026 Scientists have uncovered an enormous hidden archive of plant DNA that has endured for more than 400 million years. By comparing hundreds of plant genomes, researchers identified more than 2.3 ...

Extreme Weather Is Hitting Baby Birds Hard in a 60-Year Study

Mar. 12, 2026 Decades of data from over 80,000 great tits reveal that extreme weather can shape the fate of baby birds. Cold snaps soon after hatching and heavy rain later in development shrink nestling body mass ...

A Black Hole and Neutron Star Just Collided in a Strange Oval Orbit

Mar. 12, 2026 Scientists analyzing a gravitational-wave signal have discovered that a neutron star and black hole spiraled together on an oval-shaped orbit just before merging. This unusual motion, detected in the ...

Astronomers Think They Just Witnessed Two Planets Colliding

Mar. 11, 2026 Astronomers have caught what may be a rare cosmic catastrophe unfolding 11,000 light-years away. A seemingly ordinary sun-like star suddenly began flickering wildly, puzzling scientists until they ...

Strange Chirping Supernova Confirms Long-Debated Magnetar Theory

Mar. 11, 2026 Astronomers have discovered a strange new signal coming from an exploding star — a “chirp” that speeds up over time, similar to the signals seen when black holes collide. The unusual pattern ...

Depression May Start With an Energy Problem in Brain Cells

Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have discovered a surprising change in how cells produce energy in people with depression. Brain and blood cells in young adults with major depressive disorder produced more energy ...

Scientists Discover Hedgehogs Can Hear Ultrasound and It Could Save Them from Cars

Mar. 12, 2026 Researchers have discovered that hedgehogs can hear ultrasound, a surprising ability that could help protect them from cars. Since road traffic kills large numbers of hedgehogs, scientists believe ...

Cannabis Study Finds THC Can Create False Memories

Mar. 11, 2026 THC doesn’t just blur memories—it can create new ones that never happened. In a controlled experiment, cannabis users were much more likely to recall words that were never shown and struggled ...

Ocean Warming May Supercharge a Tiny Microbe That Controls Marine Nutrients

Mar. 11, 2026 As deep-sea waters warm, scientists expected trouble for the microbes that help keep ocean chemistry in balance. Instead, researchers found that Nitrosopumilus maritimus can adapt to warmer, ...

A Surprising Blood Protein Pattern May Reveal Alzheimer’s

Mar. 12, 2026 A new study suggests Alzheimer’s disease may be detectable through subtle shape changes in proteins found in the blood. Researchers discovered that structural differences in three blood proteins ...

Light-Guided Evolution Creates Proteins That Can Switch, Sense, and Compute

Mar. 9, 2026 Researchers have created a method called optovolution that uses light to guide the evolution of proteins with dynamic behaviors. By engineering yeast cells so their survival depended on proteins ...

Hidden Metabolism Found Operating Inside the Cell Nucleus

Mar. 9, 2026 Researchers have found hundreds of metabolic enzymes attached to human DNA inside the cell nucleus. Different tissues and cancers show unique patterns of these enzymes, forming a “nuclear metabolic ...

NASA’s DART Asteroid Smash Shows We Could Deflect a Future Threat

Mar. 9, 2026 When NASA’s DART spacecraft deliberately crashed into the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, it did more than change the asteroid’s local orbit — it slightly shifted the path of the entire asteroid ...

Brain Scans Reveal How Ketamine Quickly Lifts Severe Depression

Mar. 8, 2026 A new brain-imaging study has revealed how ketamine produces its fast antidepressant effects in people with treatment-resistant depression. Researchers tracked changes in a critical brain receptor ...

A New “magic Mushroom” Drug Could Treat Depression Without Psychedelic Hallucinations

Mar. 8, 2026 Scientists are exploring a new way to harness the medical promise of psychedelic compounds without the mind-bending side effects. Researchers created modified versions of psilocin — the active form ...

Engineers Make Magnets Behave Like Graphene

Mar. 8, 2026 Engineers have discovered an unexpected link between two very different realms of physics: the behavior of electrons in graphene and magnetic waves in specially engineered materials. By designing a ...

NASA DART Mission Reveals Asteroids Throw “cosmic Snowballs” at Each Other

Mar. 8, 2026 Asteroids with tiny moons may be quietly trading material across space. Images from NASA’s DART mission revealed faint streaks on the moon Dimorphos—evidence of slow “cosmic snowballs” ...

Scientists Discovered a Secret Deal Between a Plant and Beetles

Mar. 12, 2026 A study from Kobe University has uncovered a surprising partnership between Japanese red elder plants and Heterhelus beetles. The beetles pollinate the flowers but also lay eggs inside the developing ...