Top News

July 20, 2026

Top Headlines

Some Dinosaurs Could Rise Like Giants Until They Grew Too Big

July 20, 2026 Two elephant-sized South American sauropods were unusually well built for standing on their hind legs. Digital tests showed that their robust femurs handled the enormous forces better than those of larger species, especially while the dinosaurs were ...

Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: Scientists Restore Two Hours of Sleep Without Clearing Brain Plaques

July 20, 2026 Researchers have uncovered a surprising culprit behind sleep loss in Alzheimer’s disease: the brain’s own immune cells. In mice with amyloid plaques, overactive microglia triggered inflammation ...

An Ordinary Laptop Solved a Problem Thought to Require a Quantum Computer

July 20, 2026 A quantum problem once described as impossible for classical computers has now been solved using relatively modest hardware. Researchers used tensor networks to compress the overwhelming wave function created by hundreds of entangled qubits, ...

UCLA Scientists Develop Mineral Sunscreen Without the Chalky White Cast

July 19, 2026 Scientists have redesigned zinc oxide particles to create a mineral sunscreen that protects against ultraviolet radiation without leaving such a noticeable white cast. The SPF 30 formula could make sunscreen easier and more appealing to use across a ...

Scientists Found Two Powerful New Ways to Destroy Forever Chemicals

July 19, 2026 Scientists are testing two promising ways to destroy PFAS, the stubborn “forever chemicals” that can accumulate in water and resist normal treatment. One method uses collapsing vapor bubbles to generate extreme heat and reactive molecules, while ...

A Tiny Universe in a Bottle Reveals Clues to the Origins of Life

July 19, 2026 Researchers have created cosmic dust from scratch by recreating space-like conditions inside glass tubes. The dust contains complex carbon-rich molecules built from elements essential to life and produces infrared signals similar to real material ...

The Mysterious Hum Heard Around the World May Finally Have an Explanation

July 19, 2026 The mysterious sound known as The Hum has been reported worldwide for decades, yet its source often remains impossible to find. Researchers tested whether people who hear it have exceptional low-frequency hearing or measurable sounds produced inside ...

Scientists Just Discovered a Lost Branch of Australia’s Marsupials

July 19, 2026 Fossils from Queensland suggest a newly recognized marsupial order may have survived in Australia for around 35 million years, rewriting part of the story of how the continent's unique mammals evolved. The discovery challenges the idea that ...

Scientists Identify the Rare Meteorite That Killed the Dinosaurs 66 Million Years Ago

July 19, 2026 The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was likely an exceptionally rare CO chondrite from a distant region of the solar system. Its unusual chemistry suggests that planet-cooling dust and debris, ...

Common Antidepressant May Ease Long COVID’s Crushing Fatigue

July 18, 2026 A low-cost antidepressant may offer new hope for people struggling with long COVID fatigue. In a randomized clinical trial involving 399 adults, fluvoxamine significantly reduced fatigue and improved quality of life compared with a placebo, making ...

July 18, 2026 Several popular sugar substitutes may not be as harmless as they seem. Adults who consumed the most artificial sweeteners showed substantially faster declines in memory and thinking, especially if they were under 60 or had diabetes. The highest ...

They Were Drilling Off Oregon. What They Found Could Shake the Entire West Coast

July 18, 2026 Scientists have found evidence that a major Cascadia earthquake could trigger a second quake on the San Andreas Fault. The discovery came from unusual sediment layers formed by underwater landslides ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:39am EDT

A Shattered Asteroid May Have Bombarded Earth 800 Million Years Ago

July 18, 2026 A catastrophic asteroid breakup may have triggered a huge wave of impacts across the inner solar system about 800 million years ago. The debris was launched from near a gravitational gateway ...

Earth’s Biggest Volcanic Event Transformed an Entire Oceanic Plate

July 18, 2026 Seismic waves have revealed that the oceanic plate beneath the Ontong Java Plateau was dramatically transformed by the colossal volcanic activity that created it more than 100 million years ago. ...

NASA’s James Webb Catches a Supermassive Black Hole Feeding

July 17, 2026 JWST has captured unusually detailed images of gas feeding the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4696. A vast filament appears to funnel material into an 800-light-year-wide spinning disk, ...

Terraforming Mars May Be More Realistic Than Scientists Once Thought

July 17, 2026 Scientists say new technologies have reopened the debate over whether Mars could someday be terraformed, turning a once impossible idea into a serious research topic. Before anyone tries to reshape ...

“Silly Sprinklers” Help Scientists Finally Solve Feynman’s Famous Sprinkler Mystery

July 17, 2026 A team of mathematicians used whimsical "silly sprinklers" to solve a physics mystery that has puzzled scientists for decades. Their experiments ...

Tiny Plastics in Drinking Water May Be Making Dangerous Bacteria Stronger

July 17, 2026 Tiny plastic particles in drinking water may be doing more than contaminating the environment. New research suggests nanoplastics can actually help harmful bacteria survive by strengthening the slimy ...

Your Fingers May Hold a Secret of Human Brain Evolution

July 17, 2026 A study of 225 newborns suggests prenatal estrogen may have played a role in the evolution of larger human brains. Boys with finger-length patterns linked to higher estrogen exposure before birth ...

Koalas Nearly Went Extinct Before Humans Arrived, DNA Study Reveals

July 17, 2026 A major DNA study has rewritten the koala's evolutionary story, revealing that the species suffered a dramatic population collapse about 100,000 years ago, long before humans arrived in Australia. By ...

Scientists Built a Camera That Can Track Invisible Particles in 3D

July 17, 2026 A new particle detector called PLATON could replace millions of tiny detector components with a single block of light-producing material. Using a light-field camera, highly sensitive photon sensors, ...

New Alzheimer's Drug Repairs DNA Damage and Reduces Brain Inflammation

July 17, 2026 A drug originally developed for spinal cord injury may offer a fresh approach to treating Alzheimer’s disease. In mouse studies, KCL-286 repaired dangerous DNA damage, reduced inflammation, and ...

Scientists Discover a Protein That Protects the Brain from Alzheimer’s Damage

July 20, 2026 A protein called SORLA may act as a powerful defense against the toxic tau tangles involved in Alzheimer’s disease. Mice with extra SORLA had less tau accumulation, less brain atrophy, and ...

Earth’s Waters Are Quietly Running out of Oxygen, Scientists Warn

July 20, 2026 Oxygen is disappearing from oceans, lakes, rivers, and coastal waters at an alarming rate, threatening aquatic life and weakening the natural processes that help regulate Earth’s climate. ...

Scientists Detect Hidden Skin Damage Before It Becomes Visible

July 20, 2026 Scientists have discovered a hidden warning sign of skin damage that appears before collagen fibers visibly thin, break, or lose their connections. Using advanced light-based techniques, the team ...

Scientists Tested 39 Sweeteners and Found Unexpected Gut Effects

July 17, 2026 A large laboratory study found that many commonly used sweeteners can directly change the growth of gut bacteria. Researchers identified more than 100 cases in which sweeteners behaved differently ...

More Than 400 Sick as CDC Searches for the Source of a Mystery Outbreak

July 16, 2026 A growing Cyclospora outbreak has sickened more than 400 people in four states, and investigators are still searching for the contaminated food responsible. The CDC warns the actual number of cases ...

This Ancient Sea Worm Has “bio-Metal” Jaws Unlike Anything Scientists Have Seen

July 16, 2026 An ancient sea worm may hold the secret to a whole new category of natural materials. Its jaws combine proteins and metal ions in a way that gives them metal-like strength and unusual mechanical ...

Going to Museums, Movies, and Theater May Help Your Body Stay Younger

July 15, 2026 Going to the cinema, visiting museums, or attending concerts may do more than entertain. Researchers found that older adults who regularly participated in cultural activities tended to have bodies ...

This Pet Gecko Could Help Scientists Unlock the Secrets of Cancer

July 15, 2026 An unusual leopard gecko that naturally develops aggressive tumors may become an important new model for cancer research. Scientists found its tumors share key genetic changes with human cancers, ...

Scientists Finally Solved Why Some Frogs Survive a Deadly Fungus

July 14, 2026 A deadly fungus has wiped out amphibian populations around the globe, yet some mysteriously recover. Researchers discovered that survivors develop powerful immune defenses while they are still ...

Quantum Breakthrough Links Light and Magnetism in Atomically Thin Materials

July 16, 2026 A new review highlights exciting progress in atomically thin quantum materials where light and magnetism work together in ways never before possible. In these materials, light-generated excitons can ...

Astronomers Just Found Four Hidden White Dwarf Stars Near Earth

July 15, 2026 Four nearby white dwarf stars have been discovered hiding in plain sight beside brighter red dwarf companions. Hubble's ultraviolet observations finally revealed the long-hidden stellar ...

NASA Captured the Black Sea Turning Brilliant Turquoise from Space

July 15, 2026 NASA's PACE satellite captured the Black Sea glowing turquoise during its annual phytoplankton bloom. The vivid color comes from massive numbers of coccolithophores, microscopic organisms whose ...

Alan Turing's Biggest AI Assumption May Have Been Wrong

July 13, 2026 A new book claims AI has been built on a flawed assumption dating back to Alan Turing's famous 1950 paper. Peter J. Denning argues that the most important parts of human intelligence, including ...

Where You Live Could Shape Your Dementia Risk, Massive Study Finds

July 13, 2026 Researchers analyzing data from more than 214,000 people found that dementia risk factors differ widely across countries, challenging the idea of a one-size-fits-all prevention strategy. At the same ...

Scientists Discover a Hidden Heart Valve Risk Linked to Gum Disease

July 13, 2026 Researchers found that bacteria linked to gum disease may help drive the development of calcific aortic valve stenosis by triggering inflammation and calcium buildup in the heart valve. The early ...

Tiny Bubbles Could Revolutionize Inkjet Printing

July 11, 2026 Ultra-fine bubbles may offer a cleaner way to perfect inkjet printing for next-generation electronics. By simply changing the number of bubbles in each droplet, researchers were able to dramatically ...

Earth Has a Natural Thermostat and Scientists Finally Know How It Works

July 16, 2026 Scientists have identified a hidden feedback loop that may explain how Earth has regulated its climate for tens of millions of years. As sea levels rose and fell, they changed how much phosphate ...

Scientists Finally Solved the Mystery of Earth's Greatest Mass Extinction

July 12, 2026 Why do beaches today have seashells from clams and snails instead of brachiopods? A new study suggests the answer lies in Earth's greatest mass extinction, when warming oceans and falling oxygen ...

Physicists Recreate Black Hole Energy Extraction in the Lab

July 12, 2026 Researchers have recreated the physics of extracting energy from a spinning black hole using a stationary device that produces synthetic ultrafast rotation. The achievement transforms a long-standing ...

Experimental Drug Reverses Severe Fatty Liver Disease by Repairing the Gut

July 11, 2026 An experimental drug called DT-109 reversed severe fatty liver disease in animal studies by repairing the gut and preventing harmful toxins from damaging the liver. The discovery could open the door ...