Project Hail Mary meets reality: 45 planets could harbor alien life
Astronomers have narrowed down the cosmic search for life, identifying fewer than 50 rocky planets among thousands of known exoplanets that may have the right conditions to support life. Using new data from ESA’s Gaia mission and NASA archives, researchers pinpointed worlds in the “habitable zone,”
Analytica 2026: Waters’ Xevo CDMS brings charge-detection mass spec to large biomolecule characterization
Waters is using analytica 2026 [booth number (A1.328)] to show off Xevo CDMS, an instrumentation platform for charge-detection mass spectrometry aimed at samples that can be difficult to characterize with conventional MS workflows. The platform was also showcased at Pittcon in San Antonio. Waters po
First ever atomic movie reveals hidden driver of radiation damage
Researchers have visualized atoms in motion just before a radiation-driven decay process occurs, revealing a surprisingly dynamic scene. Instead of remaining fixed, the atoms roam and rearrange, directly influencing how and when the decay unfolds. This “atomic movie” shows that structure and motion
Does your brain really have enough plastic in it to make a spoon?
Last year, we wrote about how a decimal-point error and selective framing turned black plastic spatulas into a public-health scare. Now Netflix’s The Plastic Detox is amplifying another over-the-top claim: that the human brain may contain enough microplastic to make a plastic spoon. That line traces
This tiny implant, smaller than a grain of salt, can read your brain
A new neural implant is so small it can rest on a grain of salt, yet it can track and wirelessly transmit brain activity for over a year. It’s powered by laser light that safely passes through tissue and communicates using tiny infrared signals. This ultra-miniature device could transform how scient
Nvidia CEO says elite engineers and AI researchers should spend at least $250K on tokens annually, or he’ll ‘go ape’
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has a message for elite software engineers or AI researchers whose annual AI token bill comes in at $5,000: He will, in his words, “go ape something else.” Speaking on the All-In Podcast on the last day of GTC 2026, Huang laid out a thought experiment. “Let’s say you have a…
Women, early-career scientists bore the brunt of 2025 NIH grant cuts, new research shows
In 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) unexpectedly terminated 2,291 active research grants, totaling $2.45 billion. A new study documents how the cancellations varied by gender and career stage, finding that early-career investigators and women were disproportionately affected. The study
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Drought could fuel the rise of antibiotic-resistant superbugs as climate change worsens, new research suggests
A warming world may see more antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to new research that shows a link between aridity and antibiotic resistance today.
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Massive Iron Age hoards discovered in England may be from funeral of powerful Celtic queen
Two lavish Iron Age hoards unearthed in England may have been burned in honor of a queen's royal ancestor, a new study finds
When AI does the inventing, the patent system doesn’t want to know
AI systems are playing an active role in designing experiments, screening millions of compounds and apparently generating novel mathematical proofs. Meanwhile, U.S. patent law still requires a human inventor, which precludes the potential of a solely AI inventor. The gap between those two realities
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Cannonball-size meteorite crashes through roof of Texas home as multiple 'fireballs' rain down on the US
A suspected space rock, around the size of a cantaloupe, was found in the bedroom of a Houston home after crashing through the building's roof. It is likely a fragment of one of several "fireball" meteors that exploded over the U.S. in the past week.
How a forgotten can of vintage ether can become a ticking time bomb
When a new homeowner in Southwest Michigan posted a photo of a vintage can of ethyl ether found in their basement to a large online chemistry forum on Reddit, the poster was just looking for cheap disposal advice. What they got instead was a chorus of terrified chemists and former hazardous waste te
A new approach to cytosolic delivery aims to solve the ‘endosomal entrapment’ problem that has long plagued large-molecule therapeutics
iDEL Therapeutics is developing a new method to deliver drug payloads directly into the cytosol, bypassing traditional cellular degradation pathways. The company is launching with a €9 million seed financing round led by BiomedVC to advance its Direct Cytosolic Transfer (DCT) technology. Many curre
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Iran war has already released a staggering amount of CO2 — and the destruction of schools, homes and buildings is the biggest source
In a new analysis, researchers estimated direct, indirect and future greenhouse gas emissions that were created in the first two weeks of the Iran war, between Feb. 28 and March 14.
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An anomaly in Mars' mantle could trigger volcanoes to erupt — and may be causing the whole planet to spin faster
Data from NASA's InSight mission suggests the Red Planet's Tharsis region is more active than previously thought and may be why Mars is spinning more quickly over time.
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AI compressed billions of years of evolution into seconds to create 'Lego-like robots' that can recover even when they lose limbs
Modular robots are easily expandable, know when they're upside down or stuck, and can march forward across all kinds of terrain.
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Colorado River negotiations have stalled among 7 states and water is scarce. What happens next?
Two researchers explore how water rights for the Colorado river get negotiated and why these negotiations have stalled.
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Live Science Today: Jensen Huang AGI claim and major leap to reanimation after death
Tuesday, March 24, 2026: Your daily roundup of the biggest science stories making headlines.
Supercomputers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about giant stars
Astronomers have finally cracked a decades-old mystery about red giant stars—how material from their deep interiors makes its way to the surface. Using cutting-edge supercomputer simulations, researchers discovered that stellar rotation plays a powerful role in mixing elements across a previously un
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Extreme blast of Arctic air from polar vortex paints a picturesque plume off Florida coast — Earth from space
A recent satellite photo captured a stunning scene of sediment swirling across the West Florida Shelf after an extreme cold snap that covered large parts of the eastern U.S. in snow.