They call it stupid hot for a reason: Heat muddles animal brains
As temperatures rise, some creatures pick fights while others struggle to learn.
Knowable Magazine
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44
Science // Science & Exploration
Grifters, cynics, and true believers: The family tree of vaccine opponents
A new book looks into the long history of people who have opposed vaccines.
Diana Gitig
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168
Proposed new US funding rules: We can cancel any grant at any time
Peer review now optional, political staff would screen grants for forbidden topics.
John Timmer
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219
Severed sea cucumber appendages don’t seem to die
They seem to reorganize their tissues and then just keep living.
Jacek Krywko
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43
Researchers develop a new process to get lithium out of rocks
If it scales up, it can help us diversify our sources of a key element.
John Timmer
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72
Amazon turns to Jeff Bezos’ other company to do some heavy lifting
Amazon is turning a corner with its launch providers, but ULA’s Vulcan remains grounded.
Stephen Clark
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48
How pigeons exploit magnetic fields for navigation
Iron-rich immune cells in the liver may act as sensors for magnetic fields, serving as an internal compass.
Jennifer Ouellette
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22
Forecasters predict below-average hurricane season, advise against complacency
Forecasters say expected El Niño should temper hurricanes in Atlantic, urge preparedness.
Inside Climate News
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38
Most Read
“Little red dot” in early Universe is a naked supermassive black hole
The black hole accounts for over two-thirds the mass of the object it inhabits.
John Timmer
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39
US Space Force confirms SpaceX will build sensor-to-shooter targeting network
“We aren’t trading speed for scale; we are demanding both,” says the military’s program manager.
Stephen Clark
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51
Want an oxygen-rich atmosphere? Stuff oxygen’s friends in the mantle.
Getting carbon and sulfur into Earth’s interior may be part of oxygen’s story.
Scott K. Johnson
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22
Whatever the mirror test tells us, beluga whales pass it
The white whales join the short, contested list of animals that see themselves.
Federica Sgorbissa
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123
SpaceX’s Starship V3—still a work in progress—mostly successful on first flight
SpaceX has more to prove before flying Starship all the way to low-Earth orbit.
Stephen Clark
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483
China’s shark finning could lead to US seafood sanctions
A formal petition to the US government calls for sanctions on Chinese seafood imports.
Inside Climate News
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81
Soaring solar and a surge in hydro push more coal off the US grid
The first data from 2026 seem to indicate that last year was an oddity.
John Timmer
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92
Ground system issue scrubs first launch of SpaceX’s Starship V3 rocket
Engineers could make another attempt to launch Starship as soon as Friday evening.
Stephen Clark
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144
JWST maps the weather on a hot gas giant 700 light-years away
The differences seen here could be throwing off how we study planetary atmospheres.
Jacek Krywko
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31
NASA’s Psyche spacecraft returns unfamiliar views of a familiar world
“As a bonus, it captured Mars images from a rare perspective.”
Stephen Clark
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32
Chickens without eggs? De-extinction company creates artificial egg.
In the process, Colossal may have handed a useful tool to developmental biology.
John Timmer
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42
“I’ll buy 10 of those”—NASA science chief yearns for mass-produced satellites
“How in the hell do I get more science into space? That is my goal.”
Stephen Clark
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35
Two AI-based science assistants succeed with drug-retargeting tasks
Both tools generate hypotheses; one goes on to analyze some of the data.
John Timmer
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19
Australian Aboriginals cared for a dingo’s grave for decades
For some ancient Aboriginal Australian communities, dingoes were part of the family.
Kiona N. Smith
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120
Pompeii victim ID’d as a likely doctor
New X-rays and CT scans showed small case with locking mechanism containing metal instruments.
Jennifer Ouellette
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23
A revolutionary cancer treatment could transform autoimmune disease
Researchers are testing CAR T cell therapy as a way to reset the immune system.
Knowable Magazine
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76
Solar power production undercut by coal pollution
Each year, some of the power solar could have produced is blocked by aerosols.
John Timmer
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91
Three’s a party: US, China, and now Russia are on the prowl in GEO
Instead of running silent and deep, most satellites easily stand out against the blackness of space.
Stephen Clark
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32
Send the arXiv AI-generated slop, get a yearlong vacation from submissions
One of the site’s moderators described the new policy on social media.
John Timmer
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83
Making cement from a different type of rock could clean up emissions
Limestone might not be the only source for Portland cement.
Scott K. Johnson
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72
Casimir force co-opted to generate free energy, midichlorians not included
The vacuum giveth, the vacuum taketh, but the vacuum doesn’t let you taketh.
Chris Lee
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182
Rocket Report: Cowboy up for data centers in LEO; Russia’s new ICBM actually works
SpaceX’s upgraded Starship is set to launch on its first test flight as soon as Tuesday, May 19.
Stephen Clark
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242
Men use “vocal fry” more than women, counter to stereotype
Study suggests “the bias is real but socially constructed, rather than grounded in how women actually sound.”
Jennifer Ouellette
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141
Forecasters predict wildfires, floods, severe heatwaves from incoming El Niño
Ocean heat plus human-caused global warming is a grim recipe for deadly climate extremes.
Inside Climate News
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65
Protein in Homo erectus teeth suggests Denisovans gave us some of their DNA
Distinct form of tooth protein in Homo erectus shows up in Denisovans—and us.
John Timmer
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21
The physics of how Olympic weightlifters exploit barbell’s “whip”
The type of bar matters when it comes to how it bends and recoils, but why is still a mystery.
Jennifer Ouellette
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37
Neanderthals drilled cavities to treat a toothache 59,000 years ago
“Every time I go to the dentist, I think about that guy,” researcher says.
Kiona N. Smith
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67
Gravitational lens shows a galaxy just 800 million years post-Big Bang
Early galaxy has elements produced by the Universe’s first supernovae.
Jacek Krywko
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26