Science News

Some killer whales hunt in pairs to maximize their bounty Drone footage from Norway shows killer whales using a highly coordinated and cooperative hunting technique to catch herring.

Drone footage from Norway shows killer whales using a highly coordinated and cooperative hunting technique to catch herring.

Climate change may be pushing fungal allergy season earlier Rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns may be lengthening fungal allergy season, which starts 3 weeks earlier than it did two decades ago.

An estimated 1 in 5 people in the United States are allergic to fungi.

Screen addiction affects teens’ mental health. How to spot it, and help Banning screens is often not an option. So Science News spoke with experts studying screen use and addiction in teens to help families navigate this complex issue.

School’s out. Teens are bored. And the siren call of social media and video games beckons.

Here’s how air pollution may trigger lung cancer Exposure to air pollution may trigger DNA mutations that cause lung cancer in nonsmokers.

Up to a quarter of people diagnosed with lung cancer have never smoked. Air pollution may explain why.

How many steps a day should you take to lower disease risk? An analysis of 57 studies shows that people who walked a certain number of steps were less likely to die from any cause compared with those who walked less.

“While the 10,000-step goal is widely known, it lacks a solid evidence base. A target around 7,000 steps is more achievable for many and still provides substantial health benefits," one researcher said.

This killer fungus strikes at sunset. Here’s how The fungus Entomophthora muscae turns flies into zombies and kills them at sunset. An internal kill clock may explain the mysterious timing.

The fly-killing fungi E. muscae has an internal clock that controls the timing of its hosts’ deaths.

AI reveals new details about a famous Latin inscription An analysis of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti using AI reveals its legal tone and imperial messaging, offering new insights missed by historians.

An AI system dubbed Aeneas is “a new way of modeling historical uncertainty,” one expert says.

Betelgeuse’s companion star revealed in new images Revealed by advanced imaging, the long-sought "Betelbuddy" is much smaller and fainter than Betelgeuse and orbits within the supergiant’s atmosphere.

The companion appears to orbit the supergiant at a distance just four times that between Earth and the sun, putting the companion within Betelgeuse’s expansive outer atmosphere — a perilous spot for a small star.

Forget discrete droplets. This is how sweat really forms The most-detailed look yet at how we perspire reveals that beads of sweat are out, puddling is in.

It might look to the naked eye like sweat springs out in round droplets. But a new study shows it rises, soaks our outermost layer of skin and then forms nearly flat drops and puddles.

Why devastating tsunamis didn’t follow the Russia earthquake Geologists unpack why the magnitude 8.8 temblor — the sixth largest ever recorded — fomented waves that reached Japan and Hawaii but caused little damage.

Geologists unpack why the magnitude 8.8 temblor — the sixth largest ever recorded — fomented waves that reached Japan and Hawaii but caused little damage.

You may already have some protection from bird flu, but don't count on it Studies suggest that people who had seasonal flus or vaccinations have low antibody levels against H5N1 bird flu.

The work may prompt changes to existing flu vaccines, potentially making them more effective against bird flu.

AI is designing proteins that could help treat cancer A team used generative AI to enhance T cells’ ability to fight melanoma. The immunotherapy approach needs more testing before use in cancer patients.

Melanoma cells crumble and die after being treated with human immune cells genetically engineered to display AI-designed proteins on the cells’ surface.

Maggots may have been on the Neandertal menu Maggots on rotting meat may have given Neandertals’ a fatty, nitrogen-rich boost, a study of their bones suggests.

The original paleo diet might have involved a lot less meat, and a lot more maggots than you think.

The 2004 tsunami killed hundreds of thousands. Are we better prepared now? Twenty years after the deadliest wave in recorded history, most oceans have warning systems and communities have learned how best to escape the danger.

Researchers have worked not only to better understand tsunamis, but also to set up warning systems in ocean basins around the world — and to better prepare coastal communities to respond quickly when the alarm sounds.

Seeing sick faces may prime the immune system to repel invaders Seeing sick-looking faces in virtual reality triggers brain circuit changes related to threat detection and boosts activity of certain immune cells.

You don’t need to catch a bug to start fighting it. A new study suggests that *looking* at someone who appears sick can kick-start your brain and immune system into defense mode.

Sound waves could take a tsunami down a few notches A tsunami’s ferocious force could be taken down a few notches with a pair of counter waves.

A tsunami’s immense wall of water may not be stoppable. But there may be a way to take the ferocious force of nature down a few notches, using a pair of counterwaves.

More than one ocean motion determines tsunami size The horizontal movement of the seafloor during an earthquake can boost the size of the resulting tsunami, researchers propose.

Horizontal motion on sloped seafloors can give tsunamis a critical boost. More than half of the energy for the unexpectedly large tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011 came from such movement on the sea floor.

Math puzzle: Can you meet me at the mall? Solve the math puzzle from our August 2025 issue, which takes you back to the time before cell phones.

For our August puzzle, we have a bit of a timing situation. Try out the math puzzle at the link below!

Some killer whales hunt in pairs to maximize their bounty Drone footage from Norway shows killer whales using a highly coordinated and cooperative hunting technique to catch herring.

Grabbing a meal with a friend is way better than dining solo — and killer whales agree.

This desert beetle runs to cool off After a sprint, the temperature of the beetle Onymacris plana drops. Efficient running, a body built for cooling and a little bit of lift all help.

Though the O. plana beetle may appear to fly while sprinting, it doesn’t — making this the first known case of a creature that runs to cool off.

An injected gel could make drugs like Ozempic last longer GLP-1 drugs for diabetes and weight loss are difficult for some people to inject weekly. A new slow-release gel, tested in rats, could help.

Less frequent dosing of GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes drugs would be easier for patients. “You’re moving from 52 shots a year to four.”

A dog’s taste for TV may depend on its temperament Anxious dogs might react nervously to some television sounds, a survey of dog owners reports, while hyper ones might try to play chase.

How a dog reacts to the television depends a lot on its personality, a new study shows.

People living under polluted skies can rack up DNA mutations that hobble the very genes that protect cells from tumor development.

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A child's biological sex may not always be a random 50-50 chance Some people’s biology may set them up to birth babies of a certain sex, explaining why a family with multiple children may have all girls or all boys.

Theoretically, the chances of birthing a male or female child should be equal. But the reality may be different between families.

Here’s how air pollution may trigger lung cancer Exposure to air pollution may trigger DNA mutations that cause lung cancer in nonsmokers.

The findings suggest that inhaling tobacco smoke and inhaling air pollution can harm DNA in similar ways.

This killer fungus strikes at sunset. Here’s how The fungus Entomophthora muscae turns flies into zombies and kills them at sunset. An internal kill clock may explain the mysterious timing.

For decades, a grisly mystery has buzzed around one fly-killing fungi: No matter when the fungus infects a fly, it always dies at sunset. Now scientists have discovered why.

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Nearly half of the universe’s ordinary matter was uncharted, until now Two studies fill in gaps about the cosmos’s ordinary matter. One maps it all, even the “missing matter.” The other details one of its hiding spots.

Nearly half of the universe’s ordinary matter has been hiding — until now.

‘Dragon Man’ skull may be the first from an enigmatic human cousin Ancient proteins and DNA may peg a 146,000-year-old Chinese skull as the most complete fossil to date from Denisovans, a puzzling line of Asian hominids.

A 146,000-year-old Chinese find is the most complete Denisovan fossil, two studies claim.

A rare chance to see two exploding stars is happening in the southern sky Exploding stars V462 Lupi and V572 Velorum are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere. One has been spotted from the United States.

A rare astronomical sight is unfolding in the southern sky. Two exploding stars are shining so brightly that both can be viewed with the naked eye.

The biggest black hole smashup ever detected challenges physics theories Gravitational waves spotted by LIGO reveal two black holes, 140 and 100 times the mass of the sun, merged to become a 225 solar mass behemoth.

In a smashup more massive than any previously confirmed, two black holes spiraled inward and merged, vibrating the fabric of spacetime with gravitational waves.