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Science News

Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.

'It is extremely rare to witness': Scientists record humpback whale mom grieving her stillborn calf in first-of-its-kind footage
Science News

'It is extremely rare to witness': Scientists record humpback whale mom grieving her stillborn calf in first-of-its-kind footage

In an extraordinary first-of-its-kind video, researchers have documented a humpback whale mom grieving her stillborn calf.The footage was recorded off the coast of southeastern Australia in July 2025, according to a study published Wednesday (Sept. 16) in the journal Discover Animals. In the clip, a female humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) hovers above her baby's motionless body on the seafloor and tries to make eye contact with the newborn, as if to check for signs of life."It is extremely rare to witness," study first author Olaf Meynecke, a marine ecologist at Griffith University in Australia, told Live Science in an email. "Only about 20 births of humpback whales have been observed...

📅 2026-09-16 14:44:47    •    Live Science
Scientists find an immune “false alarm” that may drive rapid aging
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Scientists find an immune “false alarm” that may drive rapid aging

Scientists have discovered that some severe genetic disorders linked to rapid aging may be driven not just by damaged DNA, but by the body’s overreaction to that damage. When broken DNA fragments leak into the wrong part of a cell, an immune sensor called cGAS can mistake them for signs of a viral infection, triggering chronic inflammation and even interfering with DNA repair itself.

📅 2026-09-16 14:05:35    •    ScienceDaily
A 240-million-year-old fossil just changed the dinosaur timeline
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A 240-million-year-old fossil just changed the dinosaur timeline

A newly identified 240-million-year-old animal from Tanzania is forcing scientists to rethink the early dinosaur timeline. Dinodontosaurus isiyavamanda belongs to a group previously known only from South America, linking fossil deposits on the two continents. That connection suggests Tanzania’s supposed oldest dinosaur fossils may actually be millions of years younger than previously thought.

📅 2026-09-16 13:48:08    •    ScienceDaily
Alzheimer’s damage may begin outside the brain
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Alzheimer’s damage may begin outside the brain

Removing a type of immune cell from lymph nodes in mice reduced brain inflammation and cell damage in a model of Alzheimer’s-like disease.

📅 2026-09-16 13:00:00    •    Science News
Scientists find the whole grain “sweet spot” for better heart health
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Scientists find the whole grain “sweet spot” for better heart health

Eating four to six servings of whole grains a day may deliver meaningful benefits for heart health, according to a large review of 87 clinical trials. Researchers found improvements in body weight, waist size, blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides, and some markers of inflammation.

📅 2026-09-16 12:52:48    •    ScienceDaily
Scientists recreated what mice saw from brain activity alone
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Scientists recreated what mice saw from brain activity alone

Scientists reconstructed videos from the brain activity of mice, producing 10-second clips based only on signals from neurons in the visual cortex. The breakthrough could help reveal how the brain reshapes what we see before it becomes our perception of reality.

📅 2026-09-16 12:33:18    •    ScienceDaily
Venus may have swallowed its own moon
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Venus may have swallowed its own moon

Venus may have once had a moon, but new research suggests the planet’s incredibly slow rotation could have doomed it. Computer simulations showed that instead of gradually drifting away like Earth’s moon, a Venusian moon would likely spiral inward until it crashed into the planet, with larger moons falling even faster.

📅 2026-09-16 11:49:57    •    ScienceDaily
Irrigation’s climate benefit could equal 363 years of its own emissions
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Irrigation’s climate benefit could equal 363 years of its own emissions

U.S. irrigation produces some greenhouse gas emissions, but new research suggests it prevents vastly more by allowing farmers to grow more food on less land. Without irrigation, replacing lost crop yields could require converting natural ecosystems into farmland, releasing an estimated 6.86 gigatons of greenhouse gases. That is equivalent to about 363 years of current annual U.S. irrigation emissions.

📅 2026-09-16 11:34:17    •    ScienceDaily
Scientists “truly astonished” by discovery that challenges Earth’s origin story
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Scientists “truly astonished” by discovery that challenges Earth’s origin story

A new study suggests Earth formed almost entirely from material in the inner Solar System, challenging the idea that water-rich material from beyond Jupiter played a major role. If correct, Earth’s water may have been present much closer to the young Sun than scientists previously thought.

📅 2026-09-16 11:03:10    •    ScienceDaily
Diagnostic dilemma: A man's sudden fainting episodes landed him in the hospital — and a hair dye was to blame
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Diagnostic dilemma: A man's sudden fainting episodes landed him in the hospital — and a hair dye was to blame

The patient: A 61-year-old man in IndiaThe symptoms: The man went to an emergency department after fainting. He had felt nauseous just before the episode, which lasted about three minutes and was followed by a second fainting episode lasting about two minutes. He also had swelling around one eye. His family told doctors that he hadn't shown any jerking movements, loss of bladder control or subsequent grogginess, which would have been telltale signs of a seizure.What happened next: Because the man had fainted twice and had a history of heart disease, doctors first looked for problems affecting his brain and heart. An MRI of his brain, used to look for structural abnormalities that could expla...

📅 2026-09-16 10:00:00    •    Live Science
New laptop ditches noisy fans and heat sinks for tiny 'cooling chips' — it's much thinner and lighter than you'd expect
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New laptop ditches noisy fans and heat sinks for tiny 'cooling chips' — it's much thinner and lighter than you'd expect

BERLIN — Lenovo has unveiled a concept laptop that uses high-speed air to silently cool its processor, instead of conventional fans or heat sinks. The new system is powered by a tiny computer chip that can fit between your fingers.The new laptop, called AeroBlade, is fitted with four low-power cooling chips that are both "solid-state," meaning there are no moving parts, and "active" — they use a deliberate cooling mechanism — as opposed to relying on passive thermal energy transfer. The cooling chips contain tiny membranes that vibrate at ultrasonic frequencies to create 2,000 pascals of back pressure, forcing ambient air through tiny internal jets onto a copper base layer at speeds of aroun...

📅 2026-09-16 09:40:00    •    Live Science
James Webb reveals Chariklo’s mysterious rings are changing faster than expected
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James Webb reveals Chariklo’s mysterious rings are changing faster than expected

The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed surprising changes in the rings around Chariklo, a small object orbiting between Saturn and Uranus. Over just a few years, its inner ring became more opaque while its outer ring became less opaque. The results suggest that rings around small Solar System bodies may be much more dynamic than scientists previously believed. What is causing the changes remains a mystery.

📅 2026-09-16 03:51:58    •    ScienceDaily
Ultra-processed foods linked to hidden muscle fat that may threaten your knees
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Ultra-processed foods linked to hidden muscle fat that may threaten your knees

Eating more ultra-processed foods was linked to greater fat buildup inside thigh muscles, according to MRI scans of 615 adults at risk for knee osteoarthritis. Surprisingly, the association remained even after researchers accounted for calorie intake, physical activity, and other factors. Fatty changes in these muscles may weaken support around the knee and potentially increase osteoarthritis risk.

📅 2026-09-16 03:00:57    •    ScienceDaily
Scientists find a hidden retinal defense against vision loss
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Scientists find a hidden retinal defense against vision loss

A naturally occurring molecule called erucamide may help the retina fight back against diseases that cause progressive vision loss. Restoring the molecule activated protective immune responses that helped stabilize retinal tissue and slow aspects of degeneration in preclinical models.

📅 2026-09-16 02:37:01    •    ScienceDaily
Scientists reversed biological age in older adults in just 4 weeks
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Scientists reversed biological age in older adults in just 4 weeks

Older adults who changed the balance of fat, carbohydrates, and animal protein in their diets showed signs of reduced biological age after just four weeks. The strongest result appeared in participants eating an omnivorous, lower-fat, higher-carbohydrate diet.

📅 2026-09-16 01:35:54    •    ScienceDaily