Latest science news, discoveries and scientific developments.
The publication of the latest results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2025) on Sept. 8 prompted the usual flurry of commentary, comparisons and rankings. France has slipped, some countries have improved, while others have proved more resilient. As always, attention quickly turns to where each country stands.
A wearable device has revealed nighttime hormone surges that may expose a frequently missed cause of high blood pressure. The discovery could help explain why primary aldosteronism often escapes standard blood tests and point toward a more accurate way to diagnose it.
Captive-raised saltwater crocodiles released into Bangladesh’s Sundarbans surprised scientists by settling into the wild rather than trying to return to their breeding facility. The result suggests that releasing larger, mature captive crocodiles could help restore depleted populations more successfully than relying only on vulnerable hatchlings.
Human development may be changing more than where pollinators live—it may also be changing when they are active. University of Florida researchers at the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) have found that pollinator seasons shifted later in the year across some of the most human-modified landscapes in the eastern United States.
Across Africa, people are restoring and managing mangroves, grazing lands and urban green areas in the face of increasing threats from climate change. Increasingly, they make decisions based on climate-related information supplied by governments, funders and researchers.
A World War I submarine wreck off Denmark is leaking TNT into the surrounding water, seabed, and marine life more than a century after it sank. Scientists warn that thousands of similar wrecks could pose growing environmental risks as they continue to corrode.
"Resilience" is in danger of becoming a casualty of business buzzword bingo, but we know it matters. The World Economic Forum lists it as one of the most important skills for the future of work, and I've found it turns up on any list of key attributes, usually nestled under "attitude" or "personal effectiveness."
Monash University-led researchers have directly imaged tiny swirling structures inside an atomically thin semiconductor, opening new possibilities for future low-energy electronic technologies. Published in Science Advances, the study reveals structures known as merons and antimerons, nanoscale "whirlpools" of electrical polarization, in twisted layers of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide (WSe₂).
A new study has revealed that peatlands may break under their own weight before they reach their carbon storage potential.
Much like a courier reading an address on a package, neurons must deliver RNA to the precise locations where it is needed. A KAIST research team has discovered how a small chemical modification on RNA acts as a "delivery tag," helping selected RNAs travel to distant regions of neurons.
The XENONnT detector glimpsed the ethereal subatomic particles that are born from the main type of fusion reaction that powers the sun.
Low vitamin D levels may make recovery from breast cancer surgery more painful, according to a study of 184 women undergoing mastectomy. Patients with vitamin D deficiency were three times more likely to experience moderate to severe pain during the first 24 hours after surgery and also used substantially more of the opioid painkiller tramadol. They received slightly more fentanyl during surgery and experienced more postoperative nausea as well.
In 1931, physicist Hans Bethe predicted that, in certain one-dimensional quantum systems, particles can bind together to form multi-particle states known as Bethe strings. Unlike ordinary molecules, which are held together by chemical bonds, Bethe strings arise purely from interactions between particles and exist only in one dimension. For decades, Bethe strings remained primarily a theoretical concept.
Does helping people struggling to survive today make any difference for future generations? New research from the University of Utah has documented evidence that it does. Rather than viewing present-day poverty and long-term risks as competing priorities, the research team led by psychologist Kyle Fiore Law sees them as interconnected.
The federal government recently announced a suite of new laws designed to address harmful content on digital platforms.
Astronomers have identified a peculiar radio transient in the Milky Way that has remained active for more than two decades, defying the behavior expected of known classes of galactic radio sources. The paper posted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 21 discusses the rare event that may have caused this bizarre radio emission.
Western Australian author Hamish Kelly has struggled with reading for almost two decades. In his first of two books, he describes his experience of learning to read:
A $10 million Australian government campaign celebrating inspirational teachers risked overlooking the workplace conditions driving educators from the profession, according to new research led by Curtin University published in the Journal of Education Policy.
In a win for people and the environment, new economic modeling from James Cook University researchers reveals that a $5 million investment to control crown-of-thorns (CoTS) starfish numbers in the Cairns region created 61 new jobs and generated $20 million in economic activity.
As tech companies like Meta, Google and TikTok face ongoing scrutiny over addictive platform design, the rapid rise of micro-dramas offers a glimpse into how AI, algorithms and commercial incentives could make digital entertainment even harder to put down.