'We're never going to come home': Artemis II commander recalls the most terrifying moment of his 10-day trip around the moon - Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman felt genuine fear when he saw the Orion spacecraft had gone farther from Earth than anticipated, the astronaut told an audience at the Starmus VIII festival this week. space-exploration

10 hours ago

Crows may make lightning-fast decisions, sometimes twice as fast as humans, study hints -- Carrion crows made decisions about their visual environments significantly faster than humans and primates tend to, according to a comparison in a new study. -- Kenna Hughes-Castleberry -- Published

10 hours ago

Brain scans reveal 'number line' that's used to mentally compare values -- Although whole numbers and fractions are processed differently in the brain, when you compare their values, a single "mental map" akin to a number line lights up. -- Jenna Congdon -- Published

10 hours ago

Watch bizarre snake 'cartwheel' away from danger at more than 12 feet per second -- Researchers filmed dwarf reed snakes (Pseudorabdion) from different angles to better understand how the serpents pull off their remarkable rolling behavior. -- Patrick Pester -- Published

12 hours ago

Japan launches world's first round-trip mission to Mars. -- The Martian Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, which launched from Japan on Oct. 19, is on its way to Mars. When it arrives, the probe will attempt to land on one of the Red Planet's twin moons and scoop up rocks to bring back to Earth. Experts tell Live Science what these "transformative" samples could teach us. -- Harry Baker -- Published

12 hours ago

Climate change is literally altering the shape of our planet -- The melting of the poles is increasingly shifting Earth's shape at a faster rate, with the planet becoming more and more round. -- Stephanie Pappas -- Published

13 hours ago

Surprising new pattern of groundwater loss may signal a turning point for the Colorado River Basin -- During an intense drought from 2020 to 2022, the Upper Colorado River Basin lost far more groundwater than the Lower Basin did, despite having much higher natural recharge. -- Sascha Pare -- Published

20 hours ago

James Webb telescope discovers surprising trove of metals around the Milky Way's supermassive black hole -- New observations from the James Webb Space Telescope reveal a concentration of heavy metals near the Milky Way's central black hole. The discovery deepens a mystery about why our black hole behaves the way it does. -- Elizabeth Howell -- Published

21 hours ago

Extremely rare Viking Age coin from the reign of 'Olaf the Holy' may have been 'held in the king's own hand' -- A massive Viking Age hoard that was discovered in Norway contains a rare silver coin featuring "Olaf the Holy," one of the country's first Christian kings. -- Tom Metcalfe -- Published

1 day ago

Uranium from World War II reveals how close the Nazis were to an atomic bomb -- A new look at the uranium and heavy water used by the Nazis reveals whether they were close to making a reactor for an atomic bomb. -- Tom Metcalfe -- Published

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Lightest known pair of neutron stars proves Einstein right yet again -- Einstein's theory of relativity just got put to the test by the lightest binary neutron star system ever discovered. -- Andrey Feldman -- Published

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Case of mysterious medieval skeleton buried in Roman-era sarcophagus at Westminster Abbey finally solved -- A sarcophagus in Westminster Abbey with Roman and Anglo-Saxon decorations baffled archaeologists, but now a 150-year-old mystery has finally been solved. -- Kristina Killgrove -- Published

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Could 'body clocks' play a role in depression? Study proposes a new 'circadian' subtype -- Researchers propose a new subtype of depression linked to body-clock patterns. -- Isha Ishtiaq -- Published

2 days ago

The James Webb telescope is watching one of the earliest supernovas in the universe unfold -- Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope may have discovered a supernova erupting just 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang. -- Ivan Farkas -- Last updated

2 days ago

Devastating 2025 Myanmar earthquake sheds light on how the 'Big One' could play out in California -- The fault that triggered a massive earthquake in Myanmar last year is tilted much like California's San Andreas, which can influence how much shaking takes place and where. -- Stephanie Pappas -- Published

2 days ago

Undeciphered Voynich manuscript may have been bound out of order, study finds -- Experts argue that the mysterious Voynich manuscript was incorrectly bound - a discovery that "moves the ball" in finally deciphering the 15th-century document. -- Kristina Killgrove -- Published

2 days ago

Ultrasound waves that jiggle deep brain structures may relieve delusions in schizophrenia, small trial hints -- In a new pilot study, 10 minutes of transcranial ultrasound stimulation reduced patients' delusion severity, scientists report. -- Lauren Schneider -- Published

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See pieces of Halley's Comet fall to Earth this week as the Orionid meteor shower peaks -- The Orionid meteor shower peaks overnight on Oct. 21-22. Here's how to see "shooting stars" from Halley's Comet. -- Jamie Carter -- Published

2 days ago

11th-century 'pizza peel' discovered in Russia doubled as a medieval game board -- Archaeologists in Russia unearthed a flat wooden "pizza paddle" that had a board game carved into it. -- Kristina Killgrove -- Published

2 days ago

A gene variant triples the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease - fat buildup in brain cells may be to blame, study finds -- A gene variant called APOE4 is the biggest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Scientists are finally figuring out how it works. -- Zunnash Khan -- Published

3 days ago