Science

Source: State Museum of Prehistory Some discoveries make you stop and stare. The Nebra Sky Disc is one of them. Unearthed in Germany, this 3,800-year-old bronze disc seems simple at first glance. A bronze circle. Gold inlays. Stars and moons. But experts say it could be the world’s oldest “astronomy app.” People back in the…

The US federal government suffered one of the most severe losses of scientific expertise in its modern history in 2025, with more than 10,000 STEM PhD scientists leaving federal agencies in a single year. An analysis published by Science, based on workforce data from the US Office of Personnel Management, found that 10,109 doctoral-level scientists…

A Spanish research team says it has developed a treatment that completely eliminated the most aggressive form of pancreatic cancer in laboratory mice, raising fresh hopes against one of the deadliest cancers. The study, led by Mariano Barbacid at Spain’s Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, found that a newly designed triple-drug therapy wiped out pancreatic…

The Doomsday Clock now stands at 85 seconds before midnight. The change was announced by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Last year, it was set at 89 seconds. The clock is updated annually. It is meant to reflect global conditions, not predict specific events. Scientists involved in the process look at security risks, environmental…

NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen atop a mobile launcher at Launch Complex 39B, after being rolled out to the launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. AP/PTI(AP01_19_2026_000008B) NASA teams in Florida are moving through a careful stretch of work as preparations continue for the Artemis…

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Dragon delivers final orbital boost to the ISS before return (AI-generated) The International Space Station received another small lift late last week, continuing a routine but essential process that keeps the orbiting laboratory at the right height above Earth. On Friday, January 23, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft attached to the station fired…

For centuries, Earth’s seasons were assumed to follow a shared, predictable rhythm. Spring arrived, summer peaked, autumn faded, and winter reset the cycle. But two decades of satellite observations now show that this assumption is breaking down. Using long-term global datasets, scientists have found that the timing of seasons is becoming increasingly uneven, fragmented, and…

Ageing is often described as a slow accumulation of damage, but a new study suggests something more subtle may be happening inside our cells. Researchers at University of California, San Francisco report that as cells grow older, they do not simply wear out, they lose the coordinated gene activity that keeps them functioning efficiently. By…

Solar wind explained: How the sun’s particle stream impacts our solar system (Image source: NASA) Solar wind sounds poetic, but it’s a very real and powerful phenomenon, connecting the Sun to every part of our solar system. Unlike the wind we feel on Earth, solar wind isn’t moving air; it’s a constant stream of charged…

A rocket launch looks like a contest between raw power and engineering control, but the most critical moments happen before the vehicle even leaves the ground. In the final seconds on the launchpad, forces build rapidly as engines ignite while the rocket is still restrained. To an outside observer, some of the systems activated at…