Science & Health

Discovery, medicine and the climate.

Isaias becomes major category three storm before landfall

El Niño has led to a quiet season so far but the first Atlantic hurricane of the year is set to make landfall later on Friday into Saturday across the US Gulf Coast.

BBC Science5h ago

Hurricane Isaias strengthens as it heads towards land

Isaias will bring damaging winds, torrential rain and a storm surge with landfall expected late Friday.

BBC Science6h ago

'Tropical jungle' of wallabies, porcupines and parrots must move after neighbours complain

James Wale moved to the site two years ago and keeps animals including wallabies and rare birds.

BBC Science6h ago

Hurricane Isaias strengthens to a major category three storm

El Niño has led to a quiet season so far but the first Atlantic hurricane of the year is set to make landfall later on Friday into Saturday across the US Gulf Coast.

Science Daily9h ago

Scientists find hidden materials that could improve batteries and solar fuels

Scientists have uncovered a hidden world of “in-between” materials that briefly form as chemical ingredients are heated, revealing structures that conventional methods can miss. Among the discoveries is a previously unknown form of bismuth vanadate, a material widely studied for using sunlight to help produce clean hydrogen. The new version has a different atomic structure and interacts with light in a strikingly different way, potentially opening new possibilities for solar fuels, catalysts, and electronics.

Science Daily9h ago

Bacteria turn a virus’ own weapon against it

Researchers have uncovered a new way bacteria detect viral attacks: a virus-produced enzyme cuts a bacterial sensor protein, triggering a self-destructing immune response. The discovery could lead to more effective phage therapies against antibiotic-resistant bacteria and provide insight into ancient immune mechanisms shared with humans.

NPR Health10h ago

Why we remember: One student's journey into memory

Why one teen can't let go of the time he ate fries with his great-grandpa.

NPR Health10h ago

ChatGPT for Teens has special safeguards. A watchdog group finds most don't work

A study from Common Sense Media says most safeguards in ChatGPT for Teens failed. The chatbot talks to teens like a friend and doesn't alert parents when users talk about self-harm and suicide.

NPR Health10h ago

A student hated reading for years. Her podcast explores finding the right diagnosis

Middle schooler Cora Walsh of Long Island, N.Y., has won the 2026 NPR Student Podcast Challenge with a story about her journey with dyslexia.

Science Daily10h ago

A 9-billion-year-old signal could help explain dark energy

A Canadian radio telescope has detected the faint glow of hydrogen from billions of years ago using only its own observations, proving a long-awaited way to map the distant universe can actually work. CHIME can use this hydrogen signal to trace how matter is spread across space and measure how the universe has expanded over time, offering a powerful new way to investigate dark energy.

NPR Health11h ago

RFK Jr. touts vaccine injury initiative, worrying experts

Heath Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces new steps aimed at identifying and treating complications from vaccines.

Science Daily11h ago

A quantum prediction from 1931 just came to life

Nearly a century after physicist Hans Bethe predicted them, scientists have created and directly observed unusual quantum states known as “Bethe strings” in an ultracold gas. By cooling cesium atoms to near absolute zero and trapping them in thousands of tiny one-dimensional tubes, researchers were able to make groups of atoms bind together without ordinary chemical bonds. These strange clusters could contain six or more particles and even collide with one another without falling apart.

BBC Science14h ago

Data centre raises noise and wildlife impact fears

The data centre, which will have 72 chiller units on its roof, will generate 150 jobs, planners hear.

BBC Science14h ago2 outlets

£15m spent cleaning illegal waste supersite in ancient woodland

Concerns remain over the ancient Kent woodland's future after 39,500 tonnes of rubbish were cleared.

Science Daily15h ago

NASA astronauts splash down after 100 million miles in space

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts have returned to Earth after 237 days in space, traveling more than 100 million miles and completing over 3,792 orbits while conducting research to prepare for future missions to the Moon and Mars. The mission also made history with record-setting spacewalk achievements and experiments that could transform medicine both in space and on Earth.

Science Daily17h ago

October’s night sky is full of cosmic tricks and treats

October’s skies are packed with celestial surprises, from Jupiter disappearing behind the Moon to two meteor showers lighting up the darkness. NASA highlights four must-see events, including shooting stars from Halley’s Comet and a glowing Hunter’s Moon just before Halloween.

BBC Science20h ago

Will El Niño and the polar vortex bring snow to the UK this winter?

The developing El Niño may impact the UK's weather prospects this autumn and winter but cold conditions are far from guaranteed.

NPR Health22h ago

Health Secretary Kennedy touts an initiative to study vaccine safety

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has established a new clinic at the National Institutes of Health to study vaccine injuries. It's part of a larger administration effort on vaccine safety.

BBC Science1d ago

BBC on Hurricane Isaias and its expected Gulf Coast landfall

BBC Weather's Chris Fawkes says the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season could bring dangerous winds, storm surge and heavy rains to the Gulf Coast Friday.

NPR Health1d ago

Suicide is up among Black Americans. We need to talk about it.

NPR's Michel Martin hosted a panel conversation about mental health and suicide in the Black community, exploring a difficult subject in deeply personal conversations.

BBC Science1d ago2 outlets

More than 800,000 hours of sewage spills in Wales last year, report claims

It is equivalent to a sewage discharge happening every five minutes, according to campaigners.

Science Daily1d ago

FDA-approved epilepsy drug may help reverse osteoarthritis damage

Researchers at Yale have identified a promising new approach to osteoarthritis that could do more than simply ease pain. The epilepsy drug lacosamide appears to block a protein involved in both pain signaling and cartilage destruction, helping damaged joints shift back toward repair in preclinical studies.

Science Daily1d ago

Scientists accidentally discover a genetic code that breaks the rules of life

Scientists accidentally discovered a microscopic organism with a genetic code that breaks a rule researchers thought was nearly universal. While testing a new DNA sequencing technique, they examined a previously unknown protist collected from a freshwater pond at Oxford University. To their surprise, the organism uses two genetic signals that normally mark the end of a gene to encode two entirely different amino acids instead. These signals were previously thought to evolve together, making the discovery particularly remarkable.

Science Daily1d ago

This “golden tree” coral was too strange for any known family

A brilliant yellow coral discovered off Costa Rica proved so unusual that scientists had to create an entirely new family to classify it. The meter-tall colonies rise from seafloors covered in brittle stars, inspiring the Tolkien-inspired name Laurinque elenya, or “golden tree of the stars.” Advanced genetic analysis revealed that the coral belongs to a previously unknown evolutionary lineage.

Science Daily1d ago

Scientists found Homo erectus 200,000 years earlier than expected

New fossils from South Africa are reshaping the story of early human evolution. Researchers have described 18 hominin fossils from Drimolen Cave, including an adult Homo erectus skull fragment dated to about 2 million years ago, supporting evidence that the species appeared in southern Africa roughly 200,000 years earlier than long thought. The finds also reveal that Paranthropus robustus, which lived alongside Homo erectus, was gradually evolving even larger teeth and stronger chewing muscles as the climate changed.

Science Daily1d ago

NASA is searching for hidden caves to build its first Moon base

NASA is preparing for humanity’s first Moon base with three investigations that will hunt for underground shelters, uncover hidden ice, and track dangerous conditions on the lunar surface. The findings could reveal how astronauts can survive and thrive on the Moon while laying the groundwork for future journeys to Mars.

BBC Science1d ago

Residents airlifted to safety after flooding in central Chile

The Mapocho river has burst its banks after an unusually large amount of rain fell in recent days.

BBC Science1d ago

More controls possible as reservoir level drops

More water usage restrictions may be introduced as Wimbleball reservoir drops to just 18% full.

BBC Science1d ago2 outlets

The bendy elm crowned UK Tree of the Year

It is the first time a tree in Northern Ireland has won the national title since it was launched in 2014.

Science Daily1d ago

Einstein Probe reveals a hidden phase of neutron star collisions

Einstein Probe revealed nearly 10 minutes of soft X-ray activity following a short gamma-ray burst, exposing a phase of neutron star mergers that previous missions may have missed. The prolonged emission could have been powered by a newly formed magnetar and may provide a valuable new counterpart to gravitational-wave signals.

NPR Health1d ago

Medical debt is crushing hospital patients in LA. Health officials may have a fix

In Los Angeles County, the nation's most populous, a new system could screen hospital patients for financial aid, preventing hundreds of thousands from getting bills they can't pay.

NPR Health1d ago

New Maryland law requires radiologists inform patients of heart disease warning sign

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with radiologist Dr. Lisa Mullen about a new Maryland law requiring that patients be notified if mammogram results show calcium deposits in blood vessels.

Science Daily1d ago

Just 7 days of strength training started shrinking fat cells in mice

Just seven strength-training sessions helped obese mice shrink visceral fat cells and reactivate molecular pathways involved in burning stored fat, despite no change in overall body weight. The findings suggest some benefits of resistance exercise may begin long before weight loss becomes visible, though the results still need to be confirmed in humans.

BBC Science2d ago

Moment Nasa scientist Margaret Hamilton receives presidential medal of honour

Barack Obama awarded the Apollo 11 software engineer with the America's highest civilian honour in 2016.

BBC Science2d ago

How a scientist used Britpop to reach Mars

Colin Pillinger died believing that Beagle 2 had not landed, and now his work is being celebrated around the UK.

BBC Science2d ago

Why are there so many mushrooms around this year?

The RHS says the hot, dry summer followed by autumn rain could lead to record sightings.

BBC Science2d ago

Margaret Hamilton, whose software helped land Apollo 11 on the Moon, dies at 90

Pioneering computer scientist led the development of the software for Nasa's Apollo mission and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

BBC Science2d ago

'The wood is alive': Ranger retires after 38 years

William McLaughlin leaves a "lasting legacy" of care at Bourne Woods in Lincolnshire, bosses say.

BBC Science2d ago

UK bluefin tuna comeback shows nature can recover, says WWF

The tuna is one of several wildlife recoveries highlighted in a major new report from WWF.

Science Daily2d ago

Stanford scientists turn a cancer driver into a kill switch

A Stanford-designed molecule turns a major lymphoma-promoting protein against cancer cells, activating their own self-destruct machinery instead of simply blocking tumor growth. In mice, the treatment completely eliminated aggressive human lymphoma tumors within 11 days, although much more testing is needed before it could reach patients.

NPR Health2d ago

Republicans and Democrats find a unifying target: Pharmacy benefit managers

Republicans and Democrats, both patients and politicians, seem united in their disdain for the healthcare companies known as pharmacy benefit managers. Tennessee and Arkansas are regulating now them.

NPR Health2d ago

The WHO seeks more details on the death of a plague research lab employee in Russia

The World Health Organization says it wants more information on what caused the death of an employee at a Russian plague research lab. Russia says the woman died of pneumonia of unknown origin.

NPR Health2d ago

What is the pneumonic plague?

The ancient disease of plague is back in the headlines after the death this month of a Russian lab worker.

NPR Health2d ago

Some who take GLP-1s are suffering serious side effects, but it's unclear how often

GLP-1s are prescribed for a growing number of conditions and come with a range of side effects — including ones that lawsuits allege are life-altering or lethal. How common is that? It's hard to know.

NPR Health2d ago

Doomscrolling too much? Try these tips to put the phone down and plug into real life

NPR Life Kit provides tips to help you reduce your screentime.

NPR Health2d ago

How to define a measles death

Historically, the CDC relied on state health departments' determination of measles deaths. Now, it's working with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists to create a clear definition.

BBC Science2d ago

Blue Planet III ventures into darkest depths of ocean

Sir David says the series uncovers marine life that is "even more precious than we ever realised".

NPR Health2d ago

Gut microbes followed migrating humans across continents, new study suggests

New research looks at the surprising similarities in the gut microbiomes of hunter-gathers in Tanzania and horticulturalists in Bolivia, and asks: What role do these bacteria play in human health?

BBC Science2d ago

World's largest penguin colony hit by 'alarming' decline in numbers

Climate change is blamed for dramatic decline of chinstrap penguins living on a remote volcanic island.

NPR Health2d ago

DIY fertilizer is a blessing as farmers face steep prices due to the Iran war

It's hard enough being a small-scale farmer. Then the Iran war drove up fertilizer prices. So farmers are using a traditional Asian recipe to make their own. They call it a "labor of love."

Science Daily2d ago

NASA’s Webb finds signs of Mars-sized worlds smashing together

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is giving astronomers a glimpse of the kinds of violent collisions that may have shaped our own solar system, including the giant impact thought to have created the Moon. By studying 21 rare “extreme debris disks” around young stars, researchers found that their dust can reveal the scale and intensity of planetary collisions.

Science Daily2d ago

Scientists changed how zoo lions eat. Their wild side came out

Giving zoo lions whole carcasses on a feast-and-fast schedule appears to bring out more natural behavior. The lions spent nearly three times longer feeding, engaged in more tearing and manipulating of food, and rested more heavily after meals. Their activity then increased gradually during the fasting period, closely resembling the rhythm seen in wild lions.

Science Daily2d ago

Physicists just found the ‘ghost’ of superconductivity

Physicists have found striking evidence for an unusual form of superconducting behavior in uranium ditelluride, where electron pairs organize into rippling patterns called pair density waves. Even more surprisingly, these patterns appear to survive after ordinary superconductivity disappears, suggesting that the electron pairs responsible for superconductivity may begin forming before the material actually becomes superconducting.

BBC Science2d ago

Yorkshire Water admits sewage scheme falls short

The firm says the scheme to reduce storm overflow discharges has not performed as expected.

Science Daily2d ago

Drug target could block brain inflammation linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

Blocking a receptor called P2X7 significantly reduced inflammation in human brain tissue, revealing a potential new treatment strategy for neurological and psychiatric disorders. The discovery could help researchers repurpose existing drugs for conditions including traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, depression, and schizophrenia.

Science Daily2d ago

Webb finds a surprising atmosphere on a scorching lava world

The James Webb Space Telescope has found strong evidence that the rocky lava world HD 3167 b has an atmosphere, despite circling its star every 24 hours under extreme heat. The surprising discovery could help scientists understand how rocky planets retain atmospheres and what the young, molten Earth may once have looked like.

BBC Science2d ago

Chemistry Nobel awarded for solving mystery of life's asymmetry

The prize was given to the French and Japanese scientists for solving the mystery of life's asymmetry.

Science Daily2d ago

Earth’s center is moving, and NASA just measured it

Earth’s center of mass is constantly on the move, shifting by a few millimeters as enormous amounts of water, ice, and even air migrate around the planet with the seasons. NASA scientists have developed a more precise way to track these tiny swings using laser-ranging satellites, GPS data, and measurements of how water and ice deform Earth’s crust.

NPR Health2d ago

5 things civil rights data says about public schools

The federal Civil Rights Data Collection, for the first time in decades, tells us about the teacher workforce and reminds us racial disparities are still stark in American public schools.

NPR Health2d ago

An early flu season means it might be time to think about a flu shot

Flu season typically starts in October or November. But it looks like the flu started to pick up in September this year.