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Recent Discoveries Stories

Conceptual architecture of freespace twistronics and optical supertopologies.
Researchers rotated overlapping patterns of polarized light to create new structures. Some recovered after opaque disks blocked parts of the beam.
Shy Cohenupda
An artist’s reconstruction shows a child and an adult shaping a clay figurine at a Natufian settlement. Overlapping fingerprints on a figure found at Eynan-Mallaha suggest that a child and an older maker handled the same piece while the clay was still soft.
DiscoveriesAncient fingerprints suggest children helped make clay figurines 15,000 years agoJoshua Shavit
In this illustration, scientists and visitors discuss a prism demonstration at a public science event. In a recent survey, both groups saw curiosity as central to science, but differed on the roles of creativity and established methods.
DiscoveriesScientists and the general public define science very differentlyJoshua Shavit
In this reconstruction, a fishmonger displays freshwater perch and pike near a medieval Danish friary. Carbon from freshwater fish can make human bones appear centuries older in radiocarbon dating.
DiscoveriesFreshwater fish can make human bones appear centuries olderJoshua Shavit
Fossilized teeth from giant prehistoric rodents discovered in Thailand’s Krabi Province, including the newly identified Yakamys sirindhornae, provide new clues about the early evolution and diversity of large-bodied rodents in Southeast Asia.
DiscoveriesPaleontologists discover a giant rodent that lived in Thailand 34 million years agoRebecca Shavit
Pandora’s Cluster (Abell 2744), a massive galaxy cluster whose gravitational pull magnifies light from distant objects, including Abell2744-QSO1, an unusually compact and distant source from the early universe.
SpaceLittle red dots may hold the secret to the universe’s first black holesJoseph Shavit
A conceptual visualization shows laser-controlled vibrations in a nitrogen molecular ion beside its calcium-ion partner, which enables nondestructive quantum-state readout. Colors and scale are illustrative.
DiscoveriesGlobal first: Scientists identify and trigger ‘forbidden’ vibrations in single moleculesJoshua Shavit
An illustration shows how the unusual skull and neck anatomy of Scaphokogia huachafo, an extinct relative of modern pygmy sperm whales, positioned its snout toward the seafloor, suggesting an adaptation for feeding near the ocean bottom.
DiscoveriesSix-million-year-old whale fossil reveals an extraordinarily lopsided faceHannah Shavit-Weiner
An illustration depicts a black hole pulling matter from a nearby companion star into a swirling accretion disk, a process that can sometimes produce powerful jets of material whose triggering mechanisms remain poorly understood.
SpaceX-ray warning signs offer advance notice of black hole jet ejectionsJoseph Shavit
An artistic view of Earth uses subtle axis lines to illustrate polar motion linked to groundwater depletion. The lines are conceptual and not to scale.
Green ImpactClimate change is literally changing the way Earth spins, scientists warnJoseph Shavit
Strangers help an older shopper gather dropped groceries, illustrating how a brief exchange of kindness and appreciation may foster human connection and belonging.
DiscoveriesThe kindness of strangers inspires a new theory of human connectionJoshua Shavit
An artistic reconstruction shows an early human examining a colorful pebble beside collected stones and flint tools. Researchers propose that such keepsakes may have helped people recall personal experiences and supported the evolution of autobiographical memory.
DiscoveriesAncient keepsakes may have helped shape human memory and identityRebecca Shavit
A young chimpanzee watches an adult grooming another in this illustrative scene. Research suggests adult role models help shape when chimpanzees use raspberry-like calls.
DiscoveriesChimpanzees learn vocal communication much like humans learn wordsHannah Shavit-Weiner
An artist’s impression depicts TOI-2535 b and a possible planetary companion. Gravitational interactions appear to have tilted the hot Jupiter’s orbit until its transits disappeared from Earth’s view.
SpaceA hidden giant planet may explain TOI-2535 b’s strange disappearing actJoseph Shavit
A pregnant woman considers an Ozempic pen at home in this illustrative scene accompanying research into semaglutide exposure during pregnancy.
HealthOzempic and Wegovy use during pregnancy: What scientists are discoveringJoseph Shavit
An artistic reconstruction depicts a young Australopithecus africanus in a wooded southern African landscape, inspired by research placing the Taung Child around 3 million years ago. Its appearance and surroundings are approximate.
DiscoveriesThree-million-year-old Taung child adds a new twist to human originsJoshua Shavit
A slow dopamine pathway helps mice link flavors with gut nutrients, while human brain scans reveal related activity in the left amygdala.
HealthUCSF study reveals how digestion helps the brain learn to love coffee, chocolate, fat, and sugarJoseph Shavit