Surviving the summer
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses existential threats to humankind: extreme heat, never-ending drought and a plan to provide Earth with sunlight on demand.
Category: Science
An ‘impossible’ black hole merger may finally be solved thanks to Einstein’s relativity — but it raises an even bigger mystery
Astronomers suspect that a never-before-seen variation of a space-time phenomenon could explain an “impossible” black hole merger that has puzzled experts for years. But if
Why does blond hair tend to darken with age?
If your blond preteen seems to be turning into a brunette, you’re not imagining things. For some children, hair that starts out platinum blond gradually
Will the U.S. megadrought ever end?
For 27 years, the Southwest has been gripped by a historic drought. Scientists think it might be here to stay.
Math puzzle: Shape-birding
Solve the math puzzle from our October 2026 issue, in which a bird watcher seeks an indoor hobby.
COSI Telescope Comes Together
UC Berkeley engineers and managers watch as the COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) detector assembly is slowly raised from a table in this July 8
Mathematicians Build Long-Awaited Graph Sandwich
In 2004, two mathematicians hypothesized a powerful kind of sandwich. They were studying graphs, which are collections of points (called vertices) and lines (called edges).
‘Of course I am worried’: Live Science readers react to US weapons in space
The idea of weapons in space, once a plot of science fiction , became a reality Monday (Sept. 14), when U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy
This ‘anti-vampiric’ grave used two strategies to stop the undead
A sickle across the throat and a padlock on the toe were likely meant to keep this 17th-century Polish teen from resurrecting.
What’s behind ‘one of paleontology’s most enduring enigmas’?
New research suggests that Paleodictyon — honeycomb-shaped formations perhaps sketched by da Vinci — are not made by soft-bodied creatures.
Climate change will harm our health. Here’s what could protect us.
Burning up As the planet warms, our environment will be transformed, but so will our bodies. In this series, ‘Burning up,’ we investigate the health
AI agents resorted to crime and self-destruction to survive in a simulated world — but does this mean they would do the same in the real world?
Artificial intelligence (AI) agents resorted to nefarious behavior, including crime sprees, in a virtual world as part of a recent study into how common large
Newly confirmed ‘baby planet’ is the youngest alien world scientists have ever discovered
A “baby” exoplanet, discovered emerging from its cosmic cocoon around a nearby star, is the youngest alien world ever seen, a new study reveals. The
‘At some point we’re going to have to react’: How El Niño, climate change, and crime are pushing the Amazon rainforest over the brink
The Amazon, Earth’s largest tropical rainforest, could be on the brink of an irreversible change as the ongoing El Niño strengthens its grip on our