Science News

NPR's Short Wave talks about elephants' sniffing abilities, the remarkable migration of painted lady butterflies and a surprising discovery about the early universe.

NASA says a crew member on the International Space Station is unwell. The agency canceled a planned spacewalk for Thursday and is taking the rare step of ending the Crew-11 mission early.

Some dogs have an amazing ability to learn the names of dozens, even hundreds of toys. Now, a new study suggests these super learners can pick up new words by overhearing people talk, just as toddlers can.

Talk of annexation has Greenland in the news again. But due to quirks of cartography, some common maps show the territory much larger than it is.

Young, infected Lasius neglectus ants will send out an altruistic "kill me" signal to worker ants, a new study finds, as part of a strategy to keep deadly pathogens from spreading through the colony.

Jacob Soboroff was raised in the Pacific Palisades and reported live from the area as it was devastated by fire in 2025. In Firestorm, Soboroff offers a minute-by-minute account of the catastrophe.

A new analysis of some fossil bones shows that adaptations for bipedal walking may go back 7 million years in the human family tree.

The much anticipated series finale of Netflix's Stranger Things is predicated on wormholes — a concept in physics that often appears in science fiction. So what are wormholes?

A big difference between humans and other apes is the ability to stride easily on two feet. A new analysis of fossil bones shows that adaptations for bipedal walking go back 7 million years.

Pea-size clusters of human cells called brain organoids inspire both hope and fear. Experts are debating how scientists can responsibly use these bits of gray matter.