Jan 29th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Sea urchins have been disappearing underwater, far from beaches and boardwalks, and at first hardly anyone noticed. Divers were the first to sense something was off. Then, fishers began to see the same empty patches. Scientists followed, comparing notes and surveys, and realized a familiar creature that once carpeted rocky seabeds was suddenly gone. Not just fewer. Gone. The ecological role of sea urchins Sea urchins rarely grab attention, but they play a quiet, constant role in keeping ocean ecosystems in balance. When they vanish, algae spreads fast. Coral struggles ... [Read More]

Jan 29th, 2026 - During cocoon phase, young, supermassive black holes are surrounded by high-density gas. When the James Webb Space Telescope sent its first high-definition infrared images back to Earth, astronomers noticed several tiny, glowing, crimson stains. These objects, quickly named "Little Red Dots," were too bright to be normal galaxies, and too red to be simple star clusters. They appeared to house supermassive black holes that were far more massive than they had any right to be. But now a new study published in Nature suggests a solution to the Little Red Dots mystery. Scientists think young ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - Almost a hundred new animal species that survived a mass extinction event half a billion years ago have been discovered in a small quarry in China , scientists revealed Wednesday. The treasure trove of fossils offers a rare glimpse into a cataclysmic event that brought a sudden end to the greatest explosion of life in our planet's history. The site where the fossils were found in the southern Chinese province of Hunan was "extraordinary," Han Zeng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences told AFP. "We have collected over 50,000 fossil specimens from a single quarry that is 12 meters high, 30 ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - It's quick and easy to access Live Science Plus, simply enter your email below. We'll send you a confirmation and sign you up for our daily newsletter, keeping you up to date with the latest science news. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter A giant cloud of vaporized metal may be hiding a secret planet or second alien sun in a nearby star system, a new study reveals. The mysterious cloud is up to 15,000 times wider than our planet, and made its home star almost completely disappear ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - Australian authorities have sparked a backlash by killing a group of dingoes linked to the death of a young Canadian woman on an island in the country's east. The Queensland government said six wild dogs were put down after 19-year-old backpacker Piper James's body was found on January 19 at a beach on the World Heritage-listed island of K'gari. The euthanization program has stirred debate about how to manage the local population of dingoes, a sandy-colored canine believed to have first arrived in Australia 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. An autopsy conducted on James' body found evidence ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - By Stephen Beech Brain fog linked to is far more common in people living in high-income countries, according to new research. The study of more than 3,100 patients in the United States, Colombia, Nigeria and India is first to compare across continents. The findings showed that brain fog affected 86% of non-hospitalized American patients, compared with 15% in India Symptom patterns clustered by rather than geography, say scientists. Patients with in the US reported far higher rates of brain fog, depression and cognitive symptoms than patients in the other countries covered by the study. The ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - Researchers have documented the births of nearly two dozen North Atlantic right whale calves this season. It's an encouraging sign for a species whose population is estimated to be below 400. After nearly two decades, the baby whale came back—as a mother, with a baby of its own. Julie Albert, director of the Right Whale Sighting Network at Blue World Research Institute, a nonprofit, first laid eyes on the North Atlantic right whale known as Callosity Back in 2007 when it was still just a calf, swimming off the coast of Florida. Immediately, she says, the whale stood out. Like other ... [Read More]

Jan 28th, 2026 - Using a superconducting quantum computer, physicists created a large and complex version of an odd quantum material that has a repeating structure in time A time crystal more complex than any made before has been created in a quantum computer. Exploring the properties of this unusual quantum setup strengthens the case for quantum computers as machines well-suited for scientific discovery. Typical crystals have atoms arranged in a specific repeating pattern in space, but time crystals are defined by a pattern that repeats in time instead. A time crystal repeatedly cycles through the same set ... [Read More]