Dec 5th, 2025 - A paper, published in  Astronomy and Astrophysics , details the discovery of a grand-design spiral galaxy that formed just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. Grand design galaxies are similar to the Milky Way in that they display well-formed spiral arms. Prior to this discovery, astronomers thought such objects took billions of years to achieve grand-design status. Apparently not. Using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), researchers Rashi Jain and Yogesh Wadadekar, working at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in India, ... [Read More]

Dec 5th, 2025 - Climate crisis and overfishing contributed to loss of 95% of penguins in two breeding colonies in South Africa, research finds More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found. More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period, according to the paper, which said the climate crisis and overfishing were driving declines. ... [Read More]

Dec 4th, 2025 - 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. The most prolific meteor shower of the year is about to deliver more "shooting stars" than any other in near-perfect conditions for skywatchers. The annual Geminid meteor shower starts Thursday (Dec. 4), and remains active for the next two weeks. But this year's peak will be the night to watch. During the peak of the Geminids, on Saturday, Dec. 13 through Sunday, Dec. 14 , as many as 150 ... [Read More]

Dec 4th, 2025 - Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is invaluable in the medical world. But despite all the good it does, there is room for improvement. One way to enhance the sensitivity of MRI is called dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), where target molecules for imaging are modified so they form clearer images when scanned with an MRI machine. But this technique requires some special crystalline materials mixed with polarizing agents which are difficult to create. For the first time, researchers including those from the University of Tokyo demonstrate the use of molecules called fullerenes as polarizing ... [Read More]

Dec 4th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Speckled across Mars's Jezero Crater's rusty terrain, NASA's Perseverance rover has been spotting pale rocks that stand out like chalk on red clay. A new analysis identifies those light-colored fragments as aluminum-rich kaolinite. On Earth, this white clay forms when rocks are intensely leached by freshwater over long periods. In other words, these Martian clays point to sustained rainfall or long-lived humid conditions in the distant past, not just brief wet spells. "Elsewhere on Mars, rocks like these are probably some of the most important outcrops we've seen from ... [Read More]

Dec 4th, 2025 - Time actually runs slightly faster on Mars. This temporal lag is a direct consequence of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. The rule is simple: the weaker the gravity, the faster time passes. Mars's surface gravity is a weakling, approximately five times weaker than Earth's. That deficit speeds up time. Four hundred seventy-seven microseconds sounds minuscule. It's about one-thousandth of the time it takes you to blink. But for the advanced communication networks of the future, like 5G, this small discrepancy is absolutely critical. That sliver of time could also mean the ... [Read More]

Dec 4th, 2025 - 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. Scientists have discovered a record-breaking number of fossilized dinosaur footprints and swim tracks in a national park in central Bolivia. The tracksite sits along what was once an ancient coastline, with ripple marks extending alongside the footprints and other imprints in a northwest-southeast direction, according to a new study. Most of the tracks belong to bipedal, three-toed ... [Read More]

Dec 4th, 2025 - Pterosaurs acquired flight 'in a burst at their origin,' giving scientists new insights into the biological laws of flight In a study of fossils, a research team led by evolutionary biologist and Johns Hopkins Medicine assistant professor Matteo Fabbri suggests that a group of giant reptiles alive up to 220 million years ago may have acquired the ability to fly when the animal first appeared, in contrast to prehistoric ancestors of modern birds that developed flight more gradually and with a bigger brain. A report on the study, which used advanced imaging tools to examine the brain cavities ... [Read More]