Feb 16th, 2026 - Science How Many Wolves Is Enough? Now that thousands live in the United States, some people would like to kill more of them. Jason Connolly / AFP / Getty Save Listen − 1.0x + 0:00 13:56 Updated at 10:02 a.m. ET on February 16, 2026 T he wolves arrived in May of last year, just days after Paul Roen had driven his cattle back up to their summer pasture in Northern California's Sierra Valley. He started finding the bleeding bodies of calves—some still alive, so badly paralyzed that they'd need to be shot. After weeks of this, Roen finally saw a kill himself. "One wolf grabbed a cow ... [Read More]

Feb 15th, 2026 - You can never truly empty a box. Why? Zero-point energy. The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine . Suppose you want to empty a box. Really, truly empty it. You remove all its visible contents, pump out any gases, and—applying some science-fiction technology—evacuate any unseeable material such as dark matter. According to quantum mechanics, what's left inside? It sounds like a trick question. And in quantum mechanics, you know to expect a trick answer. Not only is the box still filled with energy, but all your efforts to empty it have barely put a dent in ... [Read More]

Feb 13th, 2026 - A new 45-nucleotide RNA ribozyme brings us closer to understanding how life emerged from chemistry. Scientists on their quest to find the origin of life have stared into the primordial soup, trying to answer the ultimate chicken-and-egg question: Which came first, the genetic code or the proteins that build it? In modern biology, this is a distinct division of labor. DNA holds the blueprints, while proteins do the heavy lifting of catalyzing chemical reactions. But in the deep past, roughly 4 billion years ago, some scientists believe the first life spawned in an "RNA World." In this ... [Read More]

Feb 13th, 2026 - In a study published on Feb. 2 in Communications: Earth & Environment , an international team of researchers reveals how, in 2023, an atypical storm during Mars' northern summer lifted water into the planet's upper atmosphere, allowing hydrogen to escape. This discovery, a first of its kind, has big implications for understanding the evolution of Mars' climate. "The findings reveal the impact of this type of storm on the planet's climate evolution and opens a new path for understanding how Mars lost much of its water over time," Adrián Brines, study co-author and researcher at the ... [Read More]

Feb 13th, 2026 - State agencies are now mandated to protect the big cats, which have been increasingly vulnerable due to habitat loss More than 1,400 mountain lions across California are now protected by the state's Endangered Species Act, the state's fish and game commission announced on Thursday. The commission unanimously voted to list six groups of central coast and southern California mountain lions under the California Endangered Species Act, meaning the agency determined that they are likely to become extinct without intervention. The affected species can be found from the Bay Area all the way down to ... [Read More]

Feb 13th, 2026 - By Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists. For an entire century, this tiny drill bit was just a curious little pin tucked away in a museum collection. A slender copper tool barely longer than your thumb, weighing less than a paperclip. Cataloged in the 1920s as nothing more than "a little awl of copper, with some leather thong wound round it," the artifact was noted, filed away, and largely forgotten. Now, a fresh look at this overlooked relic has rewritten a significant chapter of ancient Egyptian history. Researchers ... [Read More]

Feb 13th, 2026 - Researchers have caught intriguing changes in frog calls, and they believe climate change is responsible for these alterations. The team followed several frogs and found that in early spring, mating calls by male frogs are sluggish in quality. As the temperature increases in the water, possibly due to global warming, these calls become quicker. Some suggest that the calls sound "sexier" because of this pacing. Though meant for females, even humans can note these subtle changes if they hear the calls long enough. Findings have been published in the journal  Frontiers in Ecology and the ... [Read More]

Feb 13th, 2026 - In my January 23, 2026, "The Universe" column , I wrote about some of the biggest bangs the universe has to offer: exploding stars, hiccupping magnetars, stellar disruptions and colliding black holes. These all deserve deeper dives, but perhaps black holes deserve one most of all because, technically speaking, they do provide the deepest dive you can physically take. They also make very big bangs indeed, with their collisions rapidly releasing almost incomprehensible amounts of energy. You might think it's obvious that merging is the final fate of two black holes. These objects' whole ... [Read More]