Science News | The latest news from all areas of science

Subscribe today

A fire ant sits on a clump of earwax, shown up close

Life

Earwax’s surprisingly slippery but sticky properties deters insects

A comprehensive study of earwax reveals a combination of slippery and sticky properties that may protect against insect invasions of the ear.

By Elizabeth Pennisi2 hours ago

A black and white portrait of Giulia Menichetti. She is positioned in front of a bright green circle, with a textured beige and yellow background.

Food contains thousands of overlooked chemicals. This physicist is mapping them

By Tina Hesman Saey, Mandana Tadayon and Anna Mattson5 hours ago

A pink-spotted hawkmoth as seen from above clearly shows the pink along its body and its smaller set of wings.

Animals

How hawkmoths turned their genitals into bat-busting weapons

By Elie Dolgin17 hours ago

An illustration of two hands holding a microphone, and a white face mask with colorful lines connecting the mask’s mouth to the microphone.

Health & Medicine

Your voice can now say things you never said

By Laura SandersNovember 3, 2026

An illustration shows a group of red blood cells flowing through a blood vessel. Two white lump represent sugar, or glucose, in the blood.

Health & Medicine

A drug-free diabetes treatment? An implant lowers blood sugar in mice

By Isha IshtiaqNovember 3, 2026

Women and children sit together on a stage at a news conference with the mayor of the city of Detroit, Mary Sheffield, speaking behind a lectern.

Humans

Newborn survival improves when families receive financial support

By Aimee CunninghamNovember 2, 2026

An aerial shot of a large landslide debris pile blocking a river.

Climate

Melting permafrost has birthed a new type of large landslide

By Nikk OgasaNovember 2, 2026

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

Spotlight on Health

Women and children sit together on a stage at a news conference with the mayor of the city of Detroit, Mary Sheffield, speaking behind a lectern.

Newborn survival improves when families receive financial support

Rx Kids, a program that provides unconditional cash transfers for pregnant people and infants, reduced neonatal mortality in Flint, Michigan.

By Aimee CunninghamNovember 2, 2026
A proof-of-concept test can spot bladder cancer in urine
Three-quarters of NFL football players may end up with CTE

Science News Magazine

November 2026 issue of Science News

November 1, 2026 Vol. 208 No. 11

From Science News Investors Lab

Featured Media

A space telescope orbits over Earth in this illustration.

NASA’s Swift telescope will face a fiery demise after a failed rescue

Designed to study the powerful outbursts, the Swift Observatory quickly contributed to a wide range of discoveries. Now, it's about to meet a fiery fate.

A fire ant sits on a clump of earwax, shown up close

Earwax’s surprisingly slippery but sticky properties deters insects

A black and white portrait of Giulia Menichetti. She is positioned in front of a bright green circle, with a textured beige and yellow background.

Food contains thousands of overlooked chemicals. This physicist is mapping them

An illustration of two hands holding a microphone, and a white face mask with colorful lines connecting the mask’s mouth to the microphone.

Your voice can now say things you never said

Illustrated orbits of solar system planets against a backdrop of stars. The new dwarf planet's orbit extends beyond the other planets, highlighted in teal.

This Halloween, amateur astronomers may be in for a dwarf planet treat

Follow Science News

More Stories

Life

After the dinosaurs died, the massive D. rex fungus ruled the woods

By Jake BuehlerOctober 27, 2026
Peek into hidden worlds revealed by the 2026 Nikon Small World contest

By Allie SkalnikOctober 21, 2026
Spikes, claws and stingers have no single best shape

By Emily ConoverAugust 20, 2026

Humans

Why Epstein-Barr is the ‘everything virus’

By Michael MarshallAugust 20, 2026
Who owns your bones?

By Nancy ShuteJuly 18, 2026
Have a taste of our favorite food stories from 2025

By Carly KayDecember 24, 2025

Climate

When climate change brings the heat, what happens to a mighty redwood?

By Allie SkalnikOctober 12, 2026
In the wake of the flood, could Nepal avert the next disaster?

By Saugat BolakheSeptember 29, 2026
This year’s El Niño just broke a record months before it’s expected to peak

By Nikk OgasaSeptember 24, 2026

Astronomy

Are hypernovas real?

By Mara Johnson-GrohOctober 2, 2026
First radio waves seen from an exoplanet hint at otherworldly auroras

By Emily ConoverSeptember 21, 2026
The universe may have been building rocky planets almost from the start

By Mara Johnson-GrohSeptember 1, 2026

Physics

Why do flamingos dance while they eat? This scientist found out

By Erin Garcia de Jesús, Mandana Tadayon and Anna MattsonOctober 28, 2026
A nanoparticle revealed the tiny impact of a single gas atom

By Emily ConoverOctober 22, 2026
A quantum computing feat brings the ‘megaquops’ era a step closer

By Emily ConoverOctober 20, 2026

Health & Medicine

How brain implants turn thoughts into speech

By Laura SandersOctober 27, 2026
Eating too much sugar on antibiotics could squash helpful gut bacteria

By Mariella CareagaOctober 23, 2026
Electric stoves could help people with asthma breathe easier

By Aimee CunninghamOctober 23, 2026

Earth

How the Grand Canyon could have lost 1 billion years of geologic history

By Lucas Van Wyk JoelOctober 9, 2026
Kilauea’s display is revealing why volcanoes spew like a fountain show

By Carolyn GramlingOctober 8, 2026
Peru’s penguins are on the brink. A super El Niño could make it worse.

By Ana Elisa SoteloSeptember 28, 2026

Science & Society

Exhumed recounts the true story of America’s first vampire

By Anna MattsonOctober 30, 2026
Roller coaster safety is a matter of science

By Lindsay Lee WallaceOctober 27, 2026
Volcanoes lurk behind the scenes of human history

By Carolyn WilkeOctober 26, 2026