Science News Explores | News from all fields of science for readers of any age

It’s a wonderful world — and universe — out there.

An illustration of two blue planets orbiting a faraway star.

Space

‘Superpuff‘ planets are as dense as cotton candy

The puffiest planets known in our galaxy orbit a sunlike star more than 1,000 light-years from Earth.

By Lisa Grossman23 hours ago

an illustration of a machine printing a heart

Tech

Explainer: What is bioprinting?

By Tejasri GururajAugust 6, 2026

A translucent blue cylindrical crystal mounted on a post used to create the first nuclear clock

Physics

Scientists made clocks from an atomic nucleus

By Emily ConoverAugust 5, 2026

Two Australian zebra finches perch on a branch in bright sunlight

Animals

Songs prep unhatched finches’ brains for a hot world

By Jake BuehlerAugust 4, 2026

a valley full of fog tinted pink and orange at sunset

Life

Fog — it’s alive!

By Lily BurtonAugust 3, 2026

Close-up view of someone squeezing sunscreen into their hand.

Health & Medicine

U.S. sunscreen users are finally getting a new option

By Meghan RosenJuly 30, 2026

Animals

Analyze This: How sea slugs get their flashy colors

By Carolyn WilkeJuly 28, 2026

Word of the Week

a tiny creature that looks like a cross between a worm and a snake slithers across the tip of someone's thumb

Animals

Scientists Say: Amphisbaenian

Little is known about these elusive soil-dwellers that resemble both worms and snakes.

By Fechi Inyama23 hours ago

Experiment

a splatter of red paint against a white background, meant to mimic blood spatter at a crime scene

Physics

Experiment: Measure fake blood spatter

Future forensic scientists, get out your corn syrup and red food coloring! It’s time to fake a crime scene.

By Science BuddiesJuly 29, 2026

Technically Fiction

An illustration shows a woman holding a tablet and appearing to talk with a variety of animals (a bear, dog, turtle and cat). The animals each have speech bubbles with what looks like a scribbled language in them.

Animals

Chatty cats and talking dogs could one day ‘speak’ in our language

Scientists are making advances in decoding animal sounds. That might someday make animal translators a possibility.

By Laura SandersJuly 20, 2026

Solar Eclipse 2026

solar eclipse

Eclipses come in many forms

Eclipses are one of nature’s most awesome spectacles, and scientists have learned a lot by observing them and related celestial alignments — occultations and transits.

By Sid PerkinsApril 26, 2017
Animals
What do animals do during a solar eclipse?

By Lisa Grossman
Climate
When the moon throws shade, the weather can change

By Matthew Cappucci
Space
This space physicist uses radios to study eclipses

By Aaron Tremper

Science News Explores Magazine

Cover image for the August 2026 issue of Science News Explores. The main image is a parrotfish eating coral.

August 1, 2026 Vol. 5 No. 7

Instagram

Watch This

A hand drawn illustration showing a woman sitting on a train. She looks up from her phone to side-eye the passenger sitting beside her — a snake that is reading a newspaper.

King cobras may be riding trains across India [COMIC]

The snakes may be tempted onboard by tasty rodents — but train rides can carry cobras far from their forest habitats.

A surfer in a black wetsuit crouches on a surfboard inside a large curling turquoise wave as the waves break over him. Palm trees are visible in the background.

Big waves shape this surfer-scientist’s research and life

Several adult sperm whales hold a baby whale up to the surface of a large body of water

Watch the first sperm whale birth caught on video by scientists

A coiled brown tree snake shows its patterned scales and head in close-up against a black background.

Physics explains how snakes climb and stand without limbs

Why do objects shatter the same way? Math solves the mystery

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More Stories

Earth

Scientists Say: Fjord

By Katie Grace CarpenterJuly 27, 2026
Scientists Say: Subsidence

By Alison Pearce StevensJuly 20, 2026
Earth’s crust under Africa is thinning in a way never seen before

By Katherine KorneiJuly 7, 2026

Space

‘Superpuff‘ planets are as dense as cotton candy

By Lisa Grossman23 hours ago
Scientists Say: Event horizon

By Katie Grace CarpenterJuly 13, 2026
A small object beyond Pluto may have a thin atmosphere

By Lisa GrossmanJune 15, 2026

Tech

Explainer: What is bioprinting?

By Tejasri GururajAugust 6, 2026
Nature-inspired rocket-nozzle redesign stands by for liftoff

By Katie Grace CarpenterJune 3, 2026
Pokémon Go players helped build new maps of cities

By Kathryn HulickMay 19, 2026

Environment

Experiment: Remove microplastics from water with yeast

By Science BuddiesJune 30, 2026
Hawaii is turning fishnets and other plastic trash into roads

By Sara NovakMay 29, 2026
Teen engineer finds eco-friendly way to fight harmful algal blooms

By Maria TemmingApril 14, 2026

Animals

Scientists Say: Amphisbaenian

By Fechi Inyama23 hours ago
Songs prep unhatched finches’ brains for a hot world

By Jake BuehlerAugust 4, 2026
Analyze This: How sea slugs get their flashy colors

By Carolyn WilkeJuly 28, 2026

Brain

VR can train the human brain to treat wings like real limbs

By Yujia HuangJuly 6, 2026
Imagination is not just replaying what we’ve seen and heard

By Nora BradfordJune 9, 2026
Scientists Say: Synesthesia

By Katie Grace CarpenterJune 8, 2026

Physics

Scientists made clocks from an atomic nucleus

By Emily ConoverAugust 5, 2026
Experiment: Measure fake blood spatter

By Science BuddiesJuly 29, 2026
Physics explains why gold doesn’t ‘rust’

By Emily ConoverJuly 14, 2026

Health & Medicine

U.S. sunscreen users are finally getting a new option

By Meghan RosenJuly 30, 2026
Teens invent first chewing gum to tackle anxiety

By Katie Grace CarpenterMay 22, 2026
Positive thinking could help boost your immune system

By Esther LandhuisMay 20, 2026