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

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

a group of happy pets against a white background, incluiding dogs, a bunny, a cat and a parrot

Animals

How to lessen your pet’s impacts on the planet

Climate-friendly food choices, new poop solutions and avoiding animals collected from the wild can all help make pet ownership more sustainable.

By Laura AllenAugust 20, 2026

A researcher puts ancient poop into a centrifuge

Animals

Frozen poop reveals Ice Age squirrels’ ecosystem

By Bethany Brookshire18 hours ago

Ronald Gamble stands in front of a blackboard covered with formulae. He's a black man with brown hair, a moustage and beard. He's wearing glasses and a sweatshirt that reads "NASA Goddard."

Space

Art helped this astrophysicist make sense of math

By Rachael LallensackAugust 24, 2026

A fenced-off cave entrance

Humans

Humans have used fire far longer than anyone realized

By Tom MetcalfeAugust 21, 2026

top down view of a girl doing homework and holding a phone. The phone screen reads 'Hello! Can I do something for you?'

Math

AI can be a helpful math tutor if used right — and harmful if not

By Wendy OrlandoAugust 19, 2026

A honeybee grips a lump of pale, irregular wax that hangs against a clear blue sky.

Animals

Surprise! Wax seems key in turning honeybee larvae into queens

By Anirban MukhopadhyayAugust 18, 2026

A brighly colored illustration of a large birdlike dinosaur attacking a bird

Fossils

A new dino may be the culprit in an ancient murder mystery

By Aaron TremperAugust 17, 2026

Word of the Week

a sandy seashore covered with shells

Humans

Scientists Say: Midden

One ancient person’s, or animal’s, trash may become an archeologist’s treasure.

By Katie Grace CarpenterAugust 24, 2026

Explainer

an illustration meant to represent ADHD showing three kids sitting at desks in a classroom, except that the middle kid is jumping out of their chair jubilantly

Humans

Explainer: What is ADHD?

Short for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD affects how people think, learn and process information.

By Rachel LeaAugust 13, 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

Back to school

a close up of a hand with a pen writing

Handwriting may boost brain connections that aid memory

Writing with a pen — but not typing — boosted links between regions used for motion and memory. That may help explain why writing fosters learning.

By Claudia López LloredaMarch 15, 2024
Artificial Intelligence
At least half of U.S. teens use chatbots for homework and more

By Kathryn Hulick
Psychology
How not to choke when performing under pressure

By Chris Berdik
Artificial Intelligence
Chatbots may make learning feel easy — but it’s shallow

By Payal Dhar

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

This microbe turns into a ‘Hulk’ that eats its own kind

The shape-shifting transformation of Euplotes gigatrox may reveal how early life learned to act in complex ways.

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]

A ‘super’ El Niño appears to be emerging. What’s the big deal?

A brown mouse stands upright with its mouth open, as though singing, against a backdrop of wood chips and blurred green foliage. It belongs to a species known as singing mice.

Here’s how ‘singing’ mice belt out their tiny tunes

Thunderstorms hover over Lake Maracaibo at night. Lightning bolts flash from eerily lit clouds.

Could a storm last forever?

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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

Art helped this astrophysicist make sense of math

By Rachael LallensackAugust 24, 2026
‘Superpuff‘ planets are as dense as cotton candy

By Lisa GrossmanAugust 10, 2026
Scientists Say: Event horizon

By Katie Grace CarpenterJuly 13, 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

Frozen poop reveals Ice Age squirrels’ ecosystem

By Bethany Brookshire18 hours ago
How to lessen your pet’s impacts on the planet

By Laura AllenAugust 20, 2026
Surprise! Wax seems key in turning honeybee larvae into queens

By Anirban MukhopadhyayAugust 18, 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

What to know about using AI chatbots for therapy

By Aimee Cunningham and Maria TemmingAugust 11, 2026
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