Giant planets could act as dark matter detectors

Key Takeaway on How Whales Die: Some whales die naturally of old age after surprisingly long lives. Certain whales can live to be 80 years old, while others can live to about 200 years old. After a whale dies, its carcass becomes a vital food source for marine ecosystems. Some creatures can even feed off…

The Nobel Prizes are arguably the world’s most prestigious recognition anyone can receive for their work in the sciences, medicine, literature, or for world peace. For most winners, getting the call to tell them they won marks the high point of their lives. Note that I said most. Not all are so joyful. Some just don’t…

“I didn’t sign up to try to measure a new record or anything”, said Matt Carnicle, a volunteer for the NASA-sponsored Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network, or CoCoRaHS, project. Carnicle measured a whopping 29.06 inches of rainfall on June 18th, 2026, breaking an all-time 24-hour record for the state of Louisiana of 22.00…

Hot dogs, beach days, and iced tea on the porch are some of the rites of summer. But in an era of global warming, a new rite has emerged: choking down smoke from wildfires burning hundreds of miles or more away. The Midwest, Northeast, and parts of Canada have been blitzed with thick smoke that…

A colorful pet gecko that is unusually prone to developing cancer could become an important new tool for researchers studying how tumors form and spread. Scientists say the animal’s naturally occurring cancers may offer valuable insights into why some species are highly vulnerable to the disease while others are remarkably resistant. The research, led by…

There may be an easier way to describe how black holes “leak” energy than the theory Stephen Hawking proposed — and the newly suggested process is similar to how we describe a boiling pot of water. This simple (well, relatively simple) description could be used to model black holes in many situations such as during…