Scientists estimate the black hole pair has likely been together only a few tens of millions of years. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/largest-pair-black-holes-collision

The iconic sideways walk of crabs may have evolved just once, in an ancestor that roamed Earth roughly 200 million years ago. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/crab-sideways-walk-evolved-once

Darwin: A Biography lifts the curtain on the private life of one of science’s most controversial pioneers. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/charles-darwin-new-biography-evolution

“Climate change is a reality,” one researcher said. “And it has a significant impact in infectious diseases.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rodent-arenaviruses-hantavirus-climate

This spring, British explorer and chef Mike Keen will spend roughly a month skiing across Greenland with a sled dog. Along the way, the duo will subsist entirely on slowly decomposing seal meat. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/greenland-explorer-eat-decaying-seal

It’s possible that the physical movement of a yawn puts pressure on the uterus in ways that signals to the fetus that it should yawn. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/yawning-contagious-in-womb-fetus-muscle

Doing hard things or maintaining life’s frictions, while often frustrating in the moment, is vital for experiencing pleasure and cultivating purpose. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-removes-friction-effort-balance-good

The physics of merging galaxies has popped up in an unexpected place: the stuff of soap bubbles. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/water-soap-film-galaxies-study-cosmos

Female rats prefer gentler, more playful tickling than males, researchers report. The findings suggest that the same physical experience evokes a different emotional response in different individuals.

Taking a closer look at a suspicious dark void 4.4 billion light-years away, scientists may have found the largest pair of black holes ever discovered. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/largest-pair-black-holes-collision

A new study shows that a mother’s yawning can spread to the fetus. It’s unclear whether those yawns might influence future behaviors. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/yawning-contagious-in-womb-fetus-muscle

These viruses can trigger severe hemorrhagic fevers with mortality rates ranging from 5 to 30 percent. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rodent-arenaviruses-hantavirus-climate

Mothers can spread yawns to their yet-to-be-born offspring during pregnancy, researchers report. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/yawning-contagious-in-womb-fetus-muscle

The habitats of South American rodents may move to new regions with climate change. That shift could put new populations of people at risk of catching arenaviruses these rodents carry. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rodent-arenaviruses-hantavirus-climate

Neandertal dentists were drilling teeth almost 60,000 years ago. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/first-evidence-neandertal-dentist-molar

Andes hantavirus has already infected about a dozen people aboard a cruise ship. Scientists are trying to learn why it is the only hantavirus capable of person-to-person spread. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/andes-hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak

String theory is a proposed theory of everything based on the idea that the universe is made of vibrating strings of energy. ‘Bootstrapping’ is helping physicists understand how unique the theory is. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/string-theory-assumptions-bootstrap

The Turkana Rift Zone is undergoing “necking,” a critical transition toward continental breakup that has never been observed before, researchers reported. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/africa-crust-thinning-continental-break

It’s a game of monkey mean, monkey grew. Territorial tension may be behind the size of male primates. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/primate-male-large-size-territorial-conflict

Mind the gap! A suspicious dark void could be an ultramassive black hole, as scientists found in a galaxy 4.4 billion light-years away. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/largest-pair-black-holes-collision

Fetuses sometimes yawn when their mothers do, even without being able to see their faces. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/yawning-contagious-in-womb-fetus-muscle

At some 60 billion times the mass of the sun, the finding is a rare discovery. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/largest-pair-black-holes-collision

In a purely mathematical sense, melodies and harmonies in jazz and classical music may have simplified in the past 70 odd years, indicating a musical evolution in process. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/jazz-classical-music-simpler-pop-rock

As climate shifts rodent habitats, hemorrhagic fever viruses could reach countries not currently at risk. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rodent-arenaviruses-hantavirus-climate

For women with absolute uterine factor infertility who would like to experience pregnancy, researchers and clinicians have developed a new surgical procedure: uterus transplantation. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/uterus-transplant-womb-pregnancy-ivf

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms everywhere https://www.sciencenews.org/article/male-seahorses-mothering-brood-pouch

On Friday, the Pentagon released a trove of files on UAP (unidentified anomalous phenomena), formerly referred to as UFOs. Our August 2024 story details some of the scientific inquiry into these strange sightings. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/scientists-serious-ufo-uap-security

The first bat-wearable microphone is helping biologists study the bats’ good safety record at avoiding collisions in rush hour air.

Flight may be one of evolution’s most iconic innovations, but zoologist Piotr Jablonski is convinced that early wings were first meant to be seen, not to fly. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/wings-flight-evolution-insects-dinosaur

Black holes aren’t black. They emit Hawking radiation. Now that phenomenon has been translated to another realm of physics using a concept called the “double copy.” https://www.sciencenews.org/article/black-holes-hawking-radiation-double-copy

At Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, Margaret Oluwatoyin Japhet is developing a rapid diagnostic kit designed to quickly identify the cause of diarrhea in children. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/nigeria-rotavirus-diagnosis-rapid-test

Newly analyzed microstructures help explain why under certain circumstances, it can be difficult to dislodge a dandelion’s fluffy seeds.

An imperfect diamond is perfect for sensing Earth’s magnetic field from space. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/quantum-earth-magnetic-field-space

After training to use virtual wings, people’s brains responded to wings more similarly to how they respond to real limbs, making wings seem more like body parts, researchers report. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/virtual-wings-brain-changes

Most human beings will never travel beyond Earth, at least not in the foreseeable future. The camera may be the most meaningful piece of equipment in any space mission. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/space-photography-candice-hansen-koharcheck

High sunspots, lower altitude: As the solar cycle ramps up, more intense emissions prompt orbiting space debris to slow down and sink. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/space-debris-altitude-loss-increase

Parents will fret, even among bugs. And even among bugs, it’s complicated.

The sweet song of the singing mouse comes from strange inflatable air sacs in the rodent’s airways. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/singing-mice-air-throat-sacs-songs

Neandertals may have had an unexpected tool in their kits: rhinoceros teeth. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rhino-teeth-neandertal-tool

Mining the seafloor for valuable metals could send dangerous ripples through ocean food webs.

Got questions about hantavirus on a cruise ship? So did we. We asked experts about the case. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak-health

Drugs like Ozempic can help treat a variety of health conditions, but the portrait of their effects in cancer remains blurry. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/glp-1-drugs-ozempic-cancer-prevention

Astrocytes form previously undiscovered networks in the mouse brain. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/astrocytes-brain-networks-communicate

A small solar system denizen farther from the sun than Pluto may be shrouded in a thin atmosphere. If confirmed, it would be the first object of its size known to host even a tenuous atmosphere. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/atmosphere-small-object-past-pluto

May the Fourth be with you, Star Wars fans! Did you know that engineers are exploring propulsion methods that could enable longer-distance travel just like hyperspace? https://www.sciencenews.org/article/star-wars-spacecraft-speed-reality

Taking in a beautiful view may require our brains to expend less energy as compared with looking at something less appealing. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/brain-aesthetics-energy-saving

The Amazon molly doesn't reproduce sexually, but it avoids accumulating harmful mutations by shuffling its own genome around. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/sex-skipping-fish-hacks-evolution-gene

Peptides are taking the wellness world by storm. As the FDA considers expanding access further, experts say consumers should be cautious. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/peptides-unproven-health-fda-access

America is turning the big 250 this year. To celebrate, the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, D.C., has a new exhibit of state flowers. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/america-250-state-flower-exhibit

In some of medicine’s toughest cases, the hardest part isn’t choosing the right diagnosis. It’s thinking of it at all. Artificial intelligence may now be better at that than doctors, a new study suggests. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ai-help-doctors-help-diagnoses