Science news this week: The latest on the cruise ship hantavirus infections, a shortcut to Mars, and a fast-charging quantum battery

May 9, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 8 days ago

'Feuding tech bros' go head to head in legal showdown. But what does it mean for the future of AI?

Elon Musk and Sam Altman battle it out in court, and the outcome could carry significant ramifications for how AI development is shaped. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 8 days ago

If humans are getting smarter, why are our brains shrinking?

Human brains have been shrinking since prehistoric times, some studies suggest. Whether this is true and why it has happened are debated. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 8 days ago

Some gene therapies no longer require clinical trials, thanks to new FDA rule. Is this safe, and who will it help?

The FDA is launching a new framework to deliver tailor-made gene therapies to people with rare genetic disorders. Discussions about whom to treat and how to monitor patients are ongoing. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

US government declassifies nearly 200 UAP files, including strange sightings from Apollo astronauts

The Department of Defense just declassified more than 160 documents, images and recordings related to UFO/UAP sightings dating back to before the Apollo era. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

Flowering plants transformed into 'hopeful monsters' in 9 dire bursts across evolutionary time, study finds

In hard times, like when the dinosaur-killing asteroid hit Earth, some plants transformed into "hopeful monsters" to save themselves. Now, a new paper shows that these monsters are more common than we thought. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

500-year-old gold dental bridge is earliest known oral care of its kind in Scotland — and it likely held a fake tooth

Archaeologists discovered the 20-karat-gold dental wire in the lower jaw of a middle-aged man who lived around 500 years ago in Scotland. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

Live quantum network test in New York overcomes 2 key hurdles in creating an 'unhackable' internet

Scientists tested a live quantum internet between three locations across New York, inching closer to an unhackable internet. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

Mangroves clean up $8.7 billion of nitrogen pollution every year, study finds

New research suggests mangroves remove 960,000 tons per year of nitrogen from global water systems, a figure that could rise to more than 5.5 million tons annually if conditions were optimal for the plants. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

New AI model spots pancreatic cancer up to 3 years earlier than human doctors in test

A new AI tool finds early hints of pancreatic cancer in CT scans that doctors would otherwise miss, an early test found. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 9 days ago

Watch NASA's Curiosity rover 'struggle' to remove a rock that got stuck on its robotic arm for nearly a week

New footage shows NASA's Curiosity rover tilting, rotating and vibrating its robotic arm as mission scientists tried to remove a rock that became stuck on a drill for six days. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Gold sword scabbard discovered under toppled tree in Norway was likely 'sacrificed' by an elite warrior 1,500 years ago

A hiker poked into a hole in the ground and discovered a rare gold scabbard ornament from Norway's Migration period. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

More doomed Franklin expedition sailors identified, revealing clues about how they tried to find safety

DNA from living descendants of relatives have allowed four members of the ill-fated Franklin expedition to be identified. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Hantavirus LIVE: American passengers from cruise head to specialized facilities in Nebraska

The latest news and updates on the hantavirus cluster associated with the MV Hondius. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Hantavirus cruise LIVE: World Health Organization hosts briefing as authorities race to track contacts from cruise ship infections

Thursday, May 7, 2026: The latest news and updates on the hantavirus cluster associated with the MV Hondius. The cruise ship is on course to arrive in Spain on Saturday while health authorities trace contact cases from the roughly 40 people who have already disembarked. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Hantavirus cruise LIVE: Cruise passengers monitored in several US states as CDC sets lowest emergency response

Friday, May 8, 2026: The latest news and updates on the hantavirus cluster associated with the MV Hondius. The cruise ship is on course to arrive in Spain on Sunday. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Hantavirus LIVE: American passengers from cruise reach specialized facilities in Nebraska as WHO chief says 'we expect more cases.'

The latest news and updates on the hantavirus cluster associated with the MV Hondius. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

'Almost tragicomical': Coins minted to protect the English from the Vikings ended up as Viking jewelry, experts discover

Two rare coins minted in England to ward against Viking raids have been discovered in Denmark, where Vikings made them into jewelry. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Andes virus — the only hantavirus strain that can spread between people — identified as culprit on cruise ship

Laboratory tests have implicated the Andes virus, a specific type of hantavirus, in the cluster of illnesses on the cruise ship MV Hondius. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

New water battery could last until the 24th century — and it can be safely discarded in the environment

With no toxic elements to dispose of, the new aqueous battery design could dramatically improve the safety and longevity of battery energy-storage systems. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Happy 100th birthday, David Attenborough! 13 surprising facts about the famous naturalist

As Sir David Attenborough turns 100, here are 13 surprising facts about the beloved broadcaster and environmental advocate whose voice has shaped how generations see the natural world | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

The night sky could get three times brighter as new satellites launch — all but ruining the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's survey of the universe

Extremely bright satellites and megaconstellations could make the night sky up to three times brighter than it is now, a new study warns. This would seriously hinder astronomical imaging devices, like the enormous camera at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

The brain's memory center doesn't start as a blank slate, study suggests

Early in life, neural networks in the brain's memory center are highly connected, and they are only later refined into precise systems, a mouse study finds. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 10 days ago

Quantum battery charges in a quadrillionth of a second with a laser — larger prototypes could last for years after charging for just a minute

Quantum batteries can be charged remotely and could allow for far better energy density than conventional batteries used in devices today. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 11 days ago

Diagnostic dilemma: A woman turned black and blue weeks after starting a new medication

A woman's sudden hyperpigmentation was a side effect of a medicine she was taking. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 11 days ago

Clean hydrogen created from plastic waste using battery acid from old cars and solar power

Researchers turned hard-to-recycle plastic into hydrogen using battery acid. This circular upcycling system tackles multiple problematic waste streams at once, the scientists claim. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 11 days ago

'Food insecurity is no longer just about low-income countries': Environmental economist explains how climate change is pushing agricultural systems to the brink

As a U.N. report warns that extreme temperature swings are disrupting crops and endangering agricultural workers, we spoke with environmental economist Shouro Dasgupta about farming in an overheating world. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 11 days ago

Both very low and very high heart rates may be linked to higher stroke risk, study says

Both unusually low and high resting heart rates may be linked to an increased stroke risk, though more research is needed to confirm a causal relationship. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 11 days ago

Icy object beyond Pluto has an atmosphere that shouldn't exist, study suggests

Observations suggest there's a small, icy object with an atmosphere beyond Pluto, challenging assumptions about which bodies can sustain atmospheres. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 11 days ago

'I was not looking for this': Scientist accidentally finds shortcut to Mars that could slash travel time in half

A new study suggests early asteroid trajectory data could help design faster Mars missions, potentially cutting round-trip travel time to under a year. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 12 days ago

Canadian 'emoji' lake vanishes after dramatic, landslide-like collapse — Earth from space

A pair of satellite photos reveals the drastic transformation of Canada's Lake Rouge, which was fully drained after the sudden collapse of one of its banks. A multitude of factors led to the demise of the shocked-emoji-like lake, experts say. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 12 days ago

Mysterious green rocks in Pyrenees cave hint that prehistoric people were working copper there for 4,000 years

Dozens of pieces of bright-green rock discovered in a cave in the Pyrenees may be evidence of copper smelting 7,000 years ago. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 12 days ago

Estrogen in both the male and female brain shapes responses to trauma, study suggests

Traumatic experiences can cause memory problems, and estrogen may be a key factor that shapes the brain's resilience against such stressors, a mouse study finds. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 12 days ago

NASA just released 12,000 more Artemis II photos ‪—‬ here are a dozen of our favorites

NASA just uploaded more than 12,000 photos snapped by the Artemis II crew during their record-breaking flyby around the moon. Here are some of the most inspiring ones. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 12 days ago

3 cruise ship passengers are dead, and hantavirus is the suspected culprit: What to know

Three people have died and three more have fallen ill on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, and hantaviruses may be behind the cases. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 13 days ago

Centuries-old Christian Nubian murals inspire gorgeous fashion reconstructions

Stunning clothes from medieval Christian Nubia have been re-created and put on models, whose performance brought onlookers to tears. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 13 days ago

Athena bowl: A silver and gold vessel of the goddess and her owl, buried in a German forest 2,000 years ago

The ornately decorated metal bowl was found as part of a hoard containing dozens of pieces of ancient Roman tableware. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 13 days ago

'Sacrifice zones' around critical mineral mines are rife with pollution, child workers and birth defects

The race to mine critical minerals for AI and clean energy is creating 'sacrifice zones' that harm water and health of world's poor. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 14 days ago

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks this week: How to see 'shooting stars' dropped by Halley's Comet

The Eta Aquariids will peak May 5-6, with debris from Halley's Comet creating swift meteors, though bright moonlight will make them harder to see. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 14 days ago

Scientists detect an enormous halo around the iconic Sombrero Galaxy — Space photo of the week

The 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera in Chile has captured an extended halo and a dust-filled disk around the hat-shaped Sombrero Galaxy. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 14 days ago

Did Japan have female samurai?

The samurai are renowned as skilled warriors, but were any of them women? | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 14 days ago

Scientists identify 10,000 'impossible' exoplanet candidates, potentially tripling the number of known alien worlds

A new study has identified a potentially record-breaking haul of transiting exoplanets, thanks to a machine learning algorithm that analyzed the light curves of more than 80 million previously overlooked stars. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 15 days ago

Yellowstone's volcano may be fueled in a very different way than we thought

Yellowstone eruptions may be driven by shifts in Earth's crust, rather than a deep well of magma, study finds. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 15 days ago

Science news this week: Risky, lifesaving surgery performed on a baby in the womb, AI agent deletes a company database in 9 seconds, and the universe may end much sooner than expected

May 2, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 15 days ago

What's the difference between a lion and a tiger?

One has stripes, and one doesn't. But do the differences between lions and tigers go deeper than that? | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 15 days ago

'One of the most rapid transitions that I've seen': NOAA forecaster on how this year's El Niño could shatter records

Nathaniel Johnson, a member of NOAA's El Niño forecasting team, says that this year's transition to El Niño could be the fastest on record. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 16 days ago

City birds appear to like men more than women, but experts have no idea why

An analysis of 37 urban bird species found that men could get slightly closer to the avians than women could, suggesting that these animals recognize sex differences in humans. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 16 days ago

'If astrological compatibility exists, its effects should be observable': TL;DR — it's not

In this excerpt from "What Science Says About Astronomy," author Carlos Orsi examines a 2007 study of 20 million people that showed star signs have no influence on romantic relationships. | Continue reading


@livescience.com | 16 days ago