Since 2008, the Dutch city of Heerlen has used water in its flooded former coal mines to heat and cool homes, shops and offices

Dogs align with Earth's magnetic field to defecate, but only when it's stable

Animals may sense Earth's magnetic field far more precisely than we realized—and act on it in ways both mundane and mysterious.

By Science Blog Editorial Team · Sep 24, 2026

Offshore wind turbine blade failure closes Nantucket beaches, triggers $10.5M settlement

A wind turbine failure off Massachusetts exposed deep vulnerabilities in the nation's offshore energy ambitions—and raised uncomfortable questions about who bears the cost when renewable energy goes wrong.

By Ainura Kalau · Sep 24, 2026

Cheese brine waste becomes Wisconsin's secret weapon against icy roads

A Wisconsin county found that dairy waste could solve a winter road problem—and cut salt use by a third in the process.

By Science Blog Editorial Team · Sep 24, 2026

Golden jackals are naturally spreading from the Balkans deep into Western Europe

A predator extinct across Europe for centuries is quietly reclaiming its old territory, filling an ecological void humans left behind.

By Kiran Journals · Sep 24, 2026

Australian doctor drank bacteria broth, won Nobel Prize for ulcer discovery

Barry Marshall’s self-experiment showed that a stomach bacterium could cause gastritis in a healthy person. The evidence linking that bacterium to ulcers came later, through studies of what happened when patients’ infections were treated.

By Lab Report · Sep 24, 2026

Abandoned rapeseed field became home to 86 plant species in 11 years with no help

Eleven years of surveys on one family-owned field suggest species-rich meadow can return to former farmland without a seed packet, though the researchers cannot yet explain how several of its rarer plants got there.

By Natural History · Sep 24, 2026

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Living World

Earth systems, climate, biology, animals, and the many ways life adapts.

Octopuses hurled debris at each other 102 times in footage from an Australian bay

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Guam drops poisoned mice from helicopters to kill invasive snakes

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Tiger sharks with cameras revealed Earth's largest seagrass meadow

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Louisiana's fur boom nutria collapsed when pelts fell from 1.3 million yearly to 134,000

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Body & Mind

Health, medicine, brain science, and the research changing how we understand ourselves.

Caffeine doesn't give you energy, just hides how tired you actually are

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Your brain mistakes relaxing muscles for the sensation of falling

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Watermelon picked up 97 percent of bacteria in massive five-second rule study

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Bajau divers' spleens grow 50 percent larger from a lifetime underwater

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Matter & Machines

Physics, mathematics, materials, technology, engineering, and the tools of discovery.

Arizona's rubber highway coating cuts freeway noise by 11 decibels

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Researchers secretly put GPS trackers inside 205 old printers and monitors to see where America’s…

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Engineering student's $217.77 NASA tape purchase became a $1.82 million moonwalk recording

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17-year-old intern discovers planet orbiting two stars in first week at NASA

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The Long View

The discoveries, experiments, and turning points that put today's science in context.

Wind turbine material promised a sweet second life as gummy bears—what happened next

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Wild elephants sleep just two hours a day, sometimes standing for weeks

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GPS tracking of 925 cats revealed they stay within 3.6 hectares while killing 3.5 animals monthly

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Study casts doubt on viral claim that teabags leak millions of microplastics

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Curious Science

Odd findings, everyday objects, natural surprises, and facts worth a closer look.

Extinct antelope returns to African desert after zoos secretly saved it

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Venice started charging tourists just to walk through its streets

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Hundreds raced to climb Uluru before Australia banned it forever

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