The breakup of C/2025 K1 (ATLAS), captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, opens a window into how fragile comet nuclei evolve and collapse. These Hubble images of the fragmenting comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) were taken over the course of three consecutive days: November 8, 9, and 10, 2025. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bodewits, Auburn / J. DePasquale, STScI. “Sometimes the best science happens...

Samples returned by JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 mission from the C-type asteroid (162173) Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases — purines (adenine and guanine) and pyrimidines (cytosine, thymine and uracil) — pointing to a cosmic origin for some of life’s fundamental chemistry. Hayabusa-2 image of the asteroid Ryugu as seen from a distance of 3.7 miles. A particularly large crater is...

A cache of 142 beads and pendants from five Natufian (15,000 to 11,650 years before the present) sites in Israel reveals that clay was first used not for tools or cooking, but for symbolism and identity, often crafted by children whose fingerprints still mark the objects. The findings suggest that the roots of art, learning and social expression emerged long before agriculture. A butterfly clay bead...

New experiments indicate bird-like oviraptorid dinosaurs could not fully warm their eggs with body heat alone, instead combining brooding with solar warmth in semi-open nests. An artist impression of Huanansaurus ganzhouensis. Image credit: Chuang Zhao. “We show the difference in oviraptor hatching patterns was induced by the relative position of the incubating adult to the eggs,” said Dr. Tzu-Ruei...

A team of researchers from the United States and Germany has identified fungal proteins that can freeze water at relatively warm subzero temperatures, raising the prospect of safer cloud seeding, improved climate models and new advances in food preservation and medicine. Mortierellomycetes and Umbelopsidomycetes fungi from freshwater ecosystems in Korea. Image credit: Goh et al., doi: 10.4489/kjm.20230018. In...

Astrophysicists from the University of Illinois and the University of Chicago have developed an innovative method to measure the Hubble constant — the rate at which the Universe is expanding — using the subtle background hum of gravitational waves. As gravitational-wave detectors become more sensitive in the coming years, this approach could reshape our understanding of cosmic history...

New experiments show that tar made from birch bark — long known as a tool adhesive — can inhibit harmful bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, suggesting Neanderthals may have used it to treat wounds and manage infection during the Ice Age. Neanderthals probably used birch tar for multiple functions, including treating their wounds. Siemssen et al. confirm that birch tar possesses selective...

In a randomized clinical trial of older adults, researchers found that taking multivitamins for two years modestly slowed epigenetic markers of aging — equivalent to roughly four months less biological aging compared with a placebo. Li et al. evaluated the two-year effect of daily multivitamin-multimineral supplements and cocoa extract (500 mg cocoa flavanols per day, including 80 mg epicatechin)...

New orbital data reveal that the most recently active volcanic systems on Mars weren’t simple one-off blasts into space; instead, long-lived magmatic plumbing beneath Pavonis Mons, one of the Red Planet’s largest volcanoes, reshaped lava flows over time, with distinct eruptive phases and evolving chemical signatures, offering fresh insights into the planet’s inner dynamics and how rocky planets...

A cache of 142 beads and pendants from five Natufian (15,000 to 11,650 years before the present) sites in Israel reveals that clay was first used not for tools or cooking, but for symbolism and identity, often crafted by children whose fingerprints still mark the objects. The findings suggest that the roots of art, learning and social expression emerged long before agriculture. A butterfly clay bead...