Science News

Latest science news and updates from DripCast.

• Voyager 1 Nears Milestone One Light-day From Earth

  Voyager 1 is nearing one light-day from Earth, becoming the first human-made object to reach that distance. The probe is traveling through interstellar space, more than 16 billion miles away. Voyager 1 and its twin still send daily data,…

• 98-Million-year-old Leaf-like Mantis Found in Amber

  A 98-million-year-old fossil reveals the earliest clear evidence of praying mantises mimicking leaves. Named *Folimantis hyalinala*, the amber-preserved insect has leaf-like extensions on its abdomen. Researchers described the specimen,…

• Starship Reaches Orbit as Booster Catch Fails and Splashes Down

  SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit and remained healthy, but its booster exploded over the Gulf of Mexico. The explosion prevented the company from completing its planned double catch. Starship was expected to return to SpaceX’s Texas launch…

• Endeavour’s New Los Angeles Home Opens to the Public

  Los Angeles opened a major new space center at the California Science Center. Its galleries showcase aircraft, spacecraft, hands-on exhibits, and artifacts from space missions. Space shuttle Endeavour stands with authentic boosters and…

• Starship Reaches Orbit, but Booster Blast Foils Double Catch

  SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit, but its booster diverted and exploded over the Gulf of Mexico. The uncrewed mission carried 26 Starlink satellites, which the spacecraft began releasing after reaching orbit. SpaceX hopes to recover both…

• Appendix Removal Led to an Unexpected Discovery at Follow-up Scan

  Dubliner Claire Fagan’s biopsy confirmed stage four bowel cancer after doctors found an abdominal mass. Her cancer initially shrank on treatment, but drug-related liver injury prompted her to stop trial medication. Scans later showed…

• Global Ice Loss Crosses a Critical Climate Threshold

  Human-driven climate change has pushed Earth’s cryosphere beyond safe environmental limits, researchers warn. The threatened frozen regions include ice sheets, glaciers, sea ice, permafrost, and snow. Fossil fuel burning raises risks of…

• A 1960 Physicist’s Doomsday Prediction Misses the Mark on Nov. 13, 2026

  Physicist Heinz von Foerster and two colleagues predicted unchecked population growth would eventually crush humanity. Their model forecast the world ending Friday, November 13, 2026, as people were squeezed to death. That prediction was…

• Euclid’s First Cosmic Survey Charts a New Era for Cosmology

  The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope released its first major data batch, capturing over a billion objects. The images span a region of sky comparable to 9,500 full moons. Euclid aims to build the universe’s most detailed map,…

• Spacex Aims for First Starship Catch in Historic Test Flight

  SpaceX planned a historic Starship flight, attempting to catch both its booster and spacecraft. The mission was expected to last 22 hours, with the ship spending a day in orbit. Starship carried the words “Don't panic” as SpaceX prepared…

• Female Apes’ Hunting Upends the ‘Man the Hunter’ Theory

  Female bonobos are the primary hunters in their troops, challenging assumptions about their behavior. The findings question the traditional model of men hunting while women gathered food. Researchers say bonobo hunting could reshape ideas…

• Florida Mushroom Uniquely Combines Psychedelic and Toxic Compounds

  Florida researchers identified *Galerina indica*, the first known mushroom containing both psychedelic and poisonous compounds. The small, brown fungus carries psilocybin and dangerous amatoxins. Experts suspect gene transfer brought both…

• Researchers Propose Robot Swarms to Hunt for Life on Mars

  German researchers are developing robot swarms to search Mars for signs of life. The robots would explore Valles Marineris from the air, ground, and caves. Now in detailed hardware and software development, they’re designed to navigate…

• New Map Points to Earth’s Hidden Prehistoric Species

  Scientists mapped promising places worldwide to find fossils of previously unknown prehistoric marine species. Their analysis found the Cenozoic Era offers especially strong prospects for new discoveries. The map guides targeted searches,…

• JWST Spots a Never-before-seen Cosmic Signal Defying Lab Replication

  Astronomers detected H₃⁺’s long-predicted rotational light using the James Webb Space Telescope. The faint signal came from newborn stars’ shock waves, revealing 26 distinct spectral lines. The discovery could help scientists investigate…

• Deep-sea Sea Pigs Harbor Unusual Bacteria

  Tokyo researchers discovered a bacterium living beneath the skin of deep-sea sea pigs. It dominated bacterial samples across three species, with an unusually reduced genome. The bacterium may draw nutrients from its hosts, but benefits to…

• Astronomers Trace Eight-minute Radio Pulses to Rare Star System

  Astronomers identified a rare white dwarf pulsar orbiting a star similar to the Sun. Its radio flashes arrive every eight minutes, during a six-hour window, then stop. The two stars orbit each other every 32 hours, 5,000 light-years away.…

• Hubble Previews Targets for Roman’s Longer, Sharper Cosmic Survey

  Hubble revealed gravitational lenses that will guide follow-up observations by NASA’s Roman telescope. Roman’s test images show blurry green dots, while its camera surveys vast cosmic fields. Efficient fuel use could extend Roman’s…

• Hera Closes in on Nasa-impacted Asteroid for Inspection

  European spacecraft Hera has begun closely inspecting an asteroid NASA struck in a planetary-defense test. The harmless asteroid is now being examined to assess the impact of NASA’s collision. Hera’s observations will help scientists…

• Scientists Explain Earth’s Missing Billion Years of Rock Layers

  Researchers link mantle movement to the Great Unconformity, a vast gap in Earth’s rock record. Their model shows uplift drove erosion, then sinking continents allowed younger sediments to accumulate. More than 1,200 rocks reveal a vanished…