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Animals

Narwhals may use their iconic tusks to play

Videos show narwhals using their tusks in several ways, including prodding and flipping a fish. It’s the first reported evidence of the whales playing.

Space

The Blue Ghost lander just witnessed a lunar eclipse — from the moon

The privately-owned lander turned its cameras toward Earth as our planet cast its shadow over the moon. It’s not the first spacecraft to do so.

Life

Dark coats may have helped the earliest mammals hide from hungry dinosaurs

During the age of dinosaurs, early mammals probably lacked the stripes and spots of their modern relatives, having uniformly dark, drab coats.

Archaeology

These ancient Maya-era puppets may have been used in rituals

The puppets, unearthed in El Salvador, have movable heads, strange facial expressions and may have been dressed for ritual roles.

Chemistry

A new iron compound hints ‘primordial’ helium hides in Earth’s core

Earth’s core could contain helium from the early solar system. The noble gas tucks into gaps in iron crystals under high pressure and temperature.

Quantum Physics

A quantum computing milestone is immediately challenged by a supercomputer

A quantum processor solved a problem in 20 minutes that would take a supercomputer millions of years. A supercomputer then did a part of it in about 2 hours.

Anthropology

Western Europe’s oldest face adds new wrinkles to human evolution

Face bones unearthed in a cave suggest that members of our genus, Homo, reached northern Spain as early as 1.4 million years ago.

Neuroscience

Parenthood may help the brain stay young

A study of nearly 38,000 adults shows that the number of kids correlates with coordination of brain regions’ activities — regardless of parents’ sex.

Health & Medicine

6 things to know about antidepressants

An abundance of data show that SSRIs, a class of drugs commonly used as antidepressants, are effective, though, like any drug, they have risks.

Planetary Science

Uranus emits more heat than previously thought

Uranus radiates more energy than it gets from the sun, two new studies find — just as Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune do.

Artificial Intelligence

As AI advances, the meaning of artificial general intelligence remains murky

AI models are growing ever-more capable, accurate and impressive. The question of if they represent “general intelligence” is increasingly moot.

Climate

Some trees are coping with extreme heat surprisingly well

Rising temperatures could reduce trees' ability to photosynthesize. Scientists are trying to figure out just how close we are to that point.