A Massive Ring-Like Structure of Galaxies Defies the Universe's Rules — Here's Why It's Such a Mystery 

Learn about the Big Ring, a superstructure of galaxies located 9.2 billion light-years from Earth that may challenge the standard model of the universe. 

Six Years After the First COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines, Billions of Doses Clarify Their Protection and Rare Risks

Learn how mRNA vaccines work, why serious risks remain rare, and how the technology could be used beyond COVID-19.

A Crab Survived Two Months Trapped in a Plastic Bottle in the Pacific After Growing Too Big to Escape

Learn how a crab survived two months trapped in a plastic bottle off Okinawa, Japan, revealing an overlooked danger of plastic pollution for marine animals.

A Parasitic Infection That Causes Explosive Diarrhea Is Spreading in the U.S. as an Outbreak Expands in Michigan

Learn more about the infection called cyclosporiasis, the parasite that causes it, and how to avoid it. 

World’s First Synthetic Cell With a Complete Life Cycle Marks Biology Breakthrough

Learn how SpudCell, a synthetic cell built from chemical parts, can grow, divide, copy its DNA, and bring life-like behavior closer to engineering.

A Long-Lost Megalodon Fossil Found, The Strange Minds That May Exist in the Universe, and a Blood Test That Could Detect Over 50 Types of Cancer

Discover the top stories from June 27 to July 2, 2026, including the return of a long-lost Megalodon fossil and a new blood test that could detect cancer from a single sample.

This Jellyfish Can Heal Its Wounds in Mere Minutes — What This Could Mean for Wound Healing in the Animal Kingdom

Learn about the amazing wound healing process of a tiny jellyfish, in which cells "walk" toward each other to close wounds. 

A Blood Test Could One Day Detect Over 50 Types of Cancer — What That Means for Cancer Care

New tests claim to detect more than 50 types of cancer from a single blood sample, but more research is still needed. Discover more about it.

MRI Scans Reveal That Pregnancy Restructures the Brain — but Why It Transforms Remains a Mystery

Scientists are studying what pregnancy does to the brain and how it does so, shedding light on a long-understudied area of neuroscience.

Marlborough Mound Is the Second-Largest Neolithic Structure in Britain — and Legend Claims It Contains Merlin's Bones

Marlborough (aka Merlin’s) Mound is the second-largest Neolithic mound in Britain, and possibly in Europe. Learn more about its long and unique history. 

Skeletal Clues of a 9,000-Year-Old Woman Shaman Show How She Induced Ecstatic Behavior During Spiritual Rituals

Meet the Bad Dürrenberg shaman and how lavish grave goods help us paint a picture of shamanistic practices of the Middle Stone Age.

Heat Waves Are Among the Deadliest Weather Disasters in the U.S., Pushing the Human Body to Its Breaking Point

Learn what happens to our bodies during extreme heat and why heatwaves in the U.S. have a higher mortality rate than hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods combined.

Rare Powassan Virus Can Lead to Serious Brain or Spinal Cord Inflammation, and Cases are Rising in the U.S.

Learn how Powassan virus spreads through infected ticks, why cases in Maine and Rhode Island are raising concern, and what symptoms can make the infection dangerous.

Marigold Petals May Contain as Much Protein as Some Grains, Plus the Amino Acid Behind Umami

Learn how marigold petals contain plant-based protein comparable to quinoa, umami-linked amino acids, and properties that could turn flower waste into future food ingredients.

The Best Mushrooms for Beginner Foragers, How to Protect Baby Turtles, Where to Catch the Next Solar Eclipse, and How to View Manhattanhenge 

Learn more about ways you can help baby animals, where to begin for foraging, and how to catch some epic solar eclipse events. 

The Universe May Contain Minds Stranger Than We Can Imagine

Learn about a new working paper that argues that consciousness may not be limited to Earth, raising the possibility of alien minds — and perhaps even AI — built from radically different materials.

Fossil Skull From a Museum Drawer Reveals Obscure Saber-Toothed Cat Species With Knife-like Teeth

Learn about a surprise find of an early saber-toothed cat skull in a museum drawer, revealing how the teeth of ancient cats evolved. 

Human Childbirth May Not Be Uniquely Difficult, as Some Squirrel Monkey Babies Have Heads Nearly Twice the Size of Their Mothers' Pelvic Space

Learn how 3D models of primate birth canals found that squirrel monkeys, bushbabies, and other small species may face a tighter squeeze than humans.

Robotic Servicing Spacecraft Will Soon Blast into Orbit, to Try to Save a 1.5-Ton NASA Satellite From Reentry

Learn more about the Swift satellite, why it's slowly being dragged back to Earth, and how LINK will help keep it in space. 

Could a Common Allergy Pill and Heartburn Medication Combination Really Ease PMS Symptoms?

Learn how a viral TikTok trend pairing allergy and heartburn medications for PMS and PMDD might have a biological basis and why experts still urge caution.