A 40-Foot-Long SpaceX Rocket Piece Is About to Slam Into the Moon — Here's What to Expect From the Impact

Learn about the SpaceX rocket piece that is going to crash into the Moon on Aug. 5, 2026, and find out what might be visible from the impact. 

The Tiny Black Dots on Your Oven Door Have Roots in Ancient Egypt

Learn about ceramic frit pattern — the dotty design that makes your household appliances safer and more efficient.

Mad Honey Once Poisoned a Roman Army — Now Some People Take It On Purpose

Learn more about mad honey, how it's made, what it was once used for, and the reasons some people still use it today. 

100-Million-Year-Old Fossil Preserves an Ichthyosaur That Ate a Pterosaur Before Becoming Food for a Giant Predator

Discover a unique fossil find from the Australian Outback detailing how a large ichthyosaur preyed on a pterosaur before it became prey itself, a first of it's kind find. 

Do Animals Smile Because They're Happy? Why a Grin in Nature Doesn't Always Mean What You Think

Experts aren't exactly sure why animals smile. Discover what we do know about animal facial expressions. 

Britain Deliberately Crashed a Train Into a Nuclear Flask at 100 MPH in 1984 — Did the Flask Survive?

More than 40 years ago, British citizens watched as a train pummeled into a flask built to hold radioactive material. Discover what this experiment proved about transporting nuclear materials by train. 

A Young Person’s 200,000-Year-Old Skull Fragment Suggests Diverse Human Populations in Ancient Spain

Learn how a skull fragment from inland Spain is adding to evidence that human evolution in Europe followed no single path.

This Freakish Fungus That Turns Ants into Zombies May Be Hiding Inside Amazon Mosses

Learn how the fungus that turns ants into zombies also overruns mosses, revealing the bizarre way that it manipulates the insects it infects.

Ghost DNA in Living Humans Reveals Two Unknown Ancient Human Lineages

Learn how researchers uncovered two ancient human lineages without sequenced ancient DNA from either population.

Ketamine Can Be a Go-To Anesthetic in Emergencies, but It May Affect Male and Female Brains Differently 

Learn how female brains undergo unique changes while recovering from ketamine, a discovery that could help improve future psychiatric treatments.

Human Ebola Vaccine Trials Begin, a Newly Discovered Dinosaur from Zimbabwe, and Wildfires in Europe Are Producing "Fire Clouds"

Discover the top stories from July 25 to July 31, 2026, including the latest update on the Ebola outbreak and a new dinosaur discovery from Zimbabwe. 

Ancient Smallpox DNA Hidden in Two Chilean Mummies Traces the Disease’s Colonial Arrival

Learn how centuries-old DNA linked an extinct virus to European colonization and its spread through an Indigenous community in northern Chile.

30-Million-Year-Old Fossil Reveals a Short, Stocky Ancient Dog Built for Ambush Hunting

Learn about a 30-million-year-old dog that climbed and ambushed prey, but lacked the ability to run for long distances like many modern dogs.

For Long-Term Sleep Improvement in Adults and Children, Melatonin May Not Be the Answer

Learn more about some of the long-term effects of taking melatonin as an adult or a child. 

Woolly Mammoth Bones Emerge From Bulgaria's Danube Riverbank During Drought

Learn how specialists are recovering fragile woolly mammoth bones and investigating whether the Danube carried them to Ryahovo.

Common Antihistamines May Not Provide Actual Relief for People With Eczema

People often take antihistamines for eczema, but a large-scale meta-analysis now debunks their effectiveness and advises readers on treatments to use instead.

A Mouthful of Burning Chili May Temporarily Reduce Stronger Pain Elsewhere

Learn how capsaicin changed response to laser pain and why one painful sensation may briefly dampen another.

How 31 Billion Chickens Are Driving the Evolution of a Major Foodborne Pathogen

Learn how industrial poultry farming drove a 100-fold increase in Campylobacter transfers and helped strains acquire traits linked to drug resistance.

Cancer Thrives by Evading Cell Death — Cattle Cells Could Help Researchers Fight Back

Learn more about apoptosis' role in cancer and how finding the best animal model to test cancer drugs may lead us to cows.

A Cave So Dangerous to Reach, It Preserved 179 Ritual Objects for More Than 1,100 Years

Learn how a cave’s difficult descent and flooded passage preserved evidence of Zoque rain and fertility rituals in Chiapas, Mexico, for over 1,100 years.