Flail-type weapon associated with Battle of Grunwald discovered near Gietrzwałd

A flail type weapon known as a kiścień has been discovered by detectorists from the Society of Friends of Olsztynek – Exploration Section “Tannenberg”. The discovery was made in fields…

Record launches, reusable rockets and a rescue: China made big strides in space in 2025

China is rounding off what has been a year of big progress in space, including major crewed lunar landing tests, new rockets and booster landing attempts, a new deep space…

Have a taste of our favorite food stories from 2025

Carly Kay is the Fall 2025 science writing intern at Science News. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a master’s degree in science…

Ancient “Straight Road of Qin” segment unearthed in Shaanxi Province

Archaeologists in northwest China have discovered a 13-kilometre segment of the legendary “Straight Road of Qin,” one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of the ancient world. The discovery was…

Consciousness May Require a New Kind of Computation

Summary: A new theoretical framework argues that the long-standing split between computational functionalism and biological naturalism misses how real brains actually compute. The authors propose “biological computationalism,” the idea that…

Watch Indian rocket launch record-breaking BlueBird 6 smartphone satellite to orbit tonight

Webcast: AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 6 Mission Live Launch – YouTube Watch On An Indian rocket is scheduled to launch the record-breaking BlueBird 6 smartphone satellite tonight (Dec. 23), and you…

Leonardo Ziccardi | Trait coordination reveals the fast-slow plant economics spectrum along the vertical canopy profile in central Amazonian forests – Functional Ecologists

In this ‘Behind the Paper’ blog post we get into the roof of rainforests as the author Leonardo Ziccardi guides us through the unique world of ancient Amazonian trees from…

Cues Can Hijack Decision Making in Some People

Summary: Some individuals rely heavily on visual and sound cues when making decisions, and this sensitivity can lead to persistent maladaptive choices. When cue–outcome associations shift, these individuals struggle to…

Smiling Faces Trigger Mimicry, and Make Us Trust Them More

Summary: People instinctively mimic others’ facial expressions, but new research shows we do this far more with joyful faces than with sadness or anger—and that the intensity of mimicry predicts…

Northern lights may be visible in 10 states Dec. 22–23

The northern lights may put on another show across the U.S. tonight as speedy solar wind from an Earth-facing coronal hole is forecast to spark minor (G1) geomagnetic storm conditions,…