Physicist Richard Feynman turned a lunch dilemma into a math problem. Researchers finally cracked his notes and found people approximate his solution on their own.

A new survey estimates 8 million young people use AI chatbots for help when stressed, angry or sad, an increase from 2024.

Tones, oddball sounds and words can spark brain cell responses, hinting at nuanced processing without consciousness.

Daraxonrasib, which nearly doubled patients' survival time, fights the disease in a new way. It bear-hugs a cancer protein that drives cell growth.

A mathematician found the most efficient way to fold paper into a doughnutlike shape.

The debate could reopen in 2030 when NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft gets the closest view of the icy moon’s surface.

How animals navigate by Earth's magnetic field is hotly debated. New research in pigeons points to iron-laden liver immune cells as the compass.

Lab experiments suggest mosquitoes can smell DEET and learn to associate it with food, but it’s unclear whether that happens in the wild.

The new test may catch active tuberculosis in those with low access to health care or who have trouble making the phlegm needed for traditional tests.

The South Pacific blast may have consumed its own methane — but using this idea against the greenhouse gas is controversial.

A global model suggests that climate change could make hailstones larger and more damaging in many regions, especially at mid-to-high latitudes.

Scientists rethink their ideas after experiments. AI agents struggle to learn from evidence and recognize when an idea is obviously incorrect.

Scientists spotted patterns hours before a major solar flare, a discovery that could help forecast dangerous eruptions.

Andes hantavirus causes deadly lung failure, but its method of attack differs from other respiratory illnesses. The details might inform future treatments.

Hours of diving videos and hundreds of survey responses reveal the common diver mistakes that can cause irreversible reef damage.

Editor in chief Nancy Shute introduces a new social sciences column that explores what it means to be human.

Metals like copper oxidize — reacting with oxygen in the air — but gold doesn’t, thanks to a quick switch in atom arrangement on its surface.

As Congo’s Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak grows, public health responders are turning to old-school tactics to fight it as scientists search for new tools.

A noninvasive treatment called high-intensity focused ultrasound helped relieve the shaking, stiffness and pain that accompany Parkinson’s disease.

Experimental houses with screens, rainwater systems and ventilation reduced malaria, diarrhea and infections among children in Tanzania.