Breaking down rare earth element magnets for recycling
New method extracts desirable elements from waste magnets using less energy and acid.
Doug Johnson
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25
Science // Science & Exploration
Do animals fall for optical illusions? It’s complicated.
Guppies are highly susceptible to the Ebbinghaus illusion. Ring doves? Not so much.
Jennifer Ouellette
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9
Dead Ends is a fun, macabre medical history for kids
Ars chats with co-authors Lindsey Fitzharris and Adrian Teal about their delightful new children’s book.
Jennifer Ouellette
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21
NASA’s next Moonship reaches last stop before launch pad
Preparations for the Artemis II mission continue despite the federal government shutdown.
Stephen Clark
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83
Lead poisoning has been a feature of our evolution
A recent study found lead in teeth from 2 million-year-old hominin fossils.
Kiona N. Smith
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40
SpaceX has plans to launch Falcon Heavy from California—if anyone wants it to
There’s no big rush to bring SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Stephen Clark
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99
Antarctica is starting to look a lot like Greenland—and that isn’t good
Global warming is awakening sleeping giants of ice at the South Pole.
Inside Climate News
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144
Rice weevil on a grain of rice wins 2025 Nikon Small World contest
Nikon Small World photomicrography contest is an annual reminder that science can be beautiful as well as informative.
Jennifer Ouellette
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56
Most Read
Believing misinformation is a “win” for some people, even when proven false
“Winning” means prioritizing independence from outside influence over being right.
The Conversation
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252
Starship’s elementary era ends today with mega-rocket’s 11th test flight
“The final phase of Starship’s trajectory on Flight 11 includes a dynamic banking maneuver.”
Stephen Clark
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174
Putin OKs plan to turn Russian spacecraft into flying billboards
This Soyuz mission is brought to you by the Wagner Group.
Stephen Clark
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59
Termite farmers fine-tune their weed control
The termites know how much of their agricultural area has been taken over by weeds.
Jacek Krywko
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20
Rocket Report: Bezos’ firm will package satellites for launch; Starship on deck
The long, winding road for Franklin Chang-Diaz’s plasma rocket engine takes another turn.
Stephen Clark
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273
“Like putting on glasses for the first time”—how AI improves earthquake detection
AI is “comically good” at detecting small earthquakes—here’s why that matters.
Kai Williams
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79
We’re about to find many more interstellar interlopers—here’s how to visit one
“You don’t have to claim that they’re aliens to make these exciting.”
Stephen Clark
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61
How Easter Island’s giant statues “walked” to their final platforms
Workers with ropes could make the moai “walk” in zig-zag motion along roads tailor-made for the purpose.
Jennifer Ouellette
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80
One NASA science mission saved from Trump’s cuts, but others still in limbo
“Damage is being done already. Even if funding is reinstated, we have already lost people.”
Stephen Clark
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41
Chemistry Nobel prize awarded for building ordered polymers with metal
Three researchers share prize for structured polymers called metal-organic frameworks.
John Timmer
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49
Floating electrons on a sea of helium
Yes, it’s another potential qubit. But it’s also some very cool physics.
John Timmer
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46
2025 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for macroscale quantum tunneling
John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret, and John Martinis built an electrical circuit-based oscillator on a microchip.
Jennifer Ouellette
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45
Natural disasters are a rising burden for the National Guard
New Pentagon data show climate impacts shaping reservists’ mission.
Inside Climate News
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52
The neurons that let us see what isn’t there
A standard optical illusion triggers specific neurons in the visual system of mice.
Federica Sgorbissa
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48
Here’s the real reason Endurance sank
The ship wasn’t designed to withstand the powerful ice compression forces—and Shackleton knew it.
Jennifer Ouellette
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118
Pentagon contract figures show ULA’s Vulcan rocket is getting more expensive
A close examination of this year’s military contracts reveals some interesting things.
Stephen Clark
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96
How different mushrooms learned the same psychedelic trick
Scientists may have additional tools to produce psilocybin to use for medical purposes.
The Conversation
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64
A biological 0-day? Threat-screening tools may miss AI-designed proteins.
Ordering DNA for AI-designed toxins doesn’t always raise red flags.
John Timmer
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41
Scientists revive old Bulgarian recipe to make yogurt with ants
Ants carry lactic and acetic acid bacteria that help coagulate milk, as well as formic acid to acidify it.
Jennifer Ouellette
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76
Blue Origin aims to land next New Glenn booster, then reuse it for Moon mission
“We fully intend to recover the New Glenn first stage on this next launch.”
Stephen Clark
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82
Trump offers universities a choice: Comply for preferential funding
Who needs peer review? Plan offers easier grants to schools that agree to limits.
John Timmer
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338
World-famous primatologist Jane Goodall dead at 91
Goodall’s immersive studies of chimpanzees in Africa redefined what it means to be human.
Jennifer Ouellette
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44
Megafauna was the meat of choice for South American hunters
Giant sloths are extinct in part because they were tasty and nutritious.
Kiona N. Smith
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68
Researchers find a carbon-rich moon-forming disk around giant exoplanet
Lots of carbon molecules but little sign of water in a super-Jupiter’s disk.
John Timmer
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8
How “prebunking” can restore public trust and other September highlights
The evolution of Taylor Swift’s dialect, a rare Einstein cross, neutrino laser beams, and more.
Jennifer Ouellette
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38
SpaceX has a few tricks up its sleeve for the last Starship flight of the year
SpaceX will reuse a Super Heavy booster with 24 previously flown Raptor engines.
Stephen Clark
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119
Is the “million-year-old” skull from China a Denisovan or something else?
Now that we know what Denisovans looked like, they’re turning up everywhere.
Kiona N. Smith
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44
Scientists unlock secret to Venus flytrap’s hair-trigger response
Ion channel at base of plant’s sensory hairs amplifies initial signals above critical threshold.
Jennifer Ouellette
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28