Earth · Oct 25, 2026
Fires in New Guinea release more carbon than in all of 2015
Thick smoke from fires has covered parts of New Guinea for weeks, and Papua New Guinea's fire emissions have already passed the 2015 total.
Your daily dose of discoverySunday, October 25, 2026
THE DAILY SHOW · OCT 20, 2026Today’s stories. One curious world.
Narrated and written with AI, checked against primary sources. Our standards
The world, explained.
Big discoveries.
Little moments
of wonder.
Stories from five pillars to make sense of today.
Explore today’s edition ↗Sunday, October 25
Four things to know. A world to understand.
Technology · Oct 25, 2026
NASA fires an RS-25 Moon-rocket engine for a full 500 seconds
NASA fired RS-25 engine No.
Health · Oct 25, 2026
One extra year of school linked to lower dementia risk decades later
A UK policy change raising the school leaving age led to a modest but measurable drop in dementia diagnoses, especially among those at higher genetic risk.
Discovery · Oct 25, 2026
A Saharan 'antennae' tomb is dated for the first time
A 54.5-meter stone monument in Western Sahara, with two long lines of stones like antennae, held a single burial dated to about 4,400 to 4,100 years ago.
Friday, October 23
Four things to know. A world to understand.
Earth · Oct 23, 2026
NASA maps show 2026 El Niño rivals the 1997 event
NASA's Earth Observatory says October 2026 sea levels in the equatorial Pacific resemble the strong El Niño of October 1997, and the event is on track to be even bigger.
Space · Oct 23, 2026
Roman telescope enters final testing before science
NASA says the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has entered science commissioning after a checkout, and project scientists say the observatory is fully functional.
Technology · Oct 23, 2026
NASA pilot flies the quiet X-59 at Mach 1.4
NASA test pilot Mike Lippert flew the X-59 quiet supersonic research jet for the first time on Wednesday, reaching Mach 1.4 and 55,000 feet in a one-hour flight at Armstrong Flight Research Center.
Discovery · Oct 23, 2026
Scientists name a new green horned toad from the Himalayas
A peer-reviewed paper in Zoosystematics and Evolution describes a new Asian horned toad, Megophrys motuoensis, and places it in a new branch, Viridophrys, from Motuo County in the eastern Himalayas of southwestern China.
Tuesday, October 20
Five things to know. A world to understand.
Earth · Oct 20, 2026
Gravity satellites map where people are reshaping Earth's water
NASA's GRACE and GRACE-FO satellites measured land-water trends from April 2002 to November 2025, and a peer-reviewed analysis found 40 regions strongly tied to human activity.
Space · Oct 20, 2026
Japan's MMX is on its way to bring home a piece of a Martian moon
JAXA launched the Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) spacecraft on an H3 rocket at 4:41 a.m.
Technology · Oct 20, 2026
An MIT robot fits parts together by feel, with no camera
An MIT team reports that a robot arm inserted pegs using only its joint positions and speeds, with no camera or touch sensors, succeeding in 73% of real-world trials after training only in simulation.
Health · Oct 20, 2026
FDA approves an immunotherapy that may spare some rectal cancer patients surgery
On Monday the Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval for Jemperli alone in adults with untreated stage 2 or stage 3 locally advanced rectal cancer that is dMMR or MSI-H.
Discovery · Oct 20, 2026
A giant deep-sea isopod in a German museum drawer is a new species
Scientists named Bathynomus tuebingoborikensis from a female specimen 322 millimeters long, collected at 500 meters off Puerto Rico and kept at the University of Tübingen.
Monday, October 19
Five things to know. A world to understand.
Earth · Oct 19, 2026
Thwaites Glacier may double its sea-level share by 2100
A peer-reviewed ice model, tuned to satellite measurements from 1996 to 2023, projects up to 30 millimeters (plus or minus 6) of sea-level rise from Thwaites Glacier by 2100 under steady climate, about double an older model average of 15.2 millimeters.
Space · Oct 19, 2026
Japan's MMX is set to launch today to bring home a piece of a Martian moon
JAXA's MMX spacecraft is scheduled to launch Monday, October 19, at 3:41 p.m.
Technology · Oct 19, 2026
Researchers trace a key encryption seed to a 1990s clock
Anthropic reports that the NIST P-256 curve seed came from an old random-number function started by a computer clock in 1997 or 1998, making a deliberate backdoor much less plausible.
Health · Oct 19, 2026
Preprint: monkey brains flip between seen and unseen images 15 times a second
A not-yet-reviewed preprint reports that rhesus macaque brains alternated about 15 times a second between a seen face and a hidden one during a steady percept.
Discovery · Oct 19, 2026
Expedition says Nikumaroro object is trees, not a plane
A Purdue and Archaeological Legacy Institute expedition found the Taraia Object on Nikumaroro was tree debris with a carbonate coat, not Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra.
Sunday, October 18
Five things to know. A world to understand.
Earth · Oct 18, 2026
Assessment finds rising extinction risk for reef-building corals
A reassessment classifies 44% of reef-building coral species with sufficient data as threatened with extinction.
Space · Oct 18, 2026
Astronomers identify a star that would appear green up close
University of Warwick researchers identify a white dwarf whose light would appear green to human eyes from sufficiently close up.
Technology · Oct 18, 2026
Google tests a way to prepare more reliable quantum states
Google's Willow experiment reports roughly a 40-fold reduction in state-preparation error using magic state cultivation.
Health · Oct 18, 2026
One lab reports more detections of a rare brain-infecting mold
A University of Washington laboratory detected more Cladophialophora bantiana cases, including an increase relative to submitted sample numbers.
Discovery · Oct 18, 2026
A museum fossil overlooked since 1924 is Europe's first megaraptor dinosaur
A braincase found on the Isle of Wight and held by London's Natural History Museum since 1924 has been named Invictibellatrix amberina, the first megaraptoran dinosaur known from Europe.
Saturday, October 17
Four things to know. A world to understand.
Earth · Oct 17, 2026
Kīlauea resumes tall lava fountains after nearly two months
Kīlauea's latest fountaining episode began before dawn Saturday, with the north fountain reaching just over 700 feet by 5 a.m.
Space · Oct 17, 2026
Space station completes roll-out solar power upgrade
The U.S. space agency reports that the station's solar power upgrade is complete.
Health · Oct 17, 2026
U.S. measles cases reach 4,410 through October 15
Reported confirmed measles cases through October 15 nearly double the total for all of 2025.
Discovery · Oct 17, 2026
Neanderthal remains add evidence of care and repeated burial
A study describes Shanidar A, an older Neanderthal deposited around 75,000 years ago in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Friday, October 16
Four things to know. A world to understand.
Earth · Oct 16, 2026
Satellites track El Niño through a changing Pacific
NASA satellites are following warmer water and changing ocean heights as El Niño develops.
Space · Oct 16, 2026
Hubble reveals dust lanes in a spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on
Hubble's image reveals rusty-brown dust lanes and bright-blue regions where stars are likely forming.
Technology · Oct 16, 2026
Researchers demonstrate a tiny light ruler for portable clocks
Researchers demonstrated a chip-based instrument that measures light without bulky supporting laboratory equipment.
Discovery · Oct 16, 2026
White Sands study reveals a changing world around ancient footprints
Researchers examined the environment around ancient human footprints at White Sands in New Mexico.