‘Red balloon’ sprouts from baby’s back due to birth defect
The newborn had a birth defect that left a gap in his lower spine, through which tissue pushed out and formed a giant, red, balloon-like structure.
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New NASA robot with X-ray vision will watch Earth ‘breathing’ from the moon
An artist’s illustration of Earth’s magnetosphere.
800-mile-long ‘DUNE’ experiment could reveal the hidden dimensions of the universe
A new underground facility called DUNE, which will accelerate particles for 800 miles between Illinois and South Dakota, could reveal the hidden dimensions of the universe, new research suggests.
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Tularemia: The ‘rabbit fever’ that can fatally infect humans
Tularemia, or “rabbit fever,” is an infectious disease that normally affects animals but can spread to humans, sometimes via tick and deer fly bites.
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Woman hospitalized with heat stroke after using sauna for 45 minutes
In a rare medical case, a woman in her 70s was hospitalized with heat stroke after stretching in a sauna for 45 minutes.
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Physicist claims to have solved the infamous ‘grandfather paradox,’ making time travel (theoretically) possible
The grandfather paradox is just one of the thorny logical problems that arise with the concept of time travel. But one physicist says he has resolved them.
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Early study reveals why sleeping pills may not supply the best-quality snooze
A new study in mice suggests that sleeping pills may impede the brain’s ability to “cleanse” itself during sleep.
Giant funnel-web spider with fangs so big it could bite through a human fingernail arrives at Australian zoo
Hemsworth, a colossal funnel-web spider recently donated to the Australian Reptile Park, could make significant contributions to the park’s life-saving venom-milking program, keepers say.
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‘Huge fortune’ from the 1600s, including gold and silver coins, found in German church where Martin Luther preached
Four bags of money hidden around 1640 and worth “much more than a craftsman could earn in a year” have been found inside a statue at a Gothic church in Germany.
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Scientists examine bloody mating wounds to reveal details of sharks’ secret sex lives
Shark sex is a bitey business, with males grasping females with their teeth during the act. The resulting wounds are helping scientists to figure out when and where sharks are doing the deed.
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Orange dwarf cave crocodiles: The crocs that crawled into a cave, ate bats, and started mutating into a new species
Dwarf crocodiles in Gabon found living in a cave, with their skin turning orange from swimming in guano. It’s unclear how long they’ve been down there, but genetic research indicates they may be morphing into a new species…
Tristan da Cunha: The most remote inhabited island on Earth, forged from a supercontinent breakup
Tristan da Cunha is a group of islands in the South Atlantic that formed from the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana. Today, it’s home to a tiny and extremely isolated farming community.
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Situs inversus: The condition where your organs are on the ‘wrong’ side
Situs inversus is a rare genetic condition that causes the organs in the chest and abdomen to be located on the opposite side from where they’re usually found, like a mirror image.
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From Stonehenge’s origins to ice age baby genetics — how well did you follow this year’s top archaeology stories?
Here’s Live Science’s 2024 quiz for archaeology fans. Do you know this year’s coolest archaeology stories?
10 of the strangest medical cases from 2024
From fungi brewing alcohol in a person’s gut to parasitic brain infections, here are some of the oddest medical case reports we covered in 2024.
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