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Rare animals sighted, California poised for a major quake, a photon split into infinite others, and China ‘tames nature.'(Image credit: Reid Wiseman/NASA | Getty Images)Jump to category:
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This week’s science news was brimming with discoveries and disappearances, with the unveiling of the first-ever deep-sea video of the elusive goblin shark making headlines.
Goblin sharks (Mitsukurina owstoni) are enigmatic, deep-water inhabitants that have remained largely unchanged since their emergence on Earth 125 million years ago, earning them the title of “living fossils.” However, capturing footage of these sharks in their natural deep-sea environments is exceptionally challenging, with previous live sightings occurring only when they were caught on fishing lines and brought to the surface. Recently, scientists managed to film not one, but two goblin sharks: the first near Jarvis Island in the South Central Pacific, and the second at a depth of 6,550 feet (1,997 meters) in the Tonga Trench.
For those who prefer their elusive creatures to be more terrestrial and decidedly more adorable, we also reported on the inaugural photographs of the dwarf fox, a species previously thought to be extinct but recently rediscovered near a highway in Cozumel, Mexico.
In other archaeological findings, a second cannonball from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo was discovered, providing artifacts from both sides of the historic conflict. Additionally, separate archaeological teams unearthed the remains of a prehistoric individual in Germany, potentially a victim of human sacrifice, and evidence of a “prototype” Stonehenge situated near the renowned Stone Age monument.
If you reached this point wondering about the “missing” news items, we also covered how a “cold blob” of reduced heat in the Atlantic Ocean is influencing Indian summer monsoons, posing a threat to over a billion people; an ice chunk the size of Texas that has broken off Antarctica; how an ancient lunar fragment discovered in Africa suggests a catastrophic celestial collision; and a peculiar viral infection that caused a woman to be unable to recognize her own father.
California is scarily close to a major quake’The system is critically stressed’: San Andreas and San Jacinto faults scarily close to major earthquake, study finds
The San Jacinto and southern San Andreas faults have reached their highest levels of tectonic stress in 1,000 years.
(Image credit: Left: Cavan Images / Peter Essick / Getty Images; Right: Burkhard et al., 2026 (CC BY 4.0))
A startling new study suggests that the next significant earthquake in California may be imminent.
The research, employing historical earthquake activity simulations, indicates that Southern California’s San Andreas and San Jacinto fault systems are experiencing unprecedented levels of tectonic stress, surpassing those of the last millennium. Furthermore, these faults are interconnected by a “gate” mechanism that could potentially cause them to rupture simultaneously.
While the precise probabilities and the timeline for a future rupture remain uncertain, the scientists emphasize that quantifying the accumulating strain within the system is crucial for preparedness.
Life’s Little MysteriesWhy does it take our eyes so long to adjust to the dark?
Why does it take up to an hour for our eyes to adapt to their surroundings when we are outdoors on a dark night?
(Image credit: Jackal Pan via Getty Images)
Our eyes demonstrate remarkable adaptability, transitioning from navigating under bright illumination to the near-total darkness of a moonless night. However, anyone who has stumbled during this adjustment period may have wondered why our vision takes such a prolonged time to acclimate to the dark. Live Science has provided some insight into this query.
—If you enjoyed this, sign up for our Life’s Little Mysteries newsletter
Physicists split a photon’A mixture from zero to infinity’: Physicists split apart a photon — and ended up with an improbable swarm of particles
Physicists are exploring the consequences of bisecting a single particle of light, leading to an unpredictable cascade of particles.
(Image credit: tiero via Getty Images)
What is the outcome when a photon is divided? Physicists suggest it could range from zero to an infinite quantity of additional photons.
This revelation stems from a recent experiment that simulated the slicing of a photon by a shutter under varied conditions, revealing that the result could be anywhere from none to one or even an infinite multitude of these minuscule light particles. The likelihood of each of these states was determined by the speed at which the shutter intercepted the photon.
Furthermore, this unexpected phenomenon carries significant implications for our understanding of fundamental particles.
Explore more physics discoveries
—The world’s inaugural nuclear clock has started ticking, potentially aiding in the detection of a fifth fundamental force of physics
—NASA’s experimental X-59 jet has surpassed the sound barrier twice, reaching Mach 1.4 in its advancement towards ‘quiet supersonic’ technology
—An Earth-based telescope has captured an image of the Artemis II capsule near the moon, marking one of the most distant photographs ever taken of humans
Also in science news this week
—According to researchers, 300-million-year-old fossils suggest that the earliest terrestrial vertebrates were not what was previously believed, painting ‘a completely different story’
—The oldest identified victims of the plague have been found in a 5,500-year-old burial site in Siberia, with many of them being children
—Indonesia’s nearly identical ‘Twin Peaks’ volcanoes exhibit a striking mirror-image formation, as seen from Earth’s orbit
—A lavish Roman villa discovered outside the confines of Rome may have hosted prominent figures like Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius
—Neuroscientists are actively seeking the ‘cellular substrate of loneliness’
Science Spotlight’River in the Sky’: China’s doomed plan to create a ‘cloud seeding corridor’ tells us how far the country will go to solve its climate crisis
A cloud-seeding rocket is launched into the atmosphere in Hebei Province in an effort to stimulate precipitation.
(Image credit: VCG via Getty Images)
China’s response to the climate crisis continues to be astonishing. Over the last two decades, the world’s industrial hub has overseen the most extensive and rapid clean energy expansion in modern history, while also striving to achieve peak carbon emissions before 2030.
However, a less-discussed element of China’s climate strategies involves its ambitious endeavors to geoengineer the environment, making it more resilient and better suited to human requirements. This context is why, in his three-part “Taming Nature” series, Live Science’s production editor James Price investigated the nation’s initiatives to establish a permanent atmospheric river and construct the planet’s largest dam in the seismically active region of Tibet.
Something for the weekend
For those seeking weekend diversions, here are some of the week’s most compelling news analyses, crossword puzzles, interviews, opinion pieces, and quizzes.
—A clandestine Chinese probe has reached one of Earth’s ‘quasi-moons’ and is preparing for a pioneering landing attempt [News analysis]
—Dangerously hot and humid conditions: Escalating temperatures in the US are rendering outdoor exercise hazardous [News analysis]
—’Is having two legs useful’ in space?: Astronaut John McFall elaborates on the potential experiences of the first physically disabled individual in orbit [Interview]
—’They reliably chose the statistically more favorable option’: A crow researcher discusses how these intelligent birds process numerical information and what this could indicate about human mathematical abilities [Interview]
—Bow-Wow, Ding-Dong, Pooh-Pooh: An expert explains early hypotheses on the evolution of human language and their amusingly named categories [Opinion]
—Rainforest quiz: Can you rank Earth’s largest rainforests from largest to smallest? [Quiz]
—Live Science crossword puzzle #48: Featuring the largest fish on Earth — indicated at 6 across [Crossword]
Science video of the weekWatch bison herd defend a newborn calf from wolf attack in a primeval Polish forest
Wolves are increasing in population across Poland and Belarus, posing a challenge for the region’s bison.
(Image credit: Wijnands & Borowik, 2026. Ecology and Evolution (CC BY 4.0))
European bison (Bison bonasus) are generally regarded as a species that is not preyed upon, except by humans.
However, rare and surprising camera trap footage originating from Poland’s Bialowieza Primeval Forest, recognized as Europe’s oldest and most well-preserved temperate lowland forest, challenges this notion.
The video depicts a herd of bison banding together around a newborn calf to repel an assault from five wolves (Canis lupus), successfully driving the predators away. This is a tense spectacle, and it may become a more frequent occurrence as wolf populations expand due to a hunting ban implemented in the late 1980s across the region.
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