Within this week’s scientific discoveries, we featured the re-emergence of greenhouse gas emitting microbes from the permafrost, an apparent optical deception defying special relativity, the black hole M87* discharging a gigantic opposing jet, and earlier-than-before cancer detection through blood tests.(Image credit: Hornof et al., 2025; CC BY 4.0(left) /Tristan Caro (right))Jump to:
This week’s round-up of science scoops was spearheaded by a collection of climate-related stories that were both worrisome and captivating. Standing out from the crowd are microbes that were revived after being encased in the Alaskan permafrost for as long as 40,000 years, only to commence the production of carbon dioxide.
The aptitude of these microbes, some of which have been inert since the most recent ice age, to revert to their typical function within mere months is compelling. However, it also constitutes a daunting indicator of a prospective climate catastrophe loop, in which global warming prompts the permafrost to thaw, liberating the microorganisms to further hasten the planet’s warming.
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Science news this week: NASA finds best evidence of life on Mars and scientists invent visible time crystals
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Astronomers close in on comet 3I/ATLAS’s origins, a strange gravity anomaly discovered off Africa and AI designs brand-new viruses
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Science news this week: Black holes galore and blue whales that still sing
Scientists simulate relativity ‘breaking’ illusionPhysicists capture rare illusion of an object moving at 99.9% the speed of light
Researchers have simulated the Terrell-Penrose effect for the first time.
Ever ponder how an object advancing near the velocity of light might appear? This week, we covered a cutting-edge study that ultimately revealed this to us. By utilizing lasers and certain ingenious camera-gated techniques, scientists replicated an optical illusion that seems to contradict Einstein’s theory of special relativity.
It’s designated the Terrell-Penrose effect, and it stems from the discernment that a camera capturing an object traveling at light speed wouldn’t observe it contracted along its trajectory — as Einstein’s theory stipulates. Instead, the camera would perceive the speeding object as partially veered due to the diverse travel durations of light to distinct segments of the object.
It’s crucial to emphasize that the sphere in the experiment was not genuinely accelerated to light speed, but was simulated to do so through shrewd camerawork. All the same, the peculiar effect was captured exquisitely.
Discover more physics and math news
—Einstein’s relativity could rewrite a major rule about what types of planets are habitable
—Stalagmites adhere to a single mathematical rule, scientists discover
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Science news this week: NASA finds best evidence of life on Mars and scientists invent visible time crystals
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Astronomers close in on comet 3I/ATLAS’s origins, a strange gravity anomaly discovered off Africa and AI designs brand-new viruses
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Science news this week: Black holes galore and blue whales that still sing
—’This moves the timeline forward significantly’: Quantum computing breakthrough could slash pesky errors by up to 100 times
Life’s Little MysteriesWhich planets are the youngest and oldest in our solar system?
Our solar system began forming some 4.6 billion years ago. But not every planet came together at the same time.
Our solar system came into being when a massive celestial cloud caved in, which gave rise to our sun and the planets subsequently. But which planets materialized first? It turns out that the response is intricate and hinges on the methodologies that scientists adopt to estimate planetary ages.
—If you enjoyed this, sign up for our Life’s Little Mysteries newsletter
JWST spots something weird coming out of M87*James Webb telescope finds something ‘very exciting’ shooting out of first black hole ever imaged
New images have revealed the black hole M87*’s gigantic jet in never-before-seen detail.
What’s superior to a massive jet of relativistic material being ejected by a black hole? Two massive jets, naturally. This week, we reported on new visuals captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that expose formerly unseen particulars of the famed black hole M87*, which was the initial one to be directly imaged.
This clearest depiction ever, captured by JWST, illustrates the black hole’s forward jet and a substantial counter-jet that is rebounding through space in the opposite direction. The images are breathtaking and could empower astrophysicists to scrutinize the near-light-speed expulsions in more thorough depth. That is all the more favorable for ascertaining how jets of this nature sculpt the regions encircling them and the greater cosmos.
Discover more space news
—Astronomers close in on ancient signal from ‘one of the most unexplored periods in our universe’
—Record-breaking ‘dark object’ found hiding within a warped ‘Einstein ring’ 10 billion light-years away
—’Most pristine’ star ever seen discovered at the Milky Way’s edge — and could be a direct descendant of the universe’s first stars
Also in science news this week
—REM sleep may reshape what we remember
—An Iranian volcano appears to have woken up — 700,000 years after its last eruption
—Black eyes, orbital fractures and retinal detachment: Pickleball-related eye injuries are on the rise in the US
—5,000-year-old skeleton masks and skull cups made from human bones discovered in China
Science long readCould simple blood tests identify cancer earlier?
Liquid biopsy breakthroughs promise to catch cancer faster and earlier.
Four years prior, when 77-year-old John Gormly opted for what was supposed to be a commonplace blood examination, he obtained outcomes that spared his life. This newly approved examination was christened Shield, and it diagnosed Gormly with colon cancer that was promptly addressed at stage 2. Within this week’s protracted feature, Live Science reported about the fresh examination and an escalating surge of liquid biopsies that pledge to swiftly expedite early cancer recognition.
Something for the weekend
If you’re in search of something a bit lengthier to peruse during the weekend, here are some of the most distinguished news analyses, crosswords, and opinion pieces.
—Jane Goodall revolutionized animal research, but her work had some unintended consequences. Here’s what we’ve learned from them. [News analysis]
—Live Science crossword puzzle #14: Fast dinosaur with a killer toe claw — 14 across [Crossword]
—Chemo hurts both cancerous and healthy cells. But scientists think nanoparticles could help fix that. [Opinion]
Science in picturesHaunting image of a rare hyena lurking in a ghost town wins 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year award
The moody image was ten years in the making.
The champion of the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest was unveiled this week, and it was an extraordinary image. The visual, a peculiar brown hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) prowling the emptied remnants of a diamond mining settlement in Namibia, demanded that victor Wim van den Heever dedicate 10 years to its capture.
Brown hyenas, the most infrequent hyenas on Earth, are recognized to journey across the hamlet Kolmanskop while proceeding to hunt for Cape fur seal offspring or glean remains cast ashore along the Namib Desert shore.
The atmospheric, metal album-resembling photograph isn’t the singular outstanding image showcased by the contest — there existed also captures of a caracal pursuing a flamingo; a ladyfish seizing its quarry from directly underneath an egret’s beak; and a “Mad Hatterpillar” bearing a spire of exoskeleton casings balanced atop its cranium.
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Ben TurnerSocial Links NavigationActing Trending News Editor
Ben Turner is a U.K. based writer and editor at Live Science. He covers physics and astronomy, tech and climate change. He graduated from University College London with a degree in particle physics before training as a journalist. When he’s not writing, Ben enjoys reading literature, playing the guitar and embarrassing himself with chess.
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