- January 20, 2026

- January 19, 2026

January 20, 2026

- 'Like watching a cosmic volcano erupt': Scientists see monster black hole 'reborn' after 100 million years

- Early research hints at why women experience more severe gut pain than men do

- 1,700-year-old Roman marching camps discovered in Germany — along with a multitude of artifacts like coins and the remnants of shoes

- Eerie 'sand burials' of elite Anglo-Saxons and their 'sacrificed' horse discovered near UK nuclear power plant

- Last year, the oceans absorbed a record-breaking amount of heat — equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding every second

- Remnants of spills on Renaissance-era textbook reveal recipes for 'curing' ailments with lizard heads and human feces

- How much of your body could you lose — and still survive?

- Tiny improvements in sleep, nutrition and exercise could significantly extend lifespan, study suggests

- James Webb telescope spies rare 'goddess of dawn' supernova from the early universe

- Earth hit by biggest 'solar radiation storm' in 23 years, triggering Northern Lights as far as Southern California

- Color blindness linked to lower bladder cancer survival, early study hints

- Medieval 'super ship' found wrecked off Denmark is largest vessel of its kind

- Ever watched a pet cow pick up a broom and scratch herself with it? You have now

- Nebra Sky Disc: The world's oldest depiction of astronomical phenomena — and it may depict the Pleiades

- Astronomers confirm earliest Milky Way-like galaxy in the universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang

- Why is flu season so bad this year?

- James Webb telescope spots 'failed stars' in a breathtaking cluster near Earth — Space photo of the week

SPACE > ASTRONOMY > BLACK HOLES

NEWS | SKYLER WARE | JAN 20, 2026, 4:45 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

'Like watching a cosmic volcano erupt': Scientists see monster black hole 'reborn' after 100 million years

Scientists saw an inactive black hole 'reawaken' from a 100-million-year nap with fire and fury.

Seen as a ribbon of red radio emissions, a gigantic energy jet blasting out of a supermassive black hole tells the story of a reawakened monster. (Image credit: LOFAR/Pan-STARRS/S. Kumari et al.)

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Scientists have observed a supermassive black hole waking up from a nearly 100 million-year nap.

The black hole lies at the center of a gigantic galaxy that's emitting extremely strong radio waves. A new analysis of these radio emissions reveals the black hole once spewed gargantuan jets of plasma hundreds of thousands of light-years into space, before suddenly shutting off sometime in the distant past. Those jets are now active once again, and they are interacting in complex and chaotic ways with the superheated gas around them, according to the new study.

"It's like watching a cosmic volcano erupt again after ages of calm — except this one is big enough to carve out structures stretching nearly a million light-years across space," study co-author Shobha Kumari, an astronomer at Midnapore City College in India, said in a statement.

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Galactic engine trouble

Only 10% to 20% of supermassive black holes have jets that emit radio signals. In these galaxies, a spinning disk of dust and plasma swirls around the black hole, regularly feeding it large amounts of matter. This infalling matter creates a tangled magnetic field that can fling some matter away from the black hole in giant jets. Changes in the disk can cause these radio jets to turn off and on in rare cases.

In the new study, published Jan. 15 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers used the Low-Frequency Array, a radio telescope network located primarily in the Netherlands, to find more than 20 galaxy clusters that housed radio galaxies with irregularly shaped jets. They focused on one such galaxy, called J1007+3540, with a particularly unusual footprint.

The active black hole (at the center of the area marked 'host galaxy') and its twin lobes of high-energy radio jets. (Image credit: LOFAR/Pan-STARRS/S. Kumari et al.)

The giant galaxy has large, diffuse lobes of plasma that indicate past jet activity dating back some 240 million years. But within those lobes are smaller, brighter plasma jets that are just 140 million years old, the team found. That suggested that the active galactic nucleus (AGN) — the central region that houses a galaxy's supermassive black hole — had kicked back on after a period of silence.

"This dramatic layering of young jets inside older, exhausted lobes is the signature of an episodic AGN — a galaxy whose central engine keeps turning on and off over cosmic timescales," Kumari said.

The space between the galaxies in the cluster that includes J1007+3540 is filled with superheated gas known as the intracluster medium. That gas interacts with the radio jets, bending and shaping them as they extend from the AGN. One of the two older lobes is squished sideways and back toward its source by the surrounding gas. The other lobe has a long, kinked tail that suggests the intracluster medium is interacting with the jets in a different way.

"J1007+3540 is one of the clearest and most spectacular examples of episodic AGN with jet-cluster interaction, where the surrounding hot gas bends, compresses, and distorts the jets," study co-author Surajit Pal, a physicist at the Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences in India, said in the statement.

Observing J1007+3540 will help researchers determine how often AGNs turn on and off and how old jets interact with their surroundings. In future work, the team plans to collect high-resolution observations of the galaxy to map how the jets propagate through the intracluster medium, according to the statement.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/black-holes/like-watching-a-cosmic-volcano-erupt-scientists-see-monster-black-hole-reborn-after-100-million-years at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:19 AM EST.

HEALTH

NEWS | ISHA ISHTIAQ | JAN 20, 2026, 4:26 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Early research hints at why women experience more severe gut pain than men do

A mouse study suggests estrogen may increase gut pain by activating specific cells, offering hints to why IBS is more common in women than in men.

A new mouse study hints at one reason why women tend to be diagnosed with IBS more often than men. (Image credit: Getty Images)

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Differences in how gut cells respond to hormones may help to explain why women experience more frequent and severe gut pain than men do, a study in mice suggests.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects roughly 10% to 15% of people worldwide, with women getting diagnosed with the condition up to twice as often as men do. Symptoms of IBS — which include pain, constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating — can often flare up in response to triggers, like stress or certain foods. But the reasons behind the disparity between women's and men's IBS rates have remained elusive.

Now, researchers have found that estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, may set off a chain reaction in the gut that makes its nerves more sensitive to pain.

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"We've long suspected that female hormones play a role in gut pain, but the exact mechanism was unclear," senior study author David Julius, a neurophysiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told Live Science. "Our findings show a clear pathway for how estrogen can amplify pain signals."

The study, published Dec. 18 in the journal Science, first compared gut pain responses in male and female mice by recording nerve activity in response to gut stimulation and observing their reactions to mild colon inflation. Both tests showed that female mice had more sensitive guts at baseline.

Removing the mice's ovaries to stop estrogen production reduced this sensitivity to male-like levels, however. And restoring estrogen to normal levels brought back the increased pain response seen in female mice.

To find out where and how estrogen exerts its effects, the team examined different gut cells. Based on earlier work, they expected estrogen receptors to be on enterochromaffin cells, which produce about 90% of the body's serotonin, a chemical messenger involved in activating pain-sensing nerves that send signals to the brain. But surprisingly, the team found estrogen receptors not on enterochromaffin cells, but on specialized, rare cells in the lining of the gut.

When these cells, known as L-cells, detect estrogen, they crank up their production of a receptor called OLFR78. This receptor senses short-chain fatty acids, which are byproducts made when gut bacteria digest food. The addition of extra receptors makes L-cells more sensitive to these byproducts, and in turn, they release more of a hormone that helps tell the brain that the stomach is full immediately after a person eats.

To better understand this chain reaction, the researchers grew miniature models of the gut in the lab. They found that the fullness hormone, called PYY, also signals nearby enterochromaffin cells that then release extra serotonin. That serotonin then activates pain-sensing nerves. This chain reaction set off by estrogen may potentially explain why women experience more severe gut pain than men do.

Experiments in genetically engineered mice that lacked estrogen receptors on L-cells confirmed the cells' role in gut sensitivity, as those mice showed weaker nerve responses and reduced serotonin release compared with mice with intact receptors.

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"Since estrogen levels fluctuate with the menstrual cycle, this mechanism provides insight into the changes in IBS severity seen in women," said Marissa Scavuzzo, an assistant professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who was not involved in the study.

"It also validates the experiences of higher-estrogen or menstruating patients," she said, "which is important because differences in pain sensation in women have historically been overlooked or dismissed."

The findings, though preliminary, may also inform future therapies for gut pain. "PYY and OLFR78 could be promising targets for treating IBS in women," Julius suggested. The work may also help to explain why "low-FODMAP" diets, which aim to reduce the intake of sugars that feed gut bacteria, can ease IBS symptoms in some patients, he added.

Scavuzzo agreed that the work might point to promising treatments. "By pinpointing PYY and L-cell signaling, this study identifies concrete molecular targets that could guide more precise therapies for IBS," she said.

Additionally, the study "highlights the importance of considering how hormonal changes influence IBS symptoms, not only in menstruating women but also in post-menopausal patients and those receiving hormone therapy as part of gender-affirming care."

Translating these findings from mice to people will require caution. Human guts are more complex than those of mice, and factors such as lifestyle, genetics and gut-microbe diversity can influence individuals' hormone-gut interactions.

"Mouse models give us a starting point," Julius said, "but clinical studies are essential before we can make firm conclusions about human gut pain."

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/health/early-research-hints-at-why-women-experience-more-severe-gut-pain-than-men-do at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:19 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY > ROMANS

NEWS | OWEN JARUS | JAN 20, 2026, 3:14 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

1,700-year-old Roman marching camps discovered in Germany — along with a multitude of artifacts like coins and the remnants of shoes

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered four Roman marching camps and around 1,500 artifacts, including coins and shoe nails, dating to the third century.

Roman coins were discovered during the survey and excavations of the four camps. They include coins minted during the reigns of Roman emperors Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138 to 161), Marcus Aurelius (161 to 180) and Caracalla (211 to 217). (Image credit: Photo by Anika Tauschensky, copyright State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt)

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Archaeologists in Germany have discovered four Roman marching camps, dating to 1,700 years ago, along with a multitude of artifacts, including coins and old shoe parts.

During the third century A.D., the Roman Empire conducted several military campaigns into what is now Germany. Their goal was to expand Roman territory north along the Elbe River, which flows into the North Sea. But Germanic tribes resisted Roman occupation and contributed to an imperial crisis in the third century. Archaeologists have discovered evidence of Roman occupation in the form of military camps.

"Roman camps were highly standardized facilities," archaeologists from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, wrote in a statement. "The typical rectangular camp enclosure had rounded corners. From the gates, the main camp roads, laid out at right angles, led into the interior. At the intersection of these roads stood the headquarters building, the principia," the archaeologists wrote.

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They noted that a "characteristic feature of marching camps is the so-called titulum — a segment of ditch with a rampart [defensive wall] located in front of the gate passages."

Two of the camps are located near the town of Aken; another camp is located near the town of Deersheim; and a fourth is located in the municipality of Trabitz, the statement said. The camps were discovered by amateur and professional archaeologists who used a combination of aerial and satellite imagery, as well as ground surveys and excavations to find and investigate the sites.

Metal detectors were used to help survey the camps, which led to the detection of more than 1,500 metal artifacts, many of them nails; some of them may have fallen off of sandals that Roman legionaries wore. Such nails, known as hobnails, likely provided traction for marching Roman legionary soldiers and auxiliaries.

An aerial photo showing the entrance to the Roman marching camp near Trabitz, Germany. It shows the titulum, a ditch with a rampart that is located in front of the gates. (Image credit: GeoBasis-DE / LVermGeo ST, Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung – Version 2.0 (www.govdata.de/dl-de/by-2-0).)

The excavators also found coins that date to the second half of the second century and the early third century, discoveries that helped date the marching camps, the statement said. A number of radiocarbon dates confirmed this.

"Among the coin finds from Trabitz, a Caracalla denarius is the most recent discovery. It is therefore conceivable that the camp was established in connection with a campaign under [Roman emperor] Caracalla in 213 AD," the statement said. Historical records indicate that Caracalla's campaign in Germany was focused against a group referred to as the "Albanians" who may have lived along the Elbe River, the statement said.

Research into the marching camps is ongoing and may shed light on Caracalla's military campaign in Germany, the statement said.

Roman emperor quiz: Test your knowledge on the rulers of the ancient empire

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/1-700-year-old-roman-marching-camps-discovered-in-germany-along-with-a-multitude-of-artifacts-like-coins-and-the-remnants-of-shoes at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:19 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY

NEWS | OWEN JARUS | JAN 20, 2026, 3:14 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Eerie 'sand burials' of elite Anglo-Saxons and their 'sacrificed' horse discovered near UK nuclear power plant

The 1,400 year-old "sand burials" of two people and a horse were found near a nuclear power plant construction site in the U.K.

The outline of a horse that was buried with two people in the sixth or seventh century A.D. The acidic soil destroyed the skeletons, so only the outlines remain. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)

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Archaeologists in the U.K. have discovered a 1,400-year-old burial ground that contains "sand burials" of two elite people and a horse dating to Anglo-Saxon times.

The archaeological team from Oxford Cotswold Archaeology found "at least 11 burial mounds, known as barrows, along with cremation and inhumation burials," they wrote in a statement. The researchers found the burial ground ahead of the construction of a nuclear power plant near the village of Sizewell, which is in the eastern English district of Suffolk.

The site has acidic soil, which tends to degrade bone, but in two graves the outlines of skeletons were found. One grave had the outline of a horse while the other had the outlines of two people. These remnants are known as sand burials, as it looks like the individuals were made out of sand.

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The burials, even the horse's, contained grave goods.

"The horse was buried with its tack [riding gear] still on its head and shoulders that comprised [pieces] of copper alloy decoration and a probable iron bit in its mouth," Maria Bellissimo, a spokesperson at Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, told Live Science in an email. The two people "were buried with a sword, a spear, two shields, an iron banded bucket, along with a copper and a silver vessel."

Although the sand burials hold important clues, they don't impart as much information as a preserved skeleton would.

"We cannot tell their age as accurately" from their sandy silhouettes as experts could from a skeleton, Bellissimo said, "but it looks like they were both probably full-grown adults." The sex of the two people is unknown, but "our evidence indicates that the two individuals were buried at the same time and so it's very likely they died at the same time," Bellissimo said.

A shield boss was found with the two buried people. It would have been attached to the center of a shield. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)

Their cause of death is also a mystery. "We can postulate that the horse was probably sacrificed to be interred with its owners, who we assume to be the two individuals in the adjacent grave," she said.

They appear to date to the sixth or seventh century A.D., a time when England was divided into several kingdoms. It's not clear who these people were, but the "weaponry, the horse and the copper and silver items within the grave as well as them being buried in a burial mound [suggest] that these were elite individuals," Bellissimo said.

Howard Williams, a professor of archaeology at the University of Chester in the U.K. who was not involved with the excavations, said that the burials are located on a ridge that is "prominent in the local landscape for those travelling inland" after landing at sea. At the time there "were maritime communities connected by trade and kinship along England's east coast as well as connections inland across south-east Britain."

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This coin hoard consists of more than 300 coins and was found near the nuclear power plant site. It dates to several centuries after the sand burials. (Image credit: Copyright Oxford Cotswold Archaeology)

The new discovery promises "to add important information to our understanding of the practices and beliefs of these people who [were] part of the emerging East Anglian kingdom in the centuries after the collapse of the Roman province of Britannia," Williams told Live Science in an email.

Archaeologists made additional discoveries during the excavation. One of them was a hoard of more than 300 silver coins that dates to the 11th century.

Found bundled in lead and cloth, the "hoard is believed to have been a savings pot buried by a local figure as a precaution during a time of significant social and political unrest" in the 11th century, the team wrote in the statement.

What's more, experts identified a pottery kiln dating to the Roman period (A.D. 43 to 410), an oak ladder dating to the Iron Age (800 B.C. to A.D. 50), the remains of settlements from the Bronze Age (2300 to 800 B.C.), as well as numerous ovens from medieval times (600 to 1500). Research into the discoveries is ongoing.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/eerie-sand-burials-of-elite-anglo-saxons-and-their-sacrificed-horse-discovered-near-uk-nuclear-power-plant at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:19 AM EST.

PLANET EARTH > RIVERS & OCEANS

NEWS | GRACE VAN DEELEN, EOS.ORG | JAN 20, 2026, 3:14 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Last year, the oceans absorbed a record-breaking amount of heat — equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding every second

In 2025, the ocean absorbed an extra 23 zettajoules of heat energy in 2025, breaking the ocean heat content record for the ninth consecutive year.

(Image credit: Thomas Vimare/Unsplash)

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The ocean soaked up more heat last year than in any year since modern measurements began around 1960, according to a new analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Science.

The world's oceans absorb more than 90% of excess heat trapped in Earth's atmosphere by greenhouse gas emissions. As heat in the atmosphere accumulates, heat stored in the ocean increases, too, making ocean heat a reliable indicator of long-term climate change.

Ocean temperatures influence the frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves, change atmospheric circulation, and govern global precipitation patterns.

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Scientists measure the ocean's heat in different ways. One common metric is global annual mean sea surface temperature, the average temperature in the top few meters of ocean waters. Global sea surface temperature in 2025 was the third warmest ever recorded, at about 0.5°C (0.9°F) above the 1981-2010 average.

Another metric is ocean heat content, which measures the total heat energy stored in the world's oceans. It's measured in zettajoules: One zettajoule is equivalent to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 joules. To measure heat content in 2025, the study's authors assessed ocean observational data from the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean, where most of the heat is absorbed, from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

They found that in total, the ocean absorbed an additional 23 zettajoules of heat energy in 2025, breaking the ocean heat content record for the ninth consecutive year and marking the longest sequence of consecutive ocean heat content records ever recorded.

"Last year was a bonkers, crazy warming year," John Abraham, a mechanical engineer at the University of St. Thomas and a co-author of the new study, told Wired.

Twenty-three zettajoules in one year is equivalent to the energy of 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding in the ocean every second. It's also a large increase over the 16 zettajoules of heat the ocean absorbed in 2024. The hottest areas of the ocean observed in 2025 were the tropical and South Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, North Indian Ocean, and Southern Ocean.

The results provide "direct evidence that the climate system is out of thermal equilibrium and accumulating heat," the authors write.

A hotter ocean favors increased global precipitation and fuels more extreme tropical storms. In the past year, warmer global temperatures were likely partly responsible for the damaging effects of Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica and Cuba, heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan, severe flooding in the Central Mississippi Valley, and more.

"Ocean warming continues to exert profound impacts on the Earth system," the authors wrote.

This article was originally published on Eos.org. Read the original article.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/last-year-the-oceans-absorbed-a-record-breaking-amount-of-heat-equivalent-to-12-hiroshima-bombs-exploding-every-second at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:19 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY

NEWS | KRISTINA KILLGROVE | JAN 20, 2026, 3:14 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Remnants of spills on Renaissance-era textbook reveal recipes for 'curing' ailments with lizard heads and human feces

A novel biochemical analysis of a Renaissance medical text has successfully recovered centuries-old proteins that might be from lizards and hippos.

The title page of a collection of Renaissance German medical recipes published in 1531 by Bartholomäus Vogtherr. (Image credit: Image provided by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester)

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Folk medicine practitioners in 16th-century Europe left ingredients and fingerprints smudged on their manuals while developing remedies for minor ailments. Now, researchers are studying the chemical traces Renaissance people left behind to understand how they experimented with novel cures.

Two German medical manuals — "How to Cure and Expel All Afflictions and Illnesses of the Human Body" and "A Useful and Essential Little Book of Medicine for the Common Man" — were published in 1531 by eye doctor Bartholomäus Vogtherr. His systematically gathered recipe books for common ailments, like hair loss and bad breath, quickly became bestsellers in Renaissance domestic medicine.

One copy of Vogtherr's works, in the collection of the John Rylands Research Institute and Library at the University of Manchester in England, is covered with 16th- and 17th-century scribbles and notes that suggest users tested the recipes in the manual and made their own additions. These fingerprints contained invisible chemical traces of proteins, and for the first time, researchers have worked out how to analyze these remnants.

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In a study published Nov. 19 in the journal American Historical Review, researchers reported their success at using proteomics analysis to identify the materials that medical practitioners were using as they flipped through Vogtherr's book centuries ago.

"People always leave molecular traces on the pages of books and other documents when they come into contact with paper," study co-author Gleb Zilberstein, a biotechnology expert and inventor, told Live Science in an email. "These traces include components of sweat, sometimes saliva, metabolites, contaminants, and environmental components." Proteins and peptides are part of this mixture and are "often invisible to the naked eye," Zilberstein added.

To analyze the proteins and peptides (molecules made up of strings of amino acids), the researchers first used specially made plastic diskettes to capture the proteins from the paper. Then, they used mass spectrometry to detect individual amino-acid chains that could be identified as specific proteins.

In total, the researchers sequenced 111 proteins from the Vogtherr manual. Most of the proteins were from the practitioners themselves, the team wrote in the study, but several were associated with plants or animals that were featured in the curative recipes.

"Peptide traces of European beech, watercress, and rosemary were recovered next to recipes recommending the use of these plants to cure hair loss and to strengthen the growth of facial and head hair," the researchers wrote, and "lipocalin recovered next to a recipe that recommends the everyday use of human feces to wash one's bald head for overcoming hair loss points to reader-practitioners following such instructions."

Other collagen peptides were harder to identify. One extracted protein could match either tortoise shell or lizards. While 16th-century medical literature mentions that turtle shells were reported to cure edema (fluid retention), pulverized lizard heads were used to prevent hair loss. But the protein was discovered on a page next to Vogtherr's hair-growth recipes, suggesting that the user of the medical manual may have experimented with lizards as hair-care therapy.

Another surprising discovery was the recovery of collagen peptides that may match a hippopotamus next to recipes discussing ailments of the mouth and scalp. Hippos were a popular curiosity across early modern Europe, and their teeth were thought to cure baldness, severe dental problems and kidney stones. The traces of hippo proteins may suggest that Vogtherr's readers struggled with tooth issues, the researchers wrote, as recipes to cure stinking breath, mouth ulcers and black teeth are dog-eared and annotated in the manual.

"Proteomics help contextualize both the symptoms that people possibly struggled with when turning to recipe knowledge for help and the bodily effects of recipe trials and treatments," the researchers wrote.

The scientists hope their novel analysis of invisible proteins clinging to centuries-old books will contribute to a better understanding of early modern household science.

"In the future, we plan to expand this work and examine other historical books," Zilberstein said, as well as "to identify individual readers based on their proteomic data."

Conspiracy theory quiz: Test your knowledge of unfounded beliefs, from flat Earth to lizard people

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/remnants-of-spills-on-renaissance-era-textbook-reveal-recipes-for-curing-ailments-with-lizard-heads-and-human-feces at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

HEALTH

FEATURES | LAUREN SCHNEIDER | JAN 20, 2026, 3:14 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

How much of your body could you lose — and still survive?

Five vital organs are essential for life, but survival is more medically complex.

The man on the Operation game board doesn't mind as players pluck out organs from his cardboard body. (Image credit: Kerry Taylor/Shutterstock)

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In the classic 1975 British comedy film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," King Arthur battles a mysterious Black Knight who refuses to let him pass. Arthur handily vanquishes his foe by cutting off his limbs one by one, all while the knight, reluctant to admit defeat, insists the damage is "only a flesh wound."

Dark humor aside, it raises the question of just how much of your body you could lose and still survive. Of the roughly 80 organs in the human body, only five are defined as vital organs that are crucial for sustaining life: the brain, which orchestrates bodily functions; the lungs and heart, which take in and distribute the oxygen cells need throughout the body; the liver, which has important roles in digestion and blood detoxification; and the kidneys, which filter waste and excess fluid from the body.

Other important structures that are not traditionally considered vital organs include the intestines, which absorb nutrients from food; the pancreas, which makes essential hormones like insulin; and the skin, which guards against infection, according to Dr. Jessica Weaver, a trauma surgeon at UC San Diego Health.

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Scientists debate whether some features, such as wisdom teeth and the tailbone, serve any purpose at all. Other body parts, like the eyes and the tongue, have major impacts on a person's quality of life, but they are not strictly necessary for survival.

Limbs may be handy (pun intended!), but people can survive without arms and legs if they need to be amputated. "In general, we will try harder to save an arm than a leg, because the functional outcome with a prosthetic for a leg is pretty good, especially if it's below the knee, whereas our hands are so important to what we do," Weaver told Live Science.

This means the Black Knight could have likely survived his ordeal if he had made it to a modern hospital, though Weaver said heavy blood loss would have likely stopped him from mustering his iconic taunt.

Stopping that blood loss before it turns deadly is the most pressing need in treating trauma patients. This threshold varies, but losing more than 3 of the roughly 5 liters of blood in an adult body is "pretty hard to come back from," she said.

Still, everybody's different. "I've definitely seen people survive things that I was sure they would die from, which is why I keep showing up to work," she added.

Can you survive without parts of your vital organs?

It is possible to survive without portions of the core vital organs. A person can live without much of the liver and a big chunk of their brain, as long as the brain stem remains intact to regulate involuntary functions, like breathing. Humans need only one kidney, and they sometimes donate one to a person in need. While an injury that damages all of these organs at once would be difficult to survive, Weaver said a patient could hypothetically live if the tissue were removed more gradually.

Vital organs can also be replaced, either through a transplant or with life-support organ-sustaining technologies, such as kidney dialysis and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), which performs the functions of the heart and lungs. The only two vital organs that cannot be replaced by a machine are the liver and the brain, Weaver said, though a liver transplant is possible.

"We are increasingly able to replace organ function mechanically or chemically," said Jason Wasserman, a professor of foundational medical studies at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.

These medical advances complicate what it means to survive the loss of a given organ. Wasserman noted that while some organ-sustaining technologies like ventilators and dialysis can be used long-term, others like ECMO are a "bridge to treatment," such as an eventual transplant, not a "bridge to nowhere" used indefinitely. The decision to start or continue one of these interventions depends on its medical appropriateness for a patient's situation as well as the patient's personal values, he said.

Human skeleton quiz: What do you know about the bones in your body?

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/health/how-much-of-your-body-could-you-lose-and-still-survive at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

HEALTH

NEWS | MARIANNE GUENOT | JAN 20, 2026, 1:27 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Tiny improvements in sleep, nutrition and exercise could significantly extend lifespan, study suggests

Combining small improvements to several areas of well-being could lead to bigger health gains than improving just one in isolation, a new study suggests.

A new study suggests that making small improvements across your sleep, diet and exercise habits could add up to significant improvements in lifespan. (Image credit: Lu ShaoJi/Getty Images)

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Small changes in exercise, sleep and dietary habits could do wonders for people's health and possibly extend their overall lifespan, a large U.K. study suggests.

The research, published Jan. 13 in the journal eClinicalMedicine, sought to find the smallest possible lifestyle improvements that could measurably lengthen people's lifespans. The researchers searched within data collected from almost 60,000 people in the UK Biobank cohort, a repository of medical and lifestyle data from hundreds of thousands of U.K. adults.

The team linked the participants' documented habits to their theoretical overall longevity and health, as calculated using statistical modelling. They found that people who slept as little as five extra minutes daily, engaged in just two extra minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, and added a half serving of vegetables per day tended to live significantly longer than the worst performers — meaning those whose sleep habits, exercise, and nutrition patterns put them in the bottom 5% of the overall cohort.

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The former group had an extra year of overall lifespan compared with the latter, according to the statistical model.

That's not to say that adding a few minutes of exercise or sleep and making small changes to diet will guarantee an extra year of life, Stephen Burgess, a statistician at the University of Cambridge who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email.

"By itself, this study does not prove that these habits improve health," he cautioned. "They model what might happen to our life span if changing these factors does improve health."

Interestingly, the data suggested that improvements across several aspects of well-being are "greater than the sum of their parts," lead study author Nicholas Koemel, a dietitian and research fellow at The University of Sydney, told Live Science. For instance, to gain one additional year of lifespan through sleep alone, the study suggested a person would have to sleep an extra 25 minutes per night — a luxury many cannot afford. But very small improvements in sleep, exercise and diet may have a significant combined effect.

Koemel said the findings suggest that "healthy habits work better as a package."

"Each one of our behaviors has an interlinking impact on what we do," he said. "If we have a poor night's sleep, we oftentimes eat differently, we move differently. And we see that across all of these different behaviors."

Per the model, the study participants with the most optimal combination of these behaviors — at least 40 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise, seven to eight hours of sleep per day, and an overall healthy diet — were predicted to live an extra nine years, overall, and live nine extra years in good health, compared with the poorest 3% of performers.

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By their very design, studies like these, known as cohort studies, need to be taken with a grain of salt. They compare two groups retroactively rather than asking people to change their habits and seeing how that change affects their health. As such, they can never conclusively prove that one particular change caused an associated effect; they can only draw a link between the two.

For instance, sleep and exercise habits were measured for only up to a week in the UK Biobank cohort, and the data assume that people kept up those same habits in the long run. Similarly, diet was assessed only at the beginning of the study, rather than monitored over time. So it's possible that the participants changed their habits after these assessments were taken, which would weaken the possibility that their habits improved their lifespan.

All of this leaves room for the possibility that it was not these lifestyle differences, but rather some other factor that wasn't measured, that caused the improvement in lifespan.

It may be, for instance, that one group is wealthier, and it so happens that this makes it easier for that group to exercise, sleep well and eat well. But ultimately, that difference is partially explained by the wealth, not only the behaviors, Burgess explained. It is also possible wealthy people might live in a less polluted area than poorer people, which could contribute to the difference in lifespan. There's no way of telling from this study alone.

"The overall message that small changes in these factors are likely to be beneficial is probably correct," Burgess said. "But whether the exact numbers are accurate or not is less clear."

Koemel agreed, saying that more research is needed to confirm the findings. Still, the idea that even tiny changes in lifestyle could have large effects could offer an interesting alternative for those looking to improve their overall well-being, he suggested.

"New Year's resolutions oftentimes fail because we're pushing too hard," he argued. "We're trying to go to the gym every day. We're trying to be perfect." This research suggests there may be a "different path to get from A to Z," by making smaller changes across several areas of well-being that can build up to healthier habits while improving overall health.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/health/tiny-improvements-in-sleep-nutrition-and-exercise-could-significantly-extend-lifespan-study-suggests at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

SPACE > ASTRONOMY

NEWS | SKYLER WARE | JAN 20, 2026, 12:34 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

James Webb telescope spies rare 'goddess of dawn' supernova from the early universe

An extremely early Type II supernova explosion, named after the Titan goddess of dawn in Greek mythology, occurred just 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

SN Eos, the earliest Type II supernova in the known universe, was discovered through gravitational lensing, causing the bright blast to appear magnified and repeated in James Webb telescope observations. (Image credit: Coulter et al. / JWST)

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Scientists have spotted a distant supernova unleashed by a collapsing star just 1 billion years after the birth of the universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured images of the Type II supernova on Sept. 1 and Oct. 8, 2025. Dubbed "Eos," after the Titan goddess of dawn in Greek mythology, the supernova will help scientists understand how stars and galaxies evolve over billions of years, researchers reported Jan. 7 on the preprint server arXiv.

A better understanding of early stars could help astronomers map out how those stars formed and distributed heavy elements, including those necessary for life, to their surroundings. But observing individual stars from the early universe is no easy feat.

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"Due to their extreme distances, the opportunities to study such stars remain quite limited," the researchers wrote in the study, which has not been peer-reviewed yet. "However, the explosive deaths of massive stars as core-collapse supernovae, which can be brighter than the total emission of their host galaxies, allow us to probe the final stages of stellar evolution."

Deaths of the earliest stars

The supernova SN Eos was spotted within the galaxy cluster MACS 1931.8-2635, seen here. The magenta region outlines the area being magnified by the cluster's gravity. The supernova appears twice (marked 101.1 and 101.2) due to the effects of gravitational lensing. (Image credit: Coulter et al. / JWST)

A supernova occurs when a massive star explodes at the end of its life. Type I supernovas include those that have no hydrogen in their spectra, while Type II supernovas show some evidence of hydrogen. Regardless of the type, supernovas aren't very common; just two to three occur per century in galaxies the size of the Milky Way.

In the new study, scientists used a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing to capture images of the distant supernova. Gravitational lensing occurs when light passes through an area of space-time that's been warped by the immense gravity of a massive object, such as a black hole or galaxy cluster. The distortion magnifies that light, allowing scientists to spot objects that would be too dim to see otherwise.

The supernova was rich in hydrogen, and its star exploded in an environment that held a very low concentration of elements heavier than hydrogen. In fact, the progenitor star likely had less than 10% of these heavier elements than our own sun does, the team found. This apparent lack of heavy elements further confirms the supernova's extremely early age, as stellar fusion had yet to fill the universe with plentiful heavy elements.

By analyzing the ultraviolet light from the burst, the researchers determined that Eos is a Type II-P supernova. The light from a Type II-P supernova remains bright for a while after it peaks, before slowly fading out. (In contrast, Type II-L supernovas dim steadily over time.) Eos is likely near the end of its brightness plateau, the team found.

Scientists still need to observe more early supernovas to confirm if Eos' properties are typical for massive stars and supernovas of the epoch. But those findings could help scientists chart the evolution of stars and galaxies from the early universe to today.

"The discovery of SN Eos represents a critical step toward fulfilling JWST's core mission objectives of understanding the lives and deaths of the first stars, the origins of the elements, and the assembly and evolution of the youngest galaxies," the researchers wrote.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/james-webb-telescope-spies-rare-goddess-of-dawn-supernova-from-the-early-universe at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

SPACE > ASTRONOMY > THE SUN

NEWS | HARRY BAKER | JAN 20, 2026, 12:29 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Earth hit by biggest 'solar radiation storm' in 23 years, triggering Northern Lights as far as Southern California

Earth's magnetic field was struck by a "severe" solar storm yesterday (Jan. 19), triggering vibrant auroras in the U.S. and large parts of Europe. The storm broke a record that had stood for more than two decades.

A geomagnetic storm starting on Monday (Jan. 19) has painted widespread aurora displays across the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe. (This photo was captured in China's Heilongjiang Province.) (Image credit: Chi Shiyong/VCG via Getty Images)

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A "severe" and record-breaking geomagnetic storm rocked Earth's magnetic shield last night, shortly after the sun unleashed a powerful X-class solar flare. The epic event, triggered by a stream of superfast solar particles, painted widespread auroras at unusually low latitudes across the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe.

Some outlets have reported that the storm is the "largest" of its kind since 2003, which is an exaggeration (the "Mother's Day storm" of May 2024 was much stronger). However, the latest outburst has broken a specific 23-year-old solar radiation record.

The geomagnetic storm began on Monday (Jan. 19), when a fast-moving cloud of solar radiation, or coronal mass ejection (CME), slammed into Earth's magnetosphere, temporarily disrupting the invisible magnetic field lines surrounding our planet and allowing charged particles to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere. The CME was initially released on Sunday (Jan. 18) when an X1.9 magnitude solar flare suddenly exploded from a dark patch near the sun's equator, Live Science's sister site Space.com reported.

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Geomagnetic activity first peaked at 2:38 p.m. EST, when the storm reached G4 ("severe") status, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The storm calmed slightly before reaching G4 status again at 3:23 a.m. EST on Tuesday (Jan. 20), according to a second SWPC report.

G4 is the second-highest level a geomagnetic storm can reach. Under these conditions, solar radiation can cause temporary radio blackouts, disrupt or damage orbiting spacecraft and impact some ground-based infrastructure. However, it is too early to tell what specific issues this storm caused, if any.

The CME that hit Earth was unleashed by an X-class solar flare on Sunday (Jan. 18). (Image credit: NASA/SDO)

There were widespread aurora displays across the U.K. and parts of Europe — including France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Croatia — where the sun had already set before the storm peaked, according to Spaceweather.com.

Experts had predicted that up to 24 U.S. states would see auroras during the storm, according to Space.com. It is unclear if this actually happened, especially as the storm's first peak occurred before sunset in North America. However, skywatchers as far south as Alabama, Georgia, New Mexico and California reported seeing auroras overnight, according to Spaceweather.com.

More auroras are possible tonight, according to Space.com's latest aurora forecast. However, the storm is not expected to reintensify to G4 status.

Image 1 of 3

Vibrant red auroras were spotted above Austria's capital city, Vienna, on Jan.19.(Image credit: MAX SLOVENCIK / APA / AFP via Getty Images)

Skywatchers in western France were treated to some stunning green auroras.(Image credit: Oscar Chuberre / AFP via Getty Images)

Auroras were also spotted shining above Berlin.(Image credit: Florian Gaertner/Photothek via Getty Images)

A 23-year record

Despite some initial reports, last night's display was not the biggest geomagnetic storm of the past two decades. That title goes to the "Mother's Day storm" of May 2024, which reached G5 ("extreme") status for the first time since the infamous "Halloween solar storms" of 2003.

The 2024 storm was triggered by at least five successive CMEs that exploded from an unusually active sunspot, saturating the upper atmosphere with radiation for three days. This caused some of the most widespread auroras in centuries and temporarily transformed the "radiation belts" surrounding our planet.

However, while the latest storm did not reach the heights of 2024's disturbance, it was one of the most powerful "solar radiation storms" on record.

The term solar radiation storm refers to a solar outburst, like a CME, as it travels through space, rather than the actual effect it has on our planet. Big radiation storms often lead to powerful geomagnetic storms, but other factors influence how Earth's magnetic field will respond, such as the orientation of the incoming radiation and its magnetic configuration.

The solar radiation storm that sparked last night's auroras reached S4 ("severe") status — the equivalent of G4 on the solar radiation storm scale. This is the first time this has happened since 2003's Halloween storms, SWPC representatives wrote on the social platform X.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/the-sun/earth-hit-by-biggest-solar-radiation-storm-in-23-years-triggering-northern-lights-as-far-as-southern-california at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

HEALTH > VIRUSES, INFECTIONS & DISEASE > CANCER

NEWS | MARIANNE GUENOT | JAN 20, 2026, 12:01 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Color blindness linked to lower bladder cancer survival, early study hints

People with color blindness may be less able to spot an early sign of bladder cancer, making them likelier to be diagnosed later, a study suggests.

People with color blindness and bladder cancer may face a poorer prognosis than those with bladder cancer and normal vision, a study has found. (Image credit: lielos/Getty Images)

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Could being colorblind make you less likely to survive bladder cancer? That's the surprising hypothesis that researchers have proposed based on a small study.

The research, published Jan. 15 in the journal Nature Health, examined data from 135 patients with both bladder cancer and color blindness, and compared those patients to 135 patients with only bladder cancer. The data were taken from TriNetX, an international registry of electronic health records of more than 275 million patients.

Among these health records, people who had both color blindness and a bladder cancer diagnosis had shorter survival times than did bladder cancer patients without the vision deficiency. Overall, those with color blindness had a 52% higher risk of dying within 20 years of their bladder cancer diagnosis, compared with the normal-vision group.

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The study authors suggested a plausible reason for this observed difference: Color blindness may make it more difficult to spot blood in your urine — an early sign of the cancer — thereby delaying diagnosis.

"Bladder cancer is a bad disease. If you delay your diagnosis, it will make a difference to your prognosis," Dr. Veeru Kasivisvanathan, a urological oncologist and surgeon at University College London who was not involved in the study, told Live Science.

A possible link

Blood in urine is one of the most common early symptoms of bladder cancer, alongside frequent urination; pain or burning during urination; feeling as if you need to urinate even if your bladder isn't full; and urinating frequently during the night.

If anyone spots blood in their urine, they should see their doctor straight away, Kasivisvanathan said. But, as the study authors suggested, being unable to clearly distinguish red from yellow could make it very difficult to spot this early warning sign.

Color blindness, also known as color vision deficiency, is a fairly common condition with one recent study reporting that about 1 in 40 people globally have some form of color vision deficiency. (Those figures are likely approximate, as screening for color vision deficiency is often not routine.) Color vision deficiency tends to be more common in males than in females, per the study.

The results of the new study should be taken with extreme caution, Kasivisvanathan and Shang-ming Zhou, a professor in e-health at the University of Plymouth who wasn't involved in the work, told Live Science. Indeed, the study authors also acknowledged that there are major limitations to their research.

For instance, because color blindness often goes undiagnosed, it's possible that some people with the condition were mistakenly added to the cohort without color blindness in the analysis, potentially muddying the results. The term "color blindness" also encompasses various conditions with different red-perception abilities. Protanopia (red-blindness) should theoretically carry a higher risk than deuteranopia (green-blindness) in this context, but the study cannot differentiate between these subtypes, said Zhou.

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In addition, the study was very small, which makes the results less dependable, and makes it difficult to screen for other factors that could explain the difference in prognosis. Lastly, from these data alone, it's not possible to prove that color blindness delayed the diagnosis of the disease; for now, that is just a hypothesis.

"The authors properly frame this as the hypothesis-generating work," Zhou said. "Current evidence is insufficient to recommend routine blood cancer screening in [patients with color vision deficiency], and the absolute risk increase remains unclear," he emphasized.

In short, more research is needed to confirm that color blindness raises the risk of death from bladder cancer, and to evaluate how those patients might be better protected, if that's the case. Still, this is "the right type of [study] design for that type of question," Kasivisvanathan said, adding that while the research is not conclusive, it does open up interesting areas for investigation.

It could be that patients with known risk factors for bladder cancer — such as being a male over the age of 50, smoking, using blood thinners, or having a history of radiotherapy — might benefit from being warned about the potential risk of having undiagnosed color blindness on top of their other risk factors. And perhaps those with known color blindness and cancer risk factors could be encouraged to screen their urine in other ways, such as using test strips, Kasivisvanathan said.

This study also raises questions about other cancers that are associated with blood in bodily fluids in their early stages, such as oral cancers, Zhou added. But for now, more research is needed, all of the experts said.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/health/cancer/color-blindness-linked-to-lower-bladder-cancer-survival-early-study-hints at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY

NEWS | PATRICK PESTER | JAN 20, 2026, 8:56 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Medieval 'super ship' found wrecked off Denmark is largest vessel of its kind

Divers have unearthed the largest cog shipwreck ever discovered in a strait off Denmark, signalling a period of economic development in medieval Europe.

Divers removed sand and silt covering the ship to reveal its ancient frame. (Image credit: Viking Ship Museum)

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Archaeologists have discovered a massive medieval shipwreck sitting at the bottom of a strait off Denmark.

The 600-year-old ship was a cog: a round, single square-sailed vessel that was one of the most advanced ship types in the Middle Ages. At around 92 feet (28 meters) long and 30 feet (9 m) wide, the newly-found ship is the largest cog ever discovered, according to researchers at Denmark's Viking Ship Museum.

The researchers discovered the vessel off Copenhagen in Øresund, or "the Sound" in English — the strait between Denmark and Sweden. They described it as a "super ship" that could transport hundreds of tons of cargo at low cost during a period of burgeoning trade in the 14th and 15th centuries.

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"The find is a milestone for maritime archaeology," excavation leader Otto Uldum said in a statement. "It is the largest cog we know of, and it gives us a unique opportunity to understand both the construction and life on board the biggest trading ships of the Middle Ages."

The discovery was made accidentally as part of seabed investigations for a new artificial island that Denmark plans to create off Copenhagen. Researchers removed what they described as "centuries of sand and silt" to reveal the outline of the ship, which they named Svælget 2 after the channel in which it was found.

Svælget 2 was well preserved on the seabed, located 43 feet (13 m) below the surface. Sand protected its starboard side, which retained traces of delicate rigging — unheard of in previous cog wrecks. The researchers also identified a brick galley, the first in a medieval ship in Danish waters, which allowed the crew to cook hot meals on an open fire. Artifacts on the ship included cooking materials, such as pots and bowls, and the crew's personal objects, such as hair combs and rosary beads for prayer, according to the statement.

The researchers have yet to find Svælget 2's cargo. Uldum noted that the hold wasn't covered, so cargo barrels would have floated away from the ship as it sank. However, with no signs of military use, Svælget 2 is likely to have been a merchant ship, the researchers said.

A historic replica of a medieval cog, the Kamper Kogge, sailing down IJsse river in the Netherlands. (Image credit: Sjo via Getty Images)

Svælget 2 was constructed in 1410, a fact the researchers deduced by tree-ring dating annual growth patterns on the ship's wood. The team also compared the patterns to previously published tree-ring data and determined that the ship's planks were from Poland, while the frame of the ship came from the Netherlands. Furthermore, construction patterns suggested that the planks were imported while the frame was cut at the ship's building site, indicating that the construction relied on a complex timber trade network across Northern Europe, according to the statement.

The giant ship was designed for a perilous journey from the Low Countries (including what is now the Netherlands) to the trading towns of the Baltic. A cog of this size would have allowed for the transportation of bulky everyday goods such as salt, timber, bricks and basic food items over long distances, which the researchers said would have previously only been done for luxury goods.

"The cog revolutionised trade in Northern Europe," Uldum said. "It made it possible to transport goods on a scale never seen before."

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/medieval-super-ship-found-wrecked-off-denmark-is-largest-vessel-of-its-kind at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

ANIMALS > LAND MAMMALS

NEWS | CHRIS SIMMS | JAN 20, 2026, 7:09 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Ever watched a pet cow pick up a broom and scratch herself with it? You have now

A pet cow in Austria started using a broom to scratch herself — the first ever documented case of bovine tool use.

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For the first time ever, a cow has been documented not only using a tool but selecting which part to use when scratching at different parts of her body.

Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker in Austria amid the slopes of the Eastern Alps, sometimes saw Veronika, his Braunvieh or Swiss brown cow (Bos taurus) picking up sticks in her mouth and using them to scratch herself.

She'd been doing it on and off for about nine years without any training when he sent the footage to Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.

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Veronika is able to manipulate the tool depending on what area she wants to scratch, the scientists discovered. (Image credit: A.J. Osuna-Mascaró & A.M.I. Auersperg)

"People tend to think that anything an animal does with an object is tool use and sometimes you get sent videos of animals randomly interacting with objects, like 'My cat is using a tool because she's using my Amazon box as a house.' But this particular video was different," Auersperg told Live Science. "It showed the kind of a behavior I would expect from the stricter definitions of tool use, where you see a tool is an embodied part of the animal and it is used as a direct elongation of her body."

After seeing the video, Auersperg and her colleague, Antonio Osuna-Mascaró, an animal cognition researcher also at the University of Veterinary Medicine, set out to meet Veronika and put her to the test. They repeatedly placed a deck brush, or broom, on the ground in front of her in a random orientation to see what she would do.

"We decided to use a broom because a broom has a functional end and a non-functional end. So our prediction was that if Veronika is really sensitive to the functional properties of the tool, she will prefer to use the broom end," Osuna-Mascaró told Live Science.

Veronika picked up the object by the handle end and scratched herself with the broom end about 2.5 times more often than doing it the other way round, he said. But after a while, a more nuanced pattern emerged.

Veronika started using tools to scratch herself about nine years ago. (Image credit: Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró)

After 70 sessions, if Veronika was going to scratch the thick skin of her back, she generally picked up the broom in her mouth by the thin end and gave herself a good rigorous scratch with the big, abrasive brush. If she wanted to scratch a more delicate area, like her navel or udder, she would pick up the broom by the brush end and rub herself gently with the thin handle.

The study was published in Current Biology on Monday (Jan. 19).

Veronika's behavior also indicated that she knew which body part she intended to scratch before picking up the broom, rather than just using a tool in whatever orientation she happened to pick it up, Osuna-Mascaró said.

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For example, she would raise her tail in anticipation when she was going to scratch her delicate anal region and readjust her grip on the tool to ensure she could reach it, he said.

The readjustment was no easy matter. To pick up the brush, Veronika would roll out her tongue, wrap it around the tool, bring it up to her mouth and press it between her lower teeth and the hard dental pad at the top of her mouth, said Auersperg. This means the tool sits there very firmly and can't be easily adjusted. Sometimes, Veronika would let go of the tool before scratching, then grab it again in a different place and then direct the tool at the body region that she wouldn't have been able to reach with the previous grip.

This behavior is very different from a cow just using a scratching pad, Auersperg said. Scratching yourself against something is just an interaction between an animal and an object. To qualify as tool use, the animal has to be responsible for the orientation of the object, as Veronika is.

"I have absolutely no doubt that this is tool use," Josep Call, a comparative psychologist at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, who wasn't involved in the study, told Live Science. "They clearly show that the cow uses the brush, the one end or the other, depending on the area that it is scratching. That's very nice."

Gloria Sabbatini, an animal biologist at the National Research Council of Italy's Unit of Cognitive Primatology and Primate Center in Rome, who wasn't involved in the research, agrees.

"Veronika shows an egocentric form of tool use, that is the use of a tool toward herself. This kind of tool use is simpler than tool use toward an external object or surface for many reasons," she told Live Science via email. "One is that she directly perceives the effects of tool using on herself and then she can quickly correct and modify the position of the tool."

Researchers believe Veronika's tool use is the result of her being a family pet and having objects to interact with. (Image credit: A.J. Osuna-Mascaró & A.M.I. Auersperg)

The findings represent the first documented case of tool use in cattle and use of a multi-purpose tool, Osuna-Mascaró said. The behavior can be partly explained by the fact that Veronika is kept as a family pet. She experiences different meadows and stables in the winter, and many objects fall into the meadow for her to interact with.

"Veronika was lucky to have the possibility to experience a day-a-day reality more complex and stimulating than the one usually offered to cows. Through the daily interaction between mind, body and environment, animals develop and improve their abilities and skills," Sabbatini said.

However, it doesn't mean this is a one-off. Osuna-Mascaró has also identified videos on social media of a Brahman bull (Bos indicus) using a stick to scratch an itch.

Given that the two species diverged more than 500,000 years ago and have been separately domesticated since, Osuna-Mascaró suggested that Veronica is showing a latent capability for innovation that could have been in cattle for thousands of years.

"We do not mean that ancient oxen were tool users, but that these animals have the capacity to innovate spontaneous solutions to complex problems," Auersperg said. "When they are little, cows play with objects, they love playing with balls, with ropes and also with sticks. So, if they have a rich environment, perhaps they will show these innovations more often."

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/animals/land-mammals/ever-seen-a-pet-cow-pick-up-a-broom-and-scratch-herself-with-it-you-have-now at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY

FEATURES | KRISTINA KILLGROVE | JAN 20, 2026, 5:50 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Nebra Sky Disc: The world's oldest depiction of astronomical phenomena — and it may depict the Pleiades

The unique bronze-and-gold Nebra Sky Disc appears to represent what the night sky looked like more than three millennia ago.

The Nebra Sky Disc was discovered during an illegal excavation in Germany. (Image credit: © Juraj Lipták/LDA Saxony-Anhalt)

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The Nebra Sky Disc was discovered in an artifact hoard in 1999, when metal detectorists illegally excavated it from an ancient religious site on a hill near Nebra, a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. After police recovered the disc in 2002, archaeologists studied the unique object, revealing it's up to 3,800 years old and the world's oldest depiction of astronomical phenomena. (The next oldest is a star map on the ceiling of an ancient Egyptian tomb from about 3,500 years ago.)

The Sky Disc was crafted from about 8.8 pounds (4 kilograms) of bronze, according to the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, Germany, where the object is on display. The bronze was flattened into a disc 12.6 inches (32 centimeters) in diameter and then decorated with 1.8 ounces (50 grams) of gold inlay representing a boat, a crescent moon, a full moon or a sun, and a series of stars.

Based on the style of the axes and the carbon dating of wood in the hilts of swords recovered along with the disc in the metal hoard, experts think the Sky Disc was buried around 1600 B.C., during the Early Bronze Age, but it may have been created two centuries earlier.

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Some research has questioned the disc's authenticity, saying that it probably didn't come from Nebra and was about 1,000 years more recent, based on a soil and chemical analysis of the artifact. A subsequent study countered those claims and found that the disc was authentic and from Nebra but that it was made in several stages.

Close examination of the disc revealed that it was made in at least five phases. Initially, the bronze disc included the full moon or sun, the crescent moon and 32 stars. Then, two arcs were placed on each side of the disc. A third arc, perhaps representing a boat, was then added to the bottom. In the fourth phase, the rim of the disc was perforated, suggesting it may have been attached to a support, like a pole for ceremonial use. Finally, the left arc was removed before the disc was buried with the metal hoard. But experts don't know exactly when the disc was made or how much time passed between the phases of decoration.

The Nebra Sky Disc appears to represent the night sky, with several stars forming the Pleiades, or "Seven Sisters," star cluster. The golden arcs on each side of the disc may represent the horizons, marking the summer and winter solstices, and the boat may be a mythical one that brought the sun across the sky from east to west in the daytime and back at night.

By aligning the Sky Disc with the plateau on Mittelberg Hill, where it was found, the western horizon arc aligns with the Brocken, a high mountain that the sun disappears behind on the summer solstice. This suggests the Sky Disc may have been used to keep track of important astronomical dates in prehistory.

But who used the Sky Disc and who buried it are still mysteries, partly because it was recovered by treasure hunters and not in a scientific excavation. The treasure hunters damaged the gold sun or full moon, scratched the surface, and cleaned it improperly. Given the numerous well-furnished burial mounds of important people that dotted the landscape of central Germany as early as 2000 B.C., however, perhaps the Sky Disc once belonged to a Bronze Age chieftain.

For more stunning archaeological discoveries, check out our Astonishing Artifacts archives.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/nebra-sky-disc-the-worlds-oldest-depiction-of-astronomical-phenomena-and-it-may-depict-the-pleiades at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

SPACE > ASTRONOMY

NEWS | MATTHEW WILLIAMS | JAN 20, 2026, 5:50 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Astronomers confirm earliest Milky Way-like galaxy in the universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang

Astronomers have confirmed the earliest barred spiral galaxy in the universe, a Milky-Way-like structure that existed just 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

(Image credit: Ivanov, D. et al. (2026))

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Scientists continue to push the boundaries of astronomy and cosmology, thanks to next-generation instruments that can see farther and clearer than ever before.

Through these efforts, astronomers have observed some of the earliest galaxies in the Universe. In turn, this has led to refined theories and timelines of galactic formation and evolution.

In a recent study, a team of astronomers led by the University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) uncovered what could be the earliest barred spiral galaxy ever observed. This finding helps constrain the timeframe in which bars first emerged in the Universe.

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The research was led by Daniel Ivanov, a physics and astronomy graduate student in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh. Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with data from Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the team spotted a barred spiral galaxy (COSMOS-74706). Thanks to additional confirmation by the Multi-Object Spectrograph for Infrared Exploration (MOSFIRE) on the Keck I telescope, the team determined that this galaxy existed over 11.5 billion years ago.

He and his team presented their findings on Jan. 8th, 2026, at the 247th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Phoenix, Arizona.

According to the Hubble Sequence, galaxies are grouped into elliptical, spiral, and lenticular based on their morphological characteristics. Whereas galaxies generally begin as irregular disks, they evolve to form spiral arms extending from a central bulge (aka. a spiral galaxy).

Barred spirals, such as the Milky Way, also have a bar-shaped linear arrangement of stars across their centers, which play an important role in their evolution by funneling gas inward from the outer reaches, feeding the supermassive black hole in the center, and suppressing star formation throughout the stellar disk.

Hubble image of the Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300. (Image credit: NASA/ESA/The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)/P. Knezek (WIYN))

While researchers have reported barred spiral galaxies that are even older, analyses of these candidates have been less conclusive, as the observations were made using gravitational lensing or redshift measurements. Whereas the former method is hampered by the lensing effect, which often blurs the light from the more distant object, redshift measurements are subject to errors and uncertainties of 10-15%. Neither method is as definitive as spectroscopy, which was used to validate the age of COSMOS-74706.

The discovery of a barred spiral galaxy this early in the Universe was not entirely surprising, as some simulations suggest that bars were forming in galaxies as far back as 12.5 billion years. However, observational evidence of such structures has been much harder to come by, making this a significant discovery that helps constrain the timeline of galactic evolution. As Ivanov stated in a UPitt press release:

This galaxy was developing bars 2 billion years after the birth of the Universe. Two billion years after the Big Bang. It's the highest redshift, spectroscopically confirmed, unlensed barred spiral galaxy. In principle, I think that this is not an epoch in which you expect to find many of these objects. It helps to constrain the timescales of bar formation. And it’s just really interesting.

The original version of this article was published on Universe Today.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/astronomers-confirm-earliest-milky-way-like-galaxy-in-the-universe-just-2-billion-years-after-the-big-bang at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

HEALTH > VIRUSES, INFECTIONS & DISEASE > FLU

NEWS | CLARISSA BRINCAT | JAN 20, 2026, 5:50 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Why is flu season so bad this year?

Flu season in the U.S. is particularly bad this year, and a new branch of the flu family tree may be to blame.

Flu cases have been notably high in the U.S. this season. Experts explain why. (Image credit: Tunyada Kongkapan via Getty Images)

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If it feels like everyone around you has come down with the flu, you're not imagining it.

As of Jan. 9, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 15 million people have gotten sick with the flu this season. Of those, 180,000 have been hospitalized, and 7,400 people have died from flu so far, including 17 children.

These numbers make the current flu season one of the worst the U.S. has seen in decades. According to Syra Madad, an epidemiologist at the Harvard Belfer Center and chief biopreparedness officer at NYC Health + Hospitals, who publishes a weekly analysis of respiratory virus trends in her newsletter Critical Health Voices, the country is experiencing the highest number of flu cases in nearly 30 years.

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At Phoenix Children's Hospital, flu cases have been high since mid-December 2025, said pediatric infectious disease specialist Dr. Monica Abdelnour.

"Although the CDC [currently] estimates this flu season to be of moderate severity, the rates we are seeing are similar to, and in some cases slightly higher than, those observed in the 2024-2025 season, which was deemed high-severity," she told Live Science in an email. "It remains possible this flu season may ultimately be categorized as high severity as well."

While the CDC reported a slight dip in the number of lab-confirmed flu cases in the first week of 2026, compared to the last week of 2025, Madad told Live Science that it's "too early to declare we are past the peak." Flu activity in the U.S. usually peaks sometime between December and February. The CDC also noted that the small drop in confirmed cases could be linked to expected decreases in doctor visits and testing during the holidays, not an actual drop in flu spread.

What is subclade K?

A lot of the talk about this year's flu season has centered on something called "subclade K."

To understand what this is, it's important to know that flu viruses are constantly evolving, gaining small genetic mutations as they spread. Scientists keep track of how flu viruses change using a system similar to a family tree, Madad said.

The big branches of this tree are called "types." This includes influenza A and B, which are broad groups of flu viruses. These big branches sprout off into smaller branches called subtypes, such as A(H3N2) or B/Victoria lineage.

The letters H and N, which are used to differentiate influenza A subtypes, stand for two proteins on the virus's surface: hemagglutinin (H) and neuraminidase (N). There are many possible versions of each protein — 18 and 11 versions, respectively — which consequently gives rise to a large variety of flu viruses, of which only a few routinely infect humans.

Going even further down a branch, scientists identify "clades," which are groups of viruses that came from a common ancestor and share similar genetic traits. A subclade is an even smaller group within a clade — a newer "twig" on the tree — that shares recent mutations.

This flu season, the CDC reported that most flu cases are being caused by the influenza subtype A(H3N2). Of the more than 430 samples of influenza A(H3N2) virus collected since late September 2025, over 91% were identified as part of a closely related group called subclade K.

Is subclade K a "super flu"?

The answer is no.

Subclade K carries distinct mutations in parts of the virus that our immune systems usually recognize, Madad said. Because of this, our immunity from past flu infections or vaccinations is lower than it might be if the subclade looked more "familiar." This enables the virus to spread more easily, resulting in more cases and, as a result, more hospitalizations.

However, that does not automatically mean subclade K is more deadly or causes more severe illness than other circulating flu viruses, Madad said. Current epidemiologic data show that subclade K does not lead to more severe disease than other seasonal flu strains than are spreading now, she noted.

"Flu symptoms this year are similar to those seen in previous seasons," Abdelnour added.

People with the flu commonly experience fever or chills, cough, nasal congestion, muscle and/or body aches, headaches and fatigue. In severe cases, flu infections can lead to complications such as sepsis and pneumonia. Adults 65 and up; young children, especially those under 2; pregnant people; and people with chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes or heart disease are at highest risk for severe flu complications.

Is this year's flu vaccine working, and is it too late to get it?

The flu vaccine "may be a less perfect match for subclade K" than it could be, Madad said, but she stressed that vaccination still plays a critical role in preventing serious illness. Abdelnour said that the annual flu vaccine reduces the risk of serious complications, such as sepsis, pneumonia and significant neurologic symptoms, such as seizures.

Data from the Southern Hemisphere, which experiences flu season before the Northern Hemisphere, suggests that this year's flu vaccine works just as well as past vaccines at lowering the risk of being hospitalized with the flu, Abdelnour said. This past flu season, the flu vaccine reduced flu-related doctor visits and hospitalizations by 50% in the Southern Hemisphere, according to a CDC report published in September 2025.

"This is within the typical range, and it's anticipated we should experience similar levels of protection in the United States," Abdelnour said.

Unfortunately, fewer people are getting vaccinated against the flu this year, and that's especially true of children, Madad said. "Only about 42% of U.S. children have received the flu vaccine so far this season, down from roughly 53% at the same point in 2019–2020." As of Jan. 3, about 44.1% of adults reported having received a flu vaccination.

Poor vaccination rates can have real consequences, Madad said. During the 2024-2025 flu season, 280 children in the U.S. died of flu-related illness, and of those, about 9 in 10 had not been vaccinated against the virus. Madad, who is also a mother of four, noted that all of her children receive the flu shot every year.

Even though flu season started in the fall, "it is not too late to get the flu shot," Abdelnour emphasized. "Given the current surge in cases, getting vaccinated now is strongly recommended to protect yourself and those around you."

Madad echoed that advice, urging anyone who hasn't yet received a flu shot this season to do so, especially adults ages 65 and older, pregnant people, those with weakened immune systems, and people living with chronic health conditions, who are at higher risk of severe cases.

How else can you protect yourself from flu?

Vaccination is just one layer of protection. Madad emphasized wearing a well-fitting mask in crowded indoor spaces and improving ventilation for indoor gatherings. Additionally, people should stay home when sick to avoid the risk of spreading flu to others. These steps help limit the spread not only of flu, but of other respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), as well.

Abdelnour also noted the importance of practicing proper hand hygiene. "Special attention should be given to childcare environments such as schools and daycare centers," she said. "This includes recommending children get their flu shot, encouraging handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and keeping children home when they are ill to prevent the spread of infection to others."

Are there treatments for flu?

For people who do get sick, antiviral medications such as Tamiflu can help. These prescription drugs can reduce the severity of symptoms and shorten the time you are sick, especially when taken within the first day or two after symptoms begin. Evidence suggests they can be especially helpful to people hospitalized for flu.

The CDC recommends prompt treatment for people with suspected flu symptoms who are at increased risk of serious flu complications, including pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions, such as asthma, lung disease, diabetes, or heart disease.

Madad said that flu antivirals are "underused" and reminds people at high risk of severe flu or who are caring for someone who is high risk to ask their doctors about antivirals shortly after they suspect an infection. The good news is that current data show subclade K is still responsive to the standard antiviral medications doctors use for influenza, she said.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/health/flu/why-is-flu-season-so-bad-this-year at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

SPACE > ASTRONOMY

NEWS | SHREEJAYA KARANTHA | JAN 20, 2026, 5:50 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

James Webb telescope spots 'failed stars' in a breathtaking cluster near Earth — Space photo of the week

The James Webb Space Telescope captured a colorful portrait of a nearby stellar cradle, revealing a wealth of insights about countless stars.

The Westerlund 2 star cluster is a nursery of young stars and 'failed stars' alike. (Image credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch, and the EWOCS team.)

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Bordered by orange and brown clouds of gas and dust and filled with shimmering stars, this new image from the James Webb Space Telescope appears to show a portal to a cosmic wonderland.

In reality, it features a prominent star cluster known as Westerlund 2, which is located within a star-forming nebula known as Gum 29. The entire scene is playing out 20,000 light-years from Earth, within the Milky Way galaxy.

The sparkling cluster is compact, measuring between 6 light-years and 13 light-years in diameter, and it is home to approximately 3,000 stars, according to a statement from the European Space Agency. Seen here at a young age of about 2 million years, this cluster contains some of the hottest, brightest and most massive stars in our galaxy.

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Westerlund 2 was also captured by the Hubble Space Telescope 10 years ago to commemorate Hubble's 25th anniversary in orbit. That image, created using visible light and some near-infrared data, revealed the complex features of the cluster and its surrounding nebula, showcasing a stunning landscape of pillars, ridges, and valleys of dust.

Now, the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed an even more vibrant view of the cluster, which is teeming with bright young stars. This latest portrait combines infrared data from the telescope's Near-Infrared Camera and Mid-Infrared Instrument.

A full-size view of Westerlund 2 (Image credit: Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, V. Almendros-Abad, M. Guarcello, K. Monsch, and the EWOCS team)

The stunning image highlights not only the young, massive stars but also the clouds and walls of dust shaped by their intense light. These sculpted regions are surrounded by wisps of orange and red gas, brilliantly illuminated by the powerful light of the nearby stars.

The entire scene is interconnected by a network of blue and pink wisps that appear to be material drifting off the scene. Several tiny stars look like they have just begun shining, still embedded in the thick cloud in which they formed. Larger and brighter stars that are much closer to us display an eight-pronged diffraction pattern created by the interaction of starlight with the telescope's instruments.

The twinkling display of countless stars is a result of a continuous cycle of star formation in which the baby stars in the stellar nursery blast out intense radiation that then heats the surrounding nebula and triggers new stars to form.

The new observations, taken across a wide range of infrared wavelengths, include bands that are sensitive to methane and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission. While PAH emission traces heated gas and dust, methane traces low-mass cold objects. As a result, astronomers identified a population of brown dwarfs — or "failed stars" — including objects only about 10 times the mass of Jupiter.

Brown dwarfs are peculiar objects that straddle the line between stars and planets. They have masses in between those of typical stars and those of planets, ranging between 10 and 90 times the mass of Jupiter. However, they do not have enough mass to trigger nuclear fusion in their cores. The James Webb telescope's new observations could reveal insight into the different stages in a star's life and how planet-forming disks around massive stars work.

For more sublime space images, check out our Space Photo of the Week archives.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/astronomy/james-webb-telescope-spots-failed-stars-in-a-breathtaking-cluster-near-earth-space-photo-of-the-week at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

January 19, 2026

- Viruses that evolved on the space station and were sent back to Earth were more effective at killing bacteria

- Strange 'missing link' star system 'fundamentally changes' our understanding of planet formation

- Giant underwater plumes triggered by 7-story waves at Nazaré captured off Portuguese coast — Earth from space

- NASA launches Pandora telescope, taking JWST's search for habitable worlds to a new level

- Nefertiti's tomb close to discovery, famed archaeologist Zahi Hawaas claims in new documentary

- Romans regularly soaked in filthy, lead-contaminated bath water, Pompeii study finds

HEALTH > VIRUSES, INFECTIONS & DISEASE

NEWS | MANUELA CALLARI | JAN 19, 2026, 12:13 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Viruses that evolved on the space station and were sent back to Earth were more effective at killing bacteria

Near-weightless conditions can mutate genes and alter the physical structures of bacteria and phages, disrupting their normal interactions in ways that could help us treat drug-resistant infections.

Scientists brought bacteria and phages, meaning viruses that infect bacteria, aboard the ISS to study their evolution. (Image credit: International space station (dima_zel/Getty Images); E.coli (Shutterstock))

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Bacteria and the viruses that infect them, called phages, are locked in an evolutionary arms race. But that evolution follows a different trajectory when the battle takes place in microgravity, a study conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS) reveals.

As bacteria and phages duke it out, bacteria evolve better defenses to survive while phages evolve new ways to penetrate those defenses. The new study, published Jan. 13 in the journal PLOS Biology, details how that skirmish unfolds in space and reveals insights that could help us design better drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria on Earth.

In the study, researchers compared populations of E. coli infected with a phage known as T7. One set of microbes was incubated aboard the ISS, while identical control groups were grown on Earth.

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The analysis of the space-station samples revealed that microgravity fundamentally altered the speed and nature of phage infection.

While the phages could still successfully infect and kill the bacteria in space, the process took longer than it did in the Earth samples. In an earlier study, the same researchers had hypothesized that infection cycles in microgravity would be slower because fluids don't mix as well in microgravity as they do in Earth's gravity.

"This new study validates our hypothesis and expectation," said lead study author Srivatsan Raman, an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

On Earth, the fluids bacteria and viruses exist within are constantly being stirred by gravity — warm water rises, cold water sinks, and heavier particles settle at the bottom. This keeps everything moving and bumping into each other.

In space, there is no stirring; everything just floats. So because the bacteria and phages weren't bumping into each other as often, phages had to adapt to a much slower pace of life and become more efficient at grabbing onto passing bacteria.

Experts think understanding this alternative form of phage evolution could help them develop new phage therapies. These emerging treatments for infections use phages to kill bacteria or make the germs more vulnerable to traditional antibiotics.

"If we can work out what phages are doing on the genetic level in order to adapt to the microgravity environment, we can apply that knowledge to experiments with resistant bacteria," Nicol Caplin, a former astrobiologist at the European Space Agency who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. "And this can be a positive step in the race to optimise antibiotics on Earth."

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Whole-genome sequencing revealed that both the bacteria and the phages on the ISS accumulated distinctive genetic mutations not observed in the samples on Earth. The space-based viruses accumulated specific mutations that boosted their ability to infect bacteria, as well as their ability to bind to bacterial receptors. Simultaneously, the E. coli developed mutations that protected against the phages' attacks — by tweaking their receptors, for instance — and enhanced their survival in microgravity.

Then, the researchers used a technique called deep mutational scanning to examine the changes in the viruses' receptor-binding proteins. They found that the adaptations driven by the unique cosmic environment may have practical applications back home.

When the phages were transported back to Earth and tested, the space-adapted changes in their receptor-binding protein resulted in increased activity against E. coli strains that commonly cause urinary tract infections. These strains are typically resistant to the T7 phages.

"It was a serendipitous finding," Raman said. "We were not expecting that the [mutant] phages that we identified on the ISS would kill pathogens on Earth."

"These results show how space can help us improve the activity of phage therapies," said Charlie Mo, an assistant professor in the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who was not involved in the study.

"However," Mo added, "we do have to factor in the cost of sending phages into space or simulating microgravity on Earth to achieve these results."

In addition to helping fight infections in Earthbound patients, the research could help yield more effective phage therapies for use in microgravity, Mo suggested. "This could be important for astronauts' health on long-term space missions — for example, missions to the moon or Mars, or prolonged ISS stays."

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/health/viruses-infections-disease/viruses-that-evolved-on-the-space-station-and-were-sent-back-to-earth-were-more-effective-at-killing-bacteria at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

SPACE > ASTRONOMY > PLANETS > EXOPLANETS

NEWS | SHARMILA KUTHUNUR | JAN 19, 2026, 12:12 PM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Strange 'missing link' star system 'fundamentally changes' our understanding of planet formation

A decade of observations of four planets around the young planetary system V1298 Tau revealed a rare, long-sought missing link in planet formation.

An illustration of four confirmed protoplanets swirling around the star V1298 Tau (Image credit: Astrobiology Center, NINS)

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Astronomers have gotten a rare glimpse at four baby planets as they're growing up, and it reveals something surprising: These toddler worlds are getting lighter as they age.

The quadruplet worlds orbit in tightly packed paths around the star V1298 Tau, a young system that's just 20 million years old (compared with our sun's 4.5 billion years) located about 350 light-years from Earth. A new analysis, which drew on a decade of observations, shows that the planets are surprisingly lightweight, with low densities — so puffed up, in fact, that researchers likened them to Styrofoam.

The findings offer a rare snapshot of planetary architecture just after formation, the researchers said — a long-sought-for "missing link" between newborn disks of gas and dust and the mature planetary systems astronomers commonly observe across the Milky Way.

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Those older systems are often crowded with planets between the sizes of Earth and Neptune on tight, Mercury-like orbits. The origins of such worlds have remained one of astronomy's enduring mysteries.

"What's so exciting is that we're seeing a preview of what will become a very normal planetary system," study lead author John Livingston, an assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, said in a statement. "We've never had such a clear picture of them in their formative years."

Over time, the bloated worlds around V1298 Tau are expected to shrink as they shed their thick atmospheres, eventually becoming super-Earths and sub-Neptunes — planetary types that are absent from our own solar system but ubiquitous throughout the galaxy.

By capturing the planets at such a pivotal stage of development, the study, published Jan. 7 in the journal Nature, enables astronomers to trace the chaotic processes that sculpt planetary systems over billions of years.

'I couldn't believe it!'

The four planets orbiting V1298 Tau were first identified in 2019 in data from NASA's Kepler space telescope. One is roughly Jupiter-size, while the other three fall between the sizes of Neptune and Saturn.

What immediately set the system apart was its crowded layout of multiple oversized planets packed into relatively tight orbits — a configuration known in only one other system, Kepler-51, among more than 500 known multi-planet systems.

A collage of planet-forming discs seen in 32 infant star systems. The new research offers insights into how and when baby planets form. (Image credit: ESO, ESA/Gaia/DPAC, M. Vioque et al.)

While the planets' existence was clear, their fundamental properties remained elusive. To pin them down, Livingston and his team embarked on a nearly decade-long observation campaign using half a dozen telescopes in space and on the ground. They tracked the planets as they passed in front of their star — events known as transits, which cause tiny dips in starlight that reveal a planet's size and orbital period.

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Crucially, small variations in the timing of the transits, caused by the planets tugging gravitationally on one another, enabled the team to measure their masses. The technique is especially powerful because it is largely immune to interference from stellar flares common around young stars, the study noted.

But the method only works if astronomers know each planet's orbital period precisely — and for the outermost planet, V1298 Tau e, that information was missing. Only two of its transits had ever been observed, separated by 6.5 years across observations from Kepler and NASA's exoplanet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) telescope, leaving astronomers unsure how many transits had gone unseen in between, according to the study.

A stroke of good luck came when the ground-based Las Cumbres Observatory network — which operates telescopes in the United States, Chile and South Africa — spotted a third transit, enabling the researchers to finally lock down the planet's orbit and model the system's full gravitational choreography.

"I couldn't believe it!" study co-author Erik Petigura, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCLA, said in the statement. "The timing was so uncertain that I thought we would have to try half a dozen times at least. It was like getting a hole-in-one in golf."

The results showed that despite being five to 10 times Earth's radius, the planets have masses only five to 15 times greater than Earth's, making them among the least dense planets ever discovered, Livingston said.

"By weighing these planets for the first time, we have provided the first observational proof," study co-author Trevor David, an astrophysicist formerly at the Flatiron Institute in New York, who led the system's discovery in 2019, said in the statement. "They are indeed exceptionally 'puffy,' which gives us a crucial, long-awaited benchmark for theories of planet evolution."

The team then simulated the planets' evolution and found that they have already lost much of their original atmospheres and cooled faster than predicted by standard models.

"But they're still evolving," study co-author James Owen, an associate professor of astrophysics at Imperial College London, said in the statement. The planets are expected to continue shedding gas and contracting into super-Earths and sub-Neptunes, he said.

"Over the next few billion years, they will continue to lose their atmosphere and shrink significantly, transforming into the compact systems of super-Earths and sub-Neptunes we see throughout the galaxy," Owen added.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/exoplanets/strange-discovery-offers-missing-link-in-planet-formation-this-fundamentally-changes-how-we-think-about-planetary-systems at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

PLANET EARTH > RIVERS & OCEANS

FEATURES | HARRY BAKER | JAN 19, 2026, 11:49 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Giant underwater plumes triggered by 7-story waves at Nazaré captured off Portuguese coast — Earth from space

A 2020 satellite photo shows the immense power of 7-story waves crashing along the Portuguese coast. Later the same day, a surfer rode a 101-foot-tall wave at Nazaré, setting a new world record.

The Portuguese coast surrounding the town of Nazaré is famous for its giant waves, which also unleash giant underwater plumes as they crash along the shore. (Image credit: Lauren Dauphin/NASA Earth Observatory/Landsat 8)

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This striking satellite snap highlights the immense power of 7-story waves crashing along the Portuguese coast and ejecting massive sediment plumes under the sea. The same day this photo was taken, a local 18-year-old surfer set a new world record by riding one of the colossal crests.

The Landsat 8 satellite captured this epic scene near the town of Nazaré in western Portugal, a region famous for having some of the tallest waves on Earth. Nazaré is home to around 15,000 people and regularly hosts "big-wave" surfing competitions, which attract surfers from around the world. The swells there are so big that surfers often have to be towed into the breaking waves with a jet ski.

The monster waves in the image likely reached heights of around 80 feet (24 meters), which is roughly equivalent to a 7-story building. This is exceptionally tall — even for Nazaré, where waves usually peak up to 50 feet (15m) at this time of year — and would usually be considered too dangerous to surf.

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As these waves broke along the shore, their powerful undercurrents ripped up sand and other sediments from the seafloor and spat them out in the opposite direction to the waves, creating murky underwater clouds that could be seen from space.

The plumes in this photo extend up to 6 miles (10 kilometers) from the coastline, according to NASA's Earth Observatory.

Thousands of tourists visit Nazaré every winter to watch the "big-wave" surfing competitions. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Later the same day, local surfer António Laureano rode an even loftier wave, estimated to be approximately 101.4 feet (30.9 m) tall — the largest wave ever surfed by a human.

This record is not officially recognized by the World Surf League (WSL) because the organization's representatives did not calculate the wave's height. Instead, the height was determined by oceanographers at the University of Lisbon, who analyzed a video of the wave sent to them by Laureano, surfing news site Surfer Today reported at the time.

The current WSL record for the tallest wave ever surfed belongs to German surfer Sebastian Steudtner, who rode a 93.7-foot (28.6 m) wave, also at Nazaré, on Feb. 24, 2024, according to Surfer.com.

In total, seven of the official top 10 largest waves ever surfed have occurred at Nazaré, according to Red Bull.

"Big-wave" hotspot

The secret behind Nazaré's giant waves is the Nazaré Canyon just southwest of the town. It is the largest submarine canyon in Europe, stretching 130 miles (210 kilometers) long and roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) deep into the Atlantic Ocean.

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Water inside the canyon travels faster than shallower water, forming large waves at depth that are "bent" in the direction of Nazaré. As they approach the coast, these large waves collide with other waves coming from the northwest, which further amplifies their speed and allows them to quickly rise when they approach the shore.

Nazaré is often considered the best place for big-wave surfing on Earth, thanks to the giant swells triggered by the Nazaré Canyon. (Image credit: Zed Jameson/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Occasionally, the waves can be further amplified by strong offshore winds. This was the case with the supercharged swells in the satellite photo, which were partially fueled by the remnants of Hurricane Epsilon, according to the Earth Observatory.

Nazaré's big wave phenomenon is highly seasonal, with the largest waves typically occuring between November and February. In the summer months, the waves almost completely disappear, allowing tourists to flock back to the beaches and swim in the sea. However, even then, disaster can still strike.

In August 2012, for example, a five-year-old girl and her 66-year-old grandfather, both British nationals, were killed after being dragged out to sea by a massive "rogue wave" as they were walking on a nearby beach, according to the BBC.

For more incredible satellite photos and astronaut images, check out our Earth from space archives.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/giant-underwater-plumes-triggered-by-7-story-waves-at-nazare-captured-off-portuguese-coast-earth-from-space at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

SPACE

OPINION | DANIEL APAI | JAN 19, 2026, 8:56 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

NASA launches Pandora telescope, taking JWST's search for habitable worlds to a new level

The James Webb telescope's search for habitable exoplanets is getting a big boost from its new star-watching companion, Pandora.

A new NASA mission will study exoplanets around distant stars.  (Image credit:  European Space Agency, CC BY-SA)

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On Jan. 11, 2026, I watched anxiously at the tightly controlled Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as an awe-inspiring SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried NASA's new exoplanet telescope, Pandora, into orbit.

Exoplanets are worlds that orbit other stars. They are very difficult to observe because — seen from Earth — they appear as extremely faint dots right next to their host stars, which are millions to billions of times brighter and drown out the light reflected by the planets. The Pandora telescope will join and complement NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in studying these faraway planets and the stars they orbit.

I am an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona who specializes in studies of planets around other stars and astrobiology. I am a co-investigator of Pandora and leading its exoplanet science working group. We built Pandora to shatter a barrier — to understand and remove a source of noise in the data — that limits our ability to study small exoplanets in detail and search for life on them.

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Observing exoplanets

Astronomers have a trick to study exoplanet atmospheres. By observing the planets as they orbit in front of their host stars, we can study starlight that filters through their atmospheres.

These planetary transit observations are similar to holding a glass of red wine up to a candle: The light filtering through will show fine details that reveal the quality of the wine. By analyzing starlight filtered through the planets' atmospheres, astronomers can find evidence for water vapor, hydrogen, clouds and even search for evidence of life. Researchers improved transit observations in 2002, opening an exciting window to new worlds.

Detecting exoplanets with the transit method - YouTube

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For a while, it seemed to work perfectly. But, starting from 2007, astronomers noted that starspots — cooler, active regions on the stars — may disturb the transit measurements.

In 2018 and 2019, then-Ph.D. student Benjamin V. Rackham, astrophysicist Mark Giampapa and I published a series of studies showing how darker starspots and brighter, magnetically active stellar regions can seriously mislead exoplanets measurements. We dubbed this problem "the transit light source effect."

Most stars are spotted, active and change continuously. Ben, Mark and I showed that these changes alter the signals from exoplanets. To make things worse, some stars also have water vapor in their upper layers — often more prominent in starspots than outside of them. That and other gases can confuse astronomers, who may think that they found water vapor in the planet.

In our papers — published three years before the 2021 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope — we predicted that the Webb cannot reach its full potential. We sounded the alarm bell. Astronomers realized that we were trying to judge our wine in light of flickering, unstable candles.

Members of the Pandora SmallSat team with the completed satellite in Blue Canyon Technologies’ cleanroom in Boulder, Colorado, before Pandora was shipped to California for integration into the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.  (Image credit: Blue Canyon Technologies)

The birth of Pandora

For me, Pandora began with an intriguing email from NASA in 2018. Two prominent scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Elisa Quintana and Tom Barclay, asked to chat. They had an unusual plan: They wanted to build a space telescope very quickly to help tackle stellar contamination — in time to assist Webb. This was an exciting idea, but also very challenging. Space telescopes are very complex, and not something that you would normally want to put together in a rush.

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Artist’s concept of NASA’s Pandora Space Telescope. (Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab, CC BY)

Pandora breaks with NASA's conventional model. We proposed and built Pandora faster and at a significantly lower cost than is typical for NASA missions. Our approach meant keeping the mission simple and accepting somewhat higher risks.

What makes Pandora special?

Pandora is smaller and cannot collect as much light as its bigger brother Webb. But Pandora will do what Webb cannot: It will be able to patiently observe stars to understand how their complex atmospheres change.

By staring at a star for 24 hours with visible and infrared cameras, it will measure subtle changes in the star's brightness and colors. When active regions in the star rotate in and out of view, and starspots form, evolve and dissipate, Pandora will record them. While Webb very rarely returns to the same planet in the same instrument configuration and almost never monitors their host stars, Pandora will revisit its target stars 10 times over a year, spending over 200 hours on each of them.

With that information, our Pandora team will be able to figure out how the changes in the stars affect the observed planetary transits. Like Webb, Pandora will observe the planetary transit events, too. By combining data from Pandora and Webb, our team will be able to understand what exoplanet atmospheres are made of in more detail than ever before.

After the successful launch, Pandora is now circling Earth about every 90 minutes. Pandora's systems and functions are now being tested thoroughly by Blue Canyon Technologies, Pandora's primary builder.

About a week after launch, control of the spacecraft will transition to the University of Arizona's Multi-Mission Operation Center in Tucson, Arizona. Then the work of our science teams begins in earnest and we will begin capturing starlight filtered through the atmospheres of other worlds — and see them with a new, steady eye.

This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/space/nasa-launches-pandora-telescope-taking-jwsts-search-for-habitable-worlds-to-a-new-level at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY > ANCIENT EGYPTIANS

NEWS | OWEN JARUS | JAN 19, 2026, 6:59 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Nefertiti's tomb close to discovery, famed archaeologist Zahi Hawaas claims in new documentary

Zahi Hawass says he hopes to discover the tomb of Nefertiti before he retires, and he believes he's getting close.

A new documentary tells of the life and career of Zahi Hawass, seen here. (Image credit: (c) Playground Productions)

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Zahi Hawass, perhaps the world's most famous archaeologist, hopes to discover the tomb of the ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti before he retires, and he says he may be getting close.

"If I made this discovery, I think I would be happy to end my career with the most important discovery of the most important queen of Egypt — Queen Nefertiti," Zahi Hawass, a former Egyptian antiquities minister, says in "The Man with the Hat," a new documentary about his life and career. The film, directed by Jeffrey Roth, will premiere on multiple streaming platforms Jan. 20.

Nefertiti was the wife of Akhenaten, a pharaoh who reigned from 1353 to 1336 B.C. and unleashed a religious revolution aimed at focusing Egypt's polytheistic religion around the worship of the Aten, the sun disk. At times, Nefertiti was displayed in ways that normally only a pharaoh would be shown, such as smiting an enemy. Some Egyptologists, including Hawass, believe she ruled as a pharaoh for a time after Akhenaten's death, taking on the new name Neferneferuaten.

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Hawass and his team have been excavating in Egypt's Valley of the Kings for years. Previously, they found two tombs, known as KV 65 (found in 2006) and KV 66, that had been plundered, likely in antiquity. KV 66 was originally believed to be the room of another tomb, but follow-up work in 2015 determined that it was a separate tomb and it was named KV 66.

While the two tombs don't shed direct light on Nefertiti's tomb they, and the other discoveries made by Hawass' team show that there are still significant discoveries to be found in the Valley of the Kings. They also help map out more of the valley and help determine areas where Nefertiti's tomb is not located.

Now, his team is excavating in the eastern Valley of the Kings, close to the tomb of Hatshepsut, a powerful female pharaoh who ruled between 1479 and 1458 B.C. They hope Nefertiti's tomb will be found there. Hawass says that he doesn't have evidence to support this theory, but has a feeling it could be there.

"There is one area now that we are working in the east valley, near the tomb of Queen Hatshepsut," Hawass told Live Science. I'm hoping that this could be the tomb of Queen Nefertiti." Work is continuing, and "this discovery could happen soon," he said.

Zahi Hawass said he may be getting close to finding the tomb of Nefertiti in the Valley of the Kings. (Image credit:  OLIVER LANG/DDP/AFP via Getty Images)

Repatriation to Egypt

Hawass has been involved in many other excavations and projects that are described in the new documentary. One initiative seeks to have the Rosetta Stone (now in the British Museum), the Dendera Zodiac (now in the Louvre) and the bust of Nefertiti (now in the Neues Museum in Germany) repatriated to Egypt. Hawass told Live Science he believes these three artifacts "are the icon of the Egyptian identity and their home should be the Grand [Egyptian] Museum," which opened in November.

It's "fair [for] these three objects to come back to Egypt because the Europeans, in the last century," took countless artifacts from the Nile region in the 19th and early 20th centuries, he said. These priceless treasures were brought to private households and museums in Europe at a time when Egypt was often controlled or heavily influenced by European powers.

Zahi Hawass at the tomb of the boy king Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings. (Image credit: (c) Playground Productions)

Controversies

In addition to covering Hawass' life and work, the documentary discusses a few controversies he's been involved in. One of the most serious ones occurred after the 2011 Egyptian revolution that forced out longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

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In April 2011, Hawass was sentenced to one year in prison for allegedly failing to uphold a court decision over a shop inside the Egyptian Museum, a decision that was later overturned on appeal. The dispute is complicated: When the museum was being remodeled and a new gift shop was built, the previous shop owner was barred from bidding because of disputes the owner and museum had had in the past. The owner went to court and got a legal order that he be allowed to bid on the new shop. But Hawass refused to implement the court order, saying that the winner of the bid had been decided.

Egyptian officials also investigated Hawass over other complaints. While he couldn't travel outside of Egypt for a time, he was never charged, and in 2013 he was able to travel outside the country again, one of his first stops was the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to kick off a lecture tour that aimed to promote tourism in Egypt.

He addressed this and other controversies in the documentary, saying that as he became better known, he found himself being criticized and attacked more frequently. He maintains that he conducted himself with integrity throughout his career.

The Man with the Hat - Official Trailer - YouTube

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How to watch "The Man with the Hat"

"The Man With The Hat" is streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video, from Saturday January 19.

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This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/famed-archaeologist-zahi-hawass-says-hes-close-to-finding-nefertitis-tomb-in-new-documentary at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

ARCHAEOLOGY > ROMANS

NEWS | KRISTINA KILLGROVE | JAN 19, 2026, 6:40 AM EST | VIEW ON LIVESCIENCE

Romans regularly soaked in filthy, lead-contaminated bath water, Pompeii study finds

A study of limescale buildup in an early bathing facility at Pompeii has revealed that the water was replaced only once per day.

Remains of a pool in the oldest public bath structure in Pompeii. (Image credit: Cees Passchier)

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The ancient Romans are well known for their advanced water supply systems and hygienic facilities, including public baths and toilets. But the first baths built in Pompeii may not have been particularly pleasant, due to dirty, contaminated water that was replaced only once per day, according to a new study.

"It is very likely that the bathing experience in this small bathing facility was maybe not hygienic and hence not very inviting," study lead author Gül Sürmelihindi, a geoarchaeologist at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in Germany, told Live Science in an email.

Sürmelihindi and colleagues analyzed the chemical compound calcium carbonate preserved in incrustations in the Republican Baths at Pompeii to investigate the composition of the water supply. Their study was published Monday (Jan. 12) in the journal PNAS.

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Public baths were a key part of Roman culture, the researchers wrote in the study, and as the Roman Empire expanded, bathing culture also evolved. At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans "built long-distance aqueducts in order to have their daily bathing and cleansing experience," Sürmelihindi said.

But in the earliest baths built at Pompeii, which were in use between about 130 and 30 B.C. during the Roman Republic, the situation was different. Before the city constructed an aqueduct, bathing facilities were filled with water from wells and cisterns via a single water-lifting machine that was operated by enslaved people.

"The water could not be replenished more than once a day," Sürmelihindi said. "In this setting, I would expect water to be less clean, especially before the bathing water was refreshed again."

To investigate the composition of the bath water during this time, the researchers studied samples of calcium carbonate, a mineral form of calcium. Calcium carbonate is produced when calcium ions in hard water react with carbonate ions, leading to limescale — a hard, chalky deposit that builds up in kettles, boilers and pipes.

The researchers found that the carbonate in the Republican Baths showed a strong decrease in carbon isotopes (variations of the element with different numbers of neutrons) between the well that supplied the water and the heated pools where people bathed. The lowest carbon isotope values were found in areas where the water drained, meaning the main cause was likely "the introduction of organic carbon from microbial activity and human waste (e.g., sweat, sebum, urine, bathing oil)," the researchers wrote.

Researchers took carbonate samples from the oldest public bath structure in Pompeii. (Image credit: Cees Passchier)

"These baths were an experience we do not have nowadays," study co-author Cees Passchier, a geoarchaeologist at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, told Live Science in an email. "People would not use soap, but olive oil to rub in and scrape the dirt off, and some of that oil would land in the water."

The water in the heated pools of the Republican Baths shows "high contamination by human waste," suggesting that it was not replenished regularly and that it offered "poor hygienic conditions for the Pompeiian bathers," the researchers wrote.

The researchers also investigated heavy-metal contamination in the baths by analyzing traces of elements left there. In the Republican Baths, the team identified elevated levels of lead, a toxic element that was likely introduced through the lead-pipe system in the bathing complex. Over time, though, the gradual incrustation of the pipes with calcium carbonate would have reduced the water's lead level.

It's unclear whether the murky water would have kept people away.

"Everyone mixed in the baths, regardless of social class, and the price was low," Passchier said. But if the water was really gross and smelly, he said, the baths would not have had customers. "People probably did not spend much time in the warm pools, which were small, but mostly spent time sitting around in the warm air of the hot bath having a conversation," he said.

Pompeii quiz: How much do you know about the Roman town destroyed by Mount Vesuvius?

This article was downloaded from https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/romans-regularly-soaked-in-filthy-lead-contaminated-bath-water-pompeii-study-finds at Jan 21, 2026 at 2:20 AM EST.

Table of Contents

Live Science: 2026 Jan 20

January 20, 2026

'Like watching a cosmic volcano erupt': Scientists see monster black hole 'reborn' after 100 million years

Early research hints at why women experience more severe gut pain than men do

1,700-year-old Roman marching camps discovered in Germany — along with a multitude of artifacts like coins and the remnants of shoes

Eerie 'sand burials' of elite Anglo-Saxons and their 'sacrificed' horse discovered near UK nuclear power plant

Last year, the oceans absorbed a record-breaking amount of heat — equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding every second

Remnants of spills on Renaissance-era textbook reveal recipes for 'curing' ailments with lizard heads and human feces

How much of your body could you lose — and still survive?

Tiny improvements in sleep, nutrition and exercise could significantly extend lifespan, study suggests

James Webb telescope spies rare 'goddess of dawn' supernova from the early universe

Earth hit by biggest 'solar radiation storm' in 23 years, triggering Northern Lights as far as Southern California

Color blindness linked to lower bladder cancer survival, early study hints

Medieval 'super ship' found wrecked off Denmark is largest vessel of its kind

Ever watched a pet cow pick up a broom and scratch herself with it? You have now

Nebra Sky Disc: The world's oldest depiction of astronomical phenomena — and it may depict the Pleiades

Astronomers confirm earliest Milky Way-like galaxy in the universe, just 2 billion years after the Big Bang

Why is flu season so bad this year?

James Webb telescope spots 'failed stars' in a breathtaking cluster near Earth — Space photo of the week

January 19, 2026

Viruses that evolved on the space station and were sent back to Earth were more effective at killing bacteria

Strange 'missing link' star system 'fundamentally changes' our understanding of planet formation

Giant underwater plumes triggered by 7-story waves at Nazaré captured off Portuguese coast — Earth from space

NASA launches Pandora telescope, taking JWST's search for habitable worlds to a new level

Nefertiti's tomb close to discovery, famed archaeologist Zahi Hawaas claims in new documentary

Romans regularly soaked in filthy, lead-contaminated bath water, Pompeii study finds