A German Engineer Has Become The First Wheelchair User in Space <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/engineer_wheelchair_space_header.jpg" alt="Michaela Benthaus, a German aerospace and mechatronics engineer at the European Space Agency"/>"Congratulations, Michi!"

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A German Engineer Has Become The First Wheelchair User in Space

A German woman engineer on Saturday became the first wheelchair user to blast into space, taking a brief ride on a Blue Origin flight.

Great White Sharks Were Scared Out of Their Habitat by Just 2 Predators <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Great-white-shark-upside-down-on-beach-.jpg" alt="A shark lying upside down on a beach"/>There's something even the great white fears.

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Great White Sharks Were Scared Out of Their Habitat by Just 2 Predators

No sea creature inspires terror – rightly or wrongly – as much as the white shark does.

Experts Share 3 Simple Habits to Stay Healthy This Holiday Season <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/WomanSleepingByChristmasTree.jpg" alt="Woman Sleeping By Christmas Tree"/>Don't let the chaos wreck your routine.

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Experts Share 3 Simple Habits to Stay Healthy This Holiday Season

The holiday season is a time of exciting activities, family get-togethers and a time away from the normal work and school routine.

First Contact With an Alien Civilization Could Be 'Loud'. Here's Why. <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/ConceptImageOfAlienTechPlanetWithClimateChange.jpg" alt="First Contact With an Alien Civilization Could Be 'Loud'. Here's Why."/>Shouting across the void.

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First Contact With an Alien Civilization Could Be &#039;Loud&#039;. Here&#039;s Why.

For decades, science fiction writers have tried their best to prepare us for eventual contact with aliens.

Earth's Atmosphere Is Leaking to The Moon, And Here's Why <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/solar-wind.jpg" alt="Earth's Atmosphere Is Leaking to The Moon, And Here's Why"/>Sharing is caring.

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Earth&#039;s Atmosphere Is Leaking to The Moon, And Here&#039;s Why

The Moon has no real atmosphere, but Earth has, in a sense, been generously trying to share its own for billions of years.

The First-Ever Map of The Boundary of The Sun Has Just Been Revealed <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/sun-alfven.jpg" alt="The First-Ever Map of The Boundary of The Sun Has Just Been Revealed"/>Like a solar porcupine.

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The First-Ever Map of The Boundary of The Sun Has Just Been Revealed

Using the combined might of spacecraft scattered across the Solar System, scientists have built the most detailed map yet of the boundary where the...

Toys Can Turn Dangerous in Seconds: How to Stay Safe This Christmas <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Baby-Playing-with-Magnetic-Tiles.jpg" alt="Toy Fads Can Become Dangerous Fast"/>A little extra caution goes a long, long way.

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Toys Can Turn Dangerous in Seconds: How to Stay Safe This Christmas

We officially started watching Christmas films this weekend gone (alright, three weekends ago).

Earth Has Two North Poles. How Does Santa Know Which One Is Home? <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/frustrated_santa_header.jpg" alt="frustrated looking santa"/>No, seriously, there's some good science here.

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Earth Has Two North Poles. How Does Santa Know Which One Is Home?

When Santa is done delivering presents on Christmas Eve, he must get back home to the North Pole, even if it&#039;s snowing so hard that the reinde...

Cutting Back One Amino Acid Increased The Lifespan of Mice Up to 33% <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Powder-in-a-measuring-spoon-in-a-hand.jpg" alt="Generic shot of white supplement powder"/>Intriguing...

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Cutting Back One Amino Acid Increased The Lifespan of Mice Up to 33%

In mice, limited intakes of one specific essential amino acid can slow the effects of aging and even extend their lifespan, research from the US sh...

Time Moves Faster on Mars, And Scientists Finally Know by How Much <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Mars-Global-Color-Mosaic-by-ESA.jpg" alt="This image shows the globe of Mars set against a dark background. The disc of the planet features yellow, orange, blue and green patches, all with an overall muted grey hue, representing the varying composition of the surface."/>"This is the closest we have been to realizing the science fiction vision of expanding across the Solar System."

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Time Moves Faster on Mars, And Scientists Finally Know by How Much

Research conducted by two physicists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the US reveals that clocks on Mars tick 477-...

14 Psychiatric Disorders Share 5 Genetic Roots, Major Study Reveals <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Blue-Brain-With-Purple-DNA.jpg" alt="Blue brain with purple double helix DNA in background"/>A significant overlap.

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14 Psychiatric Disorders Share 5 Genetic Roots, Major Study Reveals

We know that the genes we&#039;re born with contribute to the risk of psychiatric disorders during our lifetimes, and a new study shows there is si...

Microdosing Cannabis Pauses Alzheimer's Decline in Unprecedented Trial <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Dropper-above-amber-bottle-in-gloved-hand-.jpg" alt="Gloved hand with oil in dropper above amber bottle"/>A major step.

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Microdosing Cannabis Pauses Alzheimer&#039;s Decline in Unprecedented Trial

As the world&#039;s population ages, the number of people living with dementias such as Alzheimer&#039;s disease increases.

Common Home Appliances Emit Trillions of Harmful Particles, Study Finds <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Toaster-with-smoking-burned-toast.jpg" alt="Toaster with one slice of smoking burned toast"/>What are we breathing?

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Common Home Appliances Emit Trillions of Harmful Particles, Study Finds

A new study has measured the levels of indoor air pollution emitted by everyday home appliances, revealing which ones you might want to think twic...

This 105-Meter Ice Core Could Explain A Bizarre Glacier Anomaly <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/105-meter-ice-core-drilling.jpg" alt="high contrast close up of gloved hand holding ice core"/>"Extremely exciting."

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This 105-Meter Ice Core Could Explain A Bizarre Glacier Anomaly

Dressed in an orange puffer jacket, Japanese scientist Yoshinori Iizuka stepped into a storage freezer to retrieve an ice core he hopes will help e...

JWST Confirms: First Runaway Supermassive Black Hole Tearing Through Space <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/rbh-1.jpg"/>At a jaw-dropping 954 kilometers per second.

ScienceAlert

JWST Confirms: First Runaway Supermassive Black Hole Tearing Through Space

Every now and again, a stellar object is caught zooming across space like a white rabbit, extremely late for a very important date.

There's a Scientific Reason December 'Arrives Sooner' Every Year <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/Blurry-Clocks.jpg" alt="A central clock in focus surrounded by blurred clocks"/>Here's how you can slow down time.

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There&#039;s a Scientific Reason December &#039;Arrives Sooner&#039; Every Year

How is it December already? What happened to 2025? And how did we suddenly jump from eating Easter eggs to putting up Christmas trees? To understan...

The Arctic Just Sweltered Through Its Hottest Year on Record <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/GettyImages-486778798-1-copy.jpeg" alt="The Arctic Just Sweltered Through Its Hottest Year on Record"/>It's warming significantly faster than the global average.

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The Arctic Just Sweltered Through Its Hottest Year on Record

The Arctic has experienced its hottest year since records began, a US science agency announced Tuesday, as climate change triggers cascading impact...

An Anthropologist Made a Mammal 'Monogamy Scale'. Here's Where Humans Rank. <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/elderly-married-couple-hold-hands.jpg" alt="An Anthropologist Made a Mammal 'Monogamy Scale'. Here's Where Humans Rank."/>Much higher than our close primate relatives.

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An Anthropologist Made a Mammal &#039;Monogamy Scale&#039;. Here&#039;s Where Humans Rank.

Sticking with a long-term life partner to rear children has long been considered a dominant mating pattern for our species, although reproductive m...

'Zap-And-Freeze' Brain Imaging Could Reveal The Secrets of Parkinson's <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/NeuronSynapse.jpg" alt="Biology nerve cell with biomedicine concept"/>Revealing details too small and too fast to study otherwise.

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&#039;Zap-And-Freeze&#039; Brain Imaging Could Reveal The Secrets of Parkinson&#039;s

Researchers have come up with a clever new way of freezing brain cells just as they fire out a signal, meaning processes that normally happen too q...

A Simple Blood Test Could Reveal Your Chances of Dying in The Next Decade <img width="1200" height="675" src="https://www.sciencealert.com/images/2025/12/mortality_risk_blood_proteins_header.jpg" alt="holding tube of blood"/>The signs are there.

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A Simple Blood Test Could Reveal Your Chances of Dying in The Next Decade

Imagine if a simple blood test could offer a glimpse into your future health.