Hawaii Science Monitor

31 New Species Found off Brazil Reveal a Fragile World in the Ocean’s Midwater

Learn how studying animal bones from historic sites tells detailed stories about the lives of their occupants, from what they ate to how they traded.

1121 and 31 species discovered

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A Young Giraffe Went Strangely Missing in Texas, and the Two-Week Search Revealed the Complex World of Exotic Wildlife

Learn how shipboard DNA sequencing, 3D imaging, and deep-sea tools helped researchers identify delicate ocean animals within days.

Giraffe Gracie missing in Texas

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NASA's Roman Space Telescope Arrives in Florida, New Treatment Could Relieve Knee Pain Without Surgery, and a Cave Full of All-Female Skeletons

Learn more about Gracie, a giraffe who has been missing for two weeks in a part of Texas known for the breeding, buying, and hunting of exotic animals from around the world.

Giggling Apes May Help Us Understand How Speech Emerged, as We've Shared a Similar Laugh Pattern for 15 Million Years

Discover the top stories from June 20 to June 26, 2026, including a surgery-free answer to knee osteoarthritis and a spider species that catapults its prey into a web.

Jun 25, 2026

Apes and humans share laughter

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82 Viking Workshop Huts Found Near Aarhus May Have Supplied a Major Trading City

Discover how tickling apes and recording their bursts of laughter revealed a similar pattern to how humans laugh, while hinting at the origins of speech.

Denmark discovers Viking textile site

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Dogs Can Have Positive Impacts on Our Mental and Physical Health — but Can They Help Us Live Longer?

Learn how a road project near Aarhus uncovered a 1.08-million-square-foot Viking Age textile site with 82 pit houses, flax processing areas, and links to trade.

These Rare Super-Puff Planets Are Less Dense Than Cotton Candy

Learn more about the health benefits dogs can provide, both physically and mentally, and how this could have an impact on how long we live.

Two super puff planets discovered

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From Mongolia to Madagascar, Dogs Form Remarkably Similar Bonds With Humans

Learn more about super-puff planets and how researchers determined the densities of these far-off planets.

Global human dog bond

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A Cave Full of <em>Homo naledi</em> Fossils May Point to an All-Female Burial Site, a First for a Non-Modern Human Species

Learn how dogs and humans form remarkably similar bonds across cultures, despite differences in how they live and work together.

Homo naledi female only cemetery

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A Hot Beverage During Soaring Temperatures May Help You Cool Down — But Only When the Weather Is Dry

Learn how proteins in Homo naledi teeth could point to an all-female burial site and raise new questions about how ancient human relatives treated their dead.

Jun 24, 2026

Milk hydrates better than water

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Webb Telescope Looks Behind the Orion Nebula and Finds Stars Still Being Born

Learn how switching a cold one for a hot tea can induce sweat production and help cool you down, but not when it’s humid out.

JWST reveals OMC2 nursery

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A Dwarf Galaxy Torn Apart by the Milky Way Left Behind the Gaia Sausage

Learn how Webb’s infrared view of Orion revealed buried protostars, violent jets, and disks of gas and dust that could eventually form planets.

Ancient Human DNA on Cave Walls Could Reveal Who Touched These Sites — and Their Art

Learn more about the Gaia Sausage, a trail of stars from a dwarf galaxy the Milky Way absorbed billions of years ago.

Ancient DNA found on caves

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Neanderthals in Northwestern Europe Lived in Connected Communities — Challenging Ideas About Their Extinction

Learn how ancient DNA preserved on and near cave art in Spain and Portugal could open new ways to study prehistoric people.

Late Neanderthals genetically diverse

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Faster Biological Aging May Help Explain Why More Younger Adults Are Getting Cancer

Learn more about what the DNA of late Neanderthals reveals about their extinction theories.

Faster aging linked to early cancers

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Once Thought Difficult to Identify, a Subtle Mark on an Ancient Femur May Help Track the Start of Women's Reproductive Maturity

Learn more about how younger generations are now aging faster than their parents and grandparents, and how this aging gap could explain the rise in early-onset cancers.

Illegal Excavation Near Rome Uncovers Villa Linked to the Antonine Age

Learn more about menarche, a mark on an ancient femur bone, and how it can help us understand the reproductive beginnings of ancient women.

Jun 23, 2026

Imperial villa found near Rome

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What Is the Origin Story of Language? Our Ancient Ancestors May Have Developed Communication Rapidly

Learn how illegal digging near Rome exposed an Imperial-era Roman villa with mosaic floors, painted walls, and a marble statue.

Not Ready for a Knee Replacement? A Minimally Invasive Procedure May Ease Chronic Pain Without Joint Replacement

Learn more about the origins of language, and how our ancient ancestors may have developed it in a sudden jump rather than over time.

Gelatin embolization relieves knee osteoarthritis

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Recent Hydrothermal Explosion at Yellowstone National Park — Later, a New Thermal Pool Appears

Learn about genicular artery embolization, a new minimally invasive procedure that is giving patients with knee osteoarthritis years of pain relief without surgery.

Biscuit Basin hydrothermal explosion

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Heavy Rain Triggered a Strange Airflow Mystery Nearly a Mile Underground

Learn more about a recent hydrothermal explosion in Yellowstone National Park and why it's important to keep monitoring the Biscuit Basin area.

Rain alters SURF underground airflow

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