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Chang'e-6 soil from the Moon's far side holds pure γ-Fe, a form of iron never seen in lunar samples, and it can keep a magnetic record. Li Long and his colleagues at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science were looking at specks of glass from the far side of the Moon when they found iron that, at lunar surface temperatures, normally should not exist.

A study of 840 mothers finds that maternal nutrition may influence breast milk composition, mammary gland function, and infant growth. Many nutrition experts in wealthy countries have argued that a breastfeeding mother’s body protects her milk when she doesn’t eat enough. It draws on its own reserves, the thinking goes, so the baby barely feels the shortfall. A new study suggests that protection has limits.

Most of the world's oyster reefs are gone. A new global map suggests where they could still grow, and most of that water is unprotected. Oyster reefs once flourished in bays and river mouths around the world, but most have vanished. New research suggests suitable habitat remains far more widespread than current oyster records indicate. In the ten countries with the most promising coastlines, only about a tenth of the best habitat matches a recorded oyster.

Coral disease made Florida's 2023 marine heat wave even deadlier, but researchers found that elkhorn corals near reef edges had better survival rates. Hot water gets most of the blame when coral reefs turn white and die. In the Florida Keys in 2023, extreme heat killed coral across the reef, but it didn’t kill evenly. During that summer’s record heat wave, patches of elkhorn coral that already carried a disease faced a risk of dying 3.8 times higher than healthy tissue on the same coral.

Does sleeping with your dog ruin your rest? A new study suggests people may be more likely to wake their dogs than the other way around. A dog in the bed has a reputation for ruining sleep, and some earlier studies backed that up. New research points the finger the other way. When an owner and a dog stirred close together in the night, the owner had more often moved first. Dogs and their people do disturb each other at night.

For nearly 140 years, paleontologists thought male and female Uintatherium looked very different. New fossil evidence challenges that belief. In many well-known mammals today, males are bigger than females and carry the showier horns or teeth. Paleontologists assumed the same of Uintatherium, an extinct giant with six bony knobs on its head. They called its biggest skulls male and its smaller ones female. Put to a statistical test, however, that tidy split mostly isn’t there.

Gene activity and 3D microscope images show duckweed's floating frond is mostly leaf tissue wrapped around a tiny hidden stem. Most flowering plants have stems, leaves, and roots that are easy to tell apart. Duckweed looks more like a tiny green disc floating on water, raising a basic question: where are the other parts? A team at the University of Nottingham found that some duckweeds retain the basic organization of much larger flowering plants.

A 700,000-year-old elephant tooth offers new insights into a prehistoric landscape rich in water, vegetation, and wildlife that early humans may have relied on. About 700,000 years ago, a straight-tusked elephant roamed a lush river valley where early humans made stone tools. Now, one of its teeth is revealing what the ancient landscape looked like, what the animal ate, and how its drinking water changed over time.

Products like hairspray, paint, and cleaners are becoming major sources of summer air pollution as heat increases chemical emissions. Cars have gotten a lot cleaner. Vehicles remain a major source of urban volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in winter, but in summer something else is taking over. Hairspray, paint, disinfectants, and products people use every day are emerging as major sources of chemicals that contribute to summertime smog.

A new European satellite captures a striking image of the Canadian Arctic, revealing icy islands, fractured sea ice, and a rapidly warming region. Today’s Image of the Day from the European Space Agency offers a remarkable view of the Canadian Arctic. Snow-covered islands, rugged coastlines, and scattered sea ice reveal one of the planet’s most rapidly changing environments.