China advances space capabilities with successful rocket launches and reusable technology, while a star discovered consuming a planet raises questions about stellar evolution; meanwhile, terrestrial concerns about male reproductive health and environmental threats dominate scientific discourse.

China successfully recovered its first reusable rocket, demonstrating a new recovery method and solidifying its position as the United States's main competitor in the space race for solar system supremacy.

Astronomers discovered a star 1,300 light-years away that has just consumed one planet and is preparing to engulf another, offering rare insights into stellar planetary systems and the fate of worlds.

The F.C.C. approved a test by a start-up company to deploy a space mirror that would bounce solar rays onto Earth's dark side, turning night into day for a three-mile-wide patch despite environmental outcry.

Men's average testosterone levels have halved over the past 50 years, with researchers warning of a 'major crisis in male reproductive health' driven partly by obesity, diabetes, and environmental factors.

A study of over 2,000 men found that air pollution causes epigenetic changes in sperm DNA, altering how sperm genes function and representing one of the largest fertility health studies to date.

A Jupiter-sized exoplanet was discovered to have escaped its star's death, suggesting planets can survive stellar demise under certain conditions and expanding understanding of planetary survival mechanisms.

Nobel-winning U.S. chemist Omar Yaghi from UC Berkeley announced he will relocate to China to lead an artificial intelligence institute focused on discovering new materials.

The U.S. Department of Energy underestimated the potential danger of a plutonium leak at Los Alamos laboratory, with new research suggesting an accident could cause more fatalities than previously estimated.

Deep-sea mining poses a critical threat to mollusks around hydrothermal vents, with the I.U.C.N. warning that mineral extraction could drive more than half of these extreme-condition adapted species to extinction.

Bird flu concerns intensified with warnings that if H5N1 jumped to humans, it could trigger a pandemic potentially worse than Covid-19, highlighting 2026 as a year of biological uncertainty.