science communication

NASA's Curiosity rover has captured a new panorama of Mount Sharp on Mars, taken on August 11, 2026, as the first light of morning illuminated the rugged slopes. The image shows distant cliffs and ridges under the cool, bluish tones of the Martian dawn, and it is being shared and praised by space enthusiasts and science communicators.

Science educator Bill Nye told students at California State University, Fullerton that they are going to change the world, according to the university's news outlet. The remark, tying his signature optimism to the campus's Titans nickname, is part of the university's coverage of his visit and its efforts to highlight student potential in science.

Jellyfish move through the ocean by squeezing their bell to jet water backward, a form of propulsion that requires no brain, heart, or bones. The animals are up to 95% water and have pulsed through the seas for more than 650 million years, outliving the dinosaurs and the first forests. Science communicators are highlighting the creature as a striking example of physics and evolution working together.

Frank Ashwood, a soil ecologist, popular-science author, macrophotographer and science communicator, has introduced himself to Mastodon, saying he is a new father and aims to raise awareness of the tiny organisms that keep soils healthy. His arrival is being welcomed by the platform's wildlife and nature community, where scientists and photographers are an active presence.

The mauve stinger jellyfish (Pelagia noctiluca) produces its own light through bioluminescence, glowing in the ocean's twilight zone where sunlight barely reaches. The faint glow startles predators and attracts the plankton the jellyfish feeds on, making it self-sufficient in the deep. Science communicators are highlighting the species as a striking example of how life thrives without sunlight.

An educational clip explaining the nervous system is circulating widely online. It describes the body's communication network, in which billions of neurons transmit information through electrical impulses. Viewers are sharing it under science and learning tags, reflecting steady interest in bite-sized educational science content on social media.

The Southwest Research Institute has developed a new solar activity model that improves predictions of space weather. Better forecasts of solar storms could help protect satellites, power grids and communications systems from disruptive solar events. The advance is being covered by energy and science outlets as a practical step toward more reliable space weather forecasting.

The ITER fusion project, the international effort to build a experimental nuclear fusion reactor in southern France, released a new communication titled 'A little science, a lot of curiosity.' The piece highlights the organisation's science outreach and invites public interest in fusion energy research, reflecting ITER's ongoing effort to explain its work to a broad audience.

The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University is marking its tenth anniversary and is broadening its reach into engineering. Founded to help scientists communicate more clearly with the public, the center now plans to bring its communication training methods to engineers as well. The anniversary highlights its decade of work improving how researchers explain science.

Physicists at Florida State University have received $7.3 million in funding to support a new quantum science initiative. The investment will back research into quantum technologies, an area drawing growing attention from universities and governments for its potential in computing, sensing and communications.

Scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa have created a 'light-powered brain', an optical computing system that uses light instead of electronics to process information. Researchers say the breakthrough could transform future communications, offering faster and more efficient data handling. The announcement has drawn attention in science media as a potential step change for photonic computing and telecoms.

A university professor has received the American Geophysical Union's 2026 Ambassador Award, a recognition given for excellence in scientific outreach, mentorship and leadership within the earth and space science community. The student newspaper reported the honor, highlighting the professor's contributions to research and science communication. Little further detail about the recipient's field or achievements has been released so far.

Engineer and science communicator Bartosz Ciechanowski has released a new article on his website explaining the physics of sound. True to his style, the piece uses interactive visualizations to let readers experiment with waves, frequencies and acoustics directly in the browser. His long-form explainers, covering topics like GPS, mechanics and light, are regularly praised online for making complex subjects intuitive and visually engaging.

A fellow at the University of Pennsylvania's Leonard Davis Institute has argued that storytelling plays a powerful role in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The claim is that narrative techniques help researchers communicate complex findings, connect with non-expert audiences and broaden participation in STEM fields. The commentary is published through Penn LDI's outlet.

Stony Brook University's Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science is marking its tenth anniversary, celebrating a decade of training scientists to communicate their work clearly to the public. Founded by actor Alan Alda, the center runs workshops and initiatives worldwide aimed at bridging the gap between researchers and audiences. The milestone is being highlighted in university news coverage of its leadership and programs.

A science broadcaster is presenting a live rundown of volcanic activity around the world at 7pm, streamed on Twitch. The event is being promoted within French-language science outreach circles, with hashtags pointing to popularisation of science and volcanology. It forms part of ongoing live programming aimed at making earth science accessible to a general audience.

A guided live tour of the Muséum des sciences naturelles d'Angers is being broadcast this evening at 6pm, presented by science communicator Oamgui on Twitch. The stream is shared by Pogscience, a French community that promotes science outreach content, with hashtags highlighting popular science and IRL broadcasting.

A new explainer is drawing large audiences by telling the story of fiber optics — the technology that traps light inside hair-thin glass strands and carries the world's internet traffic. The piece walks through how researchers learned to guide light with total internal reflection, overcome signal loss, and scale the breakthrough into the global network of undersea and land-based cables that now underpins online communication.

Turritopsis dohrnii, a tiny jellyfish found in oceans worldwide, can revert to its juvenile polyp stage when injured, old, or starving, effectively restarting its life cycle indefinitely. This process of transdifferentiation makes it one of the only known biologically immortal animals, drawing renewed attention from science communicators and nature enthusiasts online.