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Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into two – or three – major branches: the natural sciences, which study the physical world, and the social sciences, which study individuals and societies. While referred to as the formal sciences, the study of logic, mathematics, and theoretical computer science are typically regarded as separate because they rely on deductive reasoning instead of the scientific method as their main methodology. Meanwhile, applied sciences are disciplines that use scientific knowledge for practical purposes, such as engineering and medicine. (Full article...)

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Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

Image 1

Psilocybe semilanceata, commonly known as the liberty cap, is a species of fungus which produces the psychoactive compounds psilocybin, psilocin and baeocystin. It is both one of the most widely distributed psilocybin mushrooms in nature, and one of the most potent. The mushrooms have a distinctive conical to bell-shaped cap, up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter, with a small nipple-like protrusion on the top. They are yellow to brown, covered with radial grooves when moist, and fade to a lighter color as they mature. Their stipes tend to be slender and long, and the same color or slightly lighter than the cap. The gill attachment to the stipe is adnexed (narrowly attached), and they are initially cream-colored before tinting purple to black as the spores mature. The spores are dark purplish-brown en masse, ellipsoid in shape, and measure 10.5–15 by 6.5–8.5 μm. (Full article...)
Image 2

Du Tertre's 1667 illustration showing three Guadeloupe amazons (8) and one Lesser Antillean macaw (7) on a tree at the left

The Guadeloupe amazon or Guadeloupe parrot (Amazona violacea) is a hypothetical extinct species of parrot that is thought to have been endemic to the Lesser Antillean island region of Guadeloupe. Mentioned and described by 17th- and 18th-century writers, it received a scientific name in 1789. It was moved to the genus Amazona in 1905, and is thought to have been related to, or possibly the same as, the extant imperial amazon. A tibiotarsus and an ulna bone from the island of Marie-Galante may belong to the Guadeloupe amazon. In 1905, a species of extinct violet macaw was also claimed to have lived on Guadeloupe, but in 2015, it was suggested to have been based on a description of the Guadeloupe amazon. (Full article...)
Image 3

The Puerto Rican amazon (Amazona vittata), also known as the Puerto Rican parrot (Spanish: cotorra puertorriqueña) or iguaca (Taíno), is the only extant parrot endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico. Measuring 28–30 cm (11.0–11.8 in), the bird is a predominantly green parrot with a red forehead and white rings around the eyes. Belonging to the Neotropical genus Amazona, its closest relatives are believed to be the Cuban amazon (Amazona leucocephala) and the Hispaniolan amazon (Amazona ventralis). (Full article...)
Image 4
Triangulum is a small constellation in the northern sky. Its name is Latin for "triangle", derived from its three brightest stars, which form a long and narrow triangle. Known to the ancient Babylonians and Greeks, Triangulum was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. The celestial cartographers Johann Bayer and John Flamsteed catalogued the constellation's stars, giving six of them Bayer designations. (Full article...)
Image 5

Portrait of Priestley, 1801

Joseph Priestley (/ˈpriːstli/; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator and classical liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted experiments in several areas of science. (Full article...)
Image 6

A large flap lesion in the femur head typical of late stage Osteochondritis dissecans. In this case, the lesion was caused by avascular necrosis of the bone just under the cartilage.

Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD or OD) is a joint disorder primarily of the subchondral bone in which cracks form in the articular cartilage and the underlying subchondral bone. OCD usually causes pain during and after sports. In later stages of the disorder there will be swelling of the affected joint that catches and locks during movement. Physical examination in the early stages does only show pain as symptom, in later stages there could be an effusion, tenderness, and a crackling sound with joint movement. (Full article...)
Image 7

Gene Cernan salutes the U.S. flag, with the Apollo Lunar Module Challenger and Lunar Roving Vehicle in the background

Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon; he was selected in place of Joe Engle, as NASA had been under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice that was carried in the command module. (Full article...)
Image 8
Miss Meyers (1949 – March 1963) was an American Quarter Horse racehorse and broodmare, the 1953 World Champion Quarter Running Horse. She won $28,725 (equivalent to $337,000 in 2024) as well as 17 races. As a broodmare, she produced, or was the mother of, the first American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) Supreme Champion called Kid Meyers. She was the mother of three other foals, and was inducted into the AQHA Hall of Fame in 2009. (Full article...)
Image 9

Suillus pungens, commonly known as the pungent slippery jack or the pungent suillus, is a species of fungus in the genus Suillus. The fruit bodies of the fungus have slimy convex caps up to 14 cm (5.5 in) wide. The mushroom is characterized by the very distinct color changes that occur in the cap throughout development. Typically, the young cap is whitish, later becoming grayish-olive to reddish-brown or a mottled combination of these colors. The mushroom has a dotted stem (stipe) up to 7 cm (2.8 in) long, and 2 cm (0.8 in) thick. On the underside on the cap is the spore-bearing tissue consisting of minute vertically arranged tubes that appear as a surface of angular, yellowish pores. The presence of milky droplets on the pore surface of young individuals, especially in humid environments, is a characteristic feature of this species. S. pungens can usually be distinguished from other similar Suillus species by differences in distribution, odor and taste. (Full article...)
Image 10
Corona Borealis is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest stars form a semicircular arc. Its Latin name, inspired by its shape, means "northern crown". In classical mythology Corona Borealis generally represented the crown given by the god Dionysus to the Cretan princess Ariadne and set by her in the heavens. Other cultures likened the pattern to a circle of elders, an eagle's nest, a bear's den or a smokehole. Ptolemy also listed a southern counterpart, Corona Australis, with a similar pattern. (Full article...)
Image 11

A proton is composed of two up quarks, one down quark, and the gluons that mediate the forces "binding" them together. The color assignment of individual quarks is arbitrary, but all three colors must be present; red, blue and green are used as an analogy to the primary colors that together produce a white color.

A quark (/kwɔːrk, kwɑːrk/ ) is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. All commonly observable matter is composed of up quarks, down quarks and electrons. Owing to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never found in isolation; they can be found only within hadrons, which include baryons (such as protons and neutrons) and mesons, or in quark–gluon plasmas. For this reason, much of what is known about quarks has been drawn from observations of hadrons. (Full article...)
Image 12

Tatsuguchi soon after his induction into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941 and his initial assignment to the First Imperial Guard Regiment in Tokyo
Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi (辰口信夫, Tatsuguchi Nobuo), sometimes mistakenly referred to as Nebu Tatsuguchi (August 31, 1911 – May 30, 1943), was a Japanese soldier and surgeon who served in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. He was killed during the Battle of Attu on Attu Island, Alaska, United States, on May 30, 1943. (Full article...)
Image 13
Crater is a small constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. Its name is the latinization of the Greek krater, a type of cup used to water down wine. One of the 48 constellations listed by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy, it depicts a cup that has been associated with the god Apollo and is perched on the back of Hydra the water snake. (Full article...)
Image 14

Map showing location of epicenter of earthquake relative to Ambato; the bullseye is the epicenter; small blue lines are rivers

The 1949 Ambato earthquake was a magnitude 6.4 M_s earthquake that on August 5, 1949, struck Ecuador's Tungurahua Province southeast of its capital Ambato and killed 5,050 people. The nearby villages of Guano, Patate, Pelileo, and Pillaro were destroyed, and the city of Ambato suffered heavy damage. The earthquake flattened buildings and subsequent landslides caused damage throughout the Tungurahua, Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi Provinces. It disrupted water mains and communication lines and opened a fissure into which the small town of Libertad sank. Moderate shaking from the event extended as far away as Quito and Guayaquil. (Full article...)
Image 15

The view across the entrance causeway across the ditch, with the site of the castle behind

Buckton Castle was a medieval enclosure castle near Carrbrook in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England. It was surrounded by a 2.8-metre-wide (9 ft) stone curtain wall and a ditch 10 metres (33 ft) wide by 6 metres (20 ft) deep. Buckton is one of the earliest stone castles in North West England and only survives as buried remains overgrown with heather and peat. It was most likely built and demolished in the 12th century. The earliest surviving record of the site dates from 1360, by which time it was lying derelict. The few finds retrieved during archaeological investigations indicate that Buckton Castle may not have been completed. (Full article...)

Featured pictures

Featured pictures about Science.

Image 1Animation of a water drop, by Chris 73 and Gmaxwell (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 2Total internal reflection, by Jean-Marc Kuffer (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 3Dichroic prism, by XRay (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 4Simulation of liquids with different viscosities, by Synapticrelay (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 5Global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance at Primary production, by SeaWiFS Project (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 6Activation energy, by Debivort (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 7Section of the Large Hadron Collider, by Maximilien Brice (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 8Ice core, by the Greenland Ice Sheet Project (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 9Parallax, by Mila Zinkova (edited by Richard Bartz) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 10Projectile motion of a bouncing ball at Inelastic collision, by MichaelMaggs (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 11Operation Tumbler-Snapper, by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 12Thermite reaction, by Nikthestunned (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 13Plasma globe, by Colin (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 14Refraction in raindrops, by Mila Zinkova (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 15Peruvian Andes at United States Exploring Expedition, by Alfred Thomas Agate (edited by Durova) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 16Wind wave, by Alvesgaspar (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 17Color cathodoluminescence of a diamond, by Pavel.Somov (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 18Warming stripes, by Ed Hawkins (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 19Holdridge life zones, by Peter Halasz (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 20Archaeologists prospecting Santa Ana Cave at Excavation (archaeology), by Mario modesto (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 21Kármán vortex street, by Cesareo de La Rosa Siqueira (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 22Diet Coke and Mentos eruption, by Mikemurphy (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 23Vibrating glass beam at Euler–Bernoulli beam theory, by Ben pcc (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 24Mechanical advantage device, by Prolineserver (edited by Tomia, Ss181292 and Atropos235) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 25Rusty chain, by WikipedianMarlith (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 26Archaeological excavation at Atapuerca Mountains, by Mario modesto (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 27Nobel Prize in Physics diploma, by Sofia Gisberg (restored by Jebulon) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 28Fast breeder reactor, by Graevemoore (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 29Light dispersion, by LucasVB (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 30Translational motion at Thermodynamic temperature, by Greg L (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 31Lorentz transformation of world line, by Cyp (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 32Toroid magnets of the ATLAS detector, by Maximilien Brice, CERN (edited by Bammesk) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 33Oblique shock, by NASA/United States Air Force (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 34Drop impact on a liquid surface, by José Manuel Suárez (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 35Australian Synchrotron, by John O'Neill (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 36Hypervelocity impact demonstration, by NASA (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)
Image 37NASA study on wingtip vortices at Wake turbulence, by Langley Research Center (edited by Fir0002) (from Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Sciences/Others)

Vital articles

Vital articles to understand Science.

Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, and distribution of life. Central to biology are five fundamental themes: the cell as the basic unit of life, genes and heredity as the basis of inheritance, evolution as the driver of biological diversity, energy transformation for sustaining life processes, and the maintenance of internal stability (homeostasis). (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Did you know it about Science?

... that the 1998 cyberpunk short story "CyberJoly Drim" caused a controversy in the Polish science fiction and fantasy community?
... that Cowbridge Girls School, built in 1896, was unusual for its time in providing a science laboratory for the students?
... that Mary Robertson was the first woman to receive a Doctor of Science degree in medicine from the University of Cape Town?
... that a poem by Moses da Rieti includes an encyclopedia of the sciences, a Jewish paradise fantasy, and a post-biblical history of Jewish literature?
... that Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, donated her body to science because "funerals are a bore"?
... that zoologist Olive Swezy appeared in the 1944 American Men of Science?

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Science News

Further information: 2025 in science

23 June 2025 – Middle Eastern crisis: A United Nations fact-finding mission reports that Israeli strikes on Iran’s state broadcasting agency and killing of Iranian nuclear scientists were likely in violation of international humanitarian law. (Al Jazeera)
13 June 2025 – Middle Eastern crisis: Israel also launches targeted assassination strikes against senior Iranian government officials, Iranian military leadership and senior nuclear scientists. (Reuters)
16 April 2025 –: A colossal squid is filmed in the Southern Atlantic Ocean for the first time since the species was discovered in 1925. The 30 cm (12 in)-long juvenile was filmed by a team of scientists led by the University of Essex near the South Sandwich Islands at a depth of 600 m (2,000 ft). (BBC News)
14 April 2025 – Blue Origin NS-31: A Blue Origin New Shepard launch vehicle makes a brief sub-orbital spaceflight, carrying six female space tourists, marking the first all-female spacecraft since 1963's Vostok 6 which had Valentina Tereshkova as the pilot and the spacecraft's sole passenger. (NPR) (USA Today)

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