Science

Research, discoveries, space, climate, and the evidence behind the headlines.

DWC News status graphic: SpaceX Starship Flight 13 has not launched yet — a July 16 engine-ignition abort, a July 23 weather scrub, and a July 24 target — shown beside the planned flight phases from liftoff to an Indian Ocean splashdown.

DevelopingScience

Did Starship Flight 13 launch? Not yet — an engine abort and a weather scrub push it to July 24

As of July 23, 2026, SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 has not launched. A July 16 attempt aborted at about T-0 when roughly four of the 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite; a second try on July 23 was scrubbed by weather. SpaceX is now targeting Friday, July 24.

July 23, 2026, 6:24 PM ETGraphic: DWC News

DevelopingScience

Brown bullhead catfish tumors in Lake Memphremagog are a contagious cancer, study finds

A Nature study finds the black skin growths on brown bullhead catfish in Lake Memphremagog, on the Vermont–Quebec border, are a transmissible melanoma — a single cancer lineage spreading from fish to fish. It is the first contagious cancer known in any fish, and the fourth in the animal kingdom.

July 23, 2026, 5:43 PM ET

DevelopingScience

The 2026 ‘super El Niño’ forecast: a strong bet for winter, not a done deal

Forecasters put strong odds on a very strong — ‘super’ — El Niño peaking next winter, with a real chance of the strongest on record. But the headline numbers are probabilities, and the raw index overstates it. Here is what is observed versus forecast, and what NOAA’s RONI shows.

July 23, 2026, 5:37 PM ET