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This week, we've taken one tantalizing step closer to finding out if there really was life on Mars, after NASA's Perseverance rover uncovered the highest concentration of organic molecules on the Red Planet to date.The data comes from mudstones in Jezero crater, which once hosted a deep lake. Last year, researchers described a piece of rock with patterns resembling those left by microorganisms on Earth as one of the clearest signs yet of past Martian microbes.Now, scientists have confirmed the widespread presence of complex carbon-based molecules in this area of the crater, which they suggest indicate the presence of fossilized microbes.Going even further back in history, new observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have revealed how early galaxies lived fast and died young, offering a possible preview of our own galaxy's death. Elsewhere in space, JWST captured the formation of a distant star, 1,280 light-years away in the constellation Orion, while the Euclid space telescope snapped the most detailed photo of the Milky Way ever taken.Weird human cousin gets even weirder'A weird result from an already weird hominin': Archaeologists discover all Homo naledi skeletons found in South African cave are femaleThe largest (left) and the smallest (right) skulls of Homo naledi found in the Rising Star cave system in South Africa. All specimens of H. naledi have been shown to be female. (Image credit: Rising Star Program)Homo naledi surprised scientists once again this week. Found in a South African cave in 2013, the small-brained, two-legged relative to modern humans is thought to have lived around 300,000 years ago. Since its initial discovery, the enigmatic hominin has shocked scientists with a string of baffling revelations. In 2023, researchers found evidence that H. naledi may have used fire in the cave. This early hominin may also have buried its dead. Now, archaeologists have analyzed genetic material in the enamel of nearly two dozen skeletons at the site and found that they are all female."The bottom line is this is a weird result from an already weird hominin," Elizabeth Sawchuk, curator of human evolution at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email.Discover more archaeology news —Hanging lamp in the form of a sandaled right foot: A 1,600-year-old bronze lamp with multilayered Christian symbolism—Early Homo sapiens may have lived in rainforests, new clues suggest — and it could overturn our understanding of human evolution—Some of the last surviving Neanderthals were remarkably diverse ‪—‬ suggesting inbreeding didn't doom themLife's Little MysteriesHow did the Romans build such straight roads? The remarkably straight Stane Street in southern England was built by the Romans. (Image credit: Tim Stocker Photography via Getty Images)The Romans are known for their transport systems that enabled travel and trade across their enormous empire. Many of these centuries-old streets had a reputation for being extremely straight. Nowadays, building straight roads requires advanced surveying using GPS networks and lasers, as well as careful engineering to flatten the terrain. So how did the Romans do it about 2,000 years before these things were invented?—If you enjoyed this, sign up for our Life's Little Mysteries newsletterWater might be 2 liquidsWater might secretly be a mix of 2 different liquids, scientists sayAn illustration of a water molecule. New research adds credence to a controversial theory that water actually switches between two chemical structures. (Image credit: Yaroslav Kushta via Getty Images)Most of us discount water as the most basic of beverages, but if you look at it at a molecular level, water is actually rather exciting. Think about it: While most liquids are denser in their solid form, water ice floats. That's weird. Water also resists temperature changes better than similar liquids do, and its viscosity decreases under certain pressures. Some scientists have hypothesized that these weird behaviors come about because water consists of not one, but two liquids ‪—‬ a dense one and a less-dense one that constantly switch places. Now, with the help of AI, we have proof of this weirdness. Discover more weird news —We've spent decades looking for the wrong type of alien radio signals, new paper claims — and there's an easy way to fix it—'Weirdos of the sperm whale world' appear to be evolving 2 different dialects, audio recordings suggest—China's Einstein Probe detected a mysterious cosmic explosion — and scientists have no idea what caused itAlso in science news this week—The US just approved bemotrizinol, a sunscreen ingredient long used in Asia and Europe. Here's how it works.—'You can't patch your way out of it': Cheap AI worm can spread between devices without human guidance — but how did scientists create it?—Water shortages could prevent the US from mining more lithium, deepening reliance on foreign imports—Diagnostic dilemma: After taking a medicine for years, a man suddenly had weird changes in his taste that made food disgustingScience Spotlight'If there's any country that will do it, it's China': Why is China diverting some of the world's mightiest rivers thousands of miles?People in China's northern megacities have 74 times less fresh water than the average American — so the Chinese government has built the world's largest water diversion project. (Image credit: Xinmei Liu for Live Science)People in China's northern megacities have 74 times less fresh water availability than the average American. But China boasts some of the largest rivers in Asia that flow farther south, along with massive water reserves in glaciers in the west. To address this imbalance, the Chinese government has built the world's largest water diversion project, ferrying water from the Yangtze River in the country's center and south over thousands of miles through a complex system of canals, pipes, dams, reservoirs and pumps. And yet, this is still not enough to satisfy the water needs of the country's thirsty North. Now, China is expanding these routes and planning a third, western route for the project, which will be the most dangerous and ambitious route yet. Beyond diverting the country's rivers, China is also building the world's largest dam in an earthquake-prone region in Tibet and has invested heavily in creating a permanent "sky river" to help solve the country's water crisis. Something for the weekendIf you're looking for things to keep you busy over the weekend, here are some of the best news analyses, crosswords, interviews, opinion pieces and quizzes published this week.—9 of the best technology conspiracy theories [Countdown]— AI companies don't want to be legally responsible for their chatbots. US courts should make them. [Opinion]—Live Science crossword puzzle #49: 'Short' tempered French emperor — 13 across [Crossword]— Ancient empires quiz: Can you match these lands to the historical powers that ruled them? [Quiz]—60 million stars: Euclid space telescope snaps the most detailed photo of the Milky Way ever taken [Skywatching]Science in picturesNASA satellite captures wave of warm water hundreds of miles long that signals a devastatingly strong El NiñoA wave of warm water and higher-than-usual sea surfaces (red) stretches across the Pacific, a few days before El Niño was declared. (Image credit: Data for the map were acquired by the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite and processed by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).NASA Earth Observatory/Lauren Dauphin)New satellite imagery shows a wave of warm water stretching across the Pacific Ocean in a dramatic illustration of the newly declared El Niño. The image shows a red wave as it streaks across the equator and piles up around the west coast of South America.Ocean patterns like this are known as Kelvin waves. They occur when winds in the Pacific Ocean near the equator temporarily reverse and blow from west to east. This enables warm water to gradually build up in the east,preventing cold waters from rising below.The wave was spotted by NASA's Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, which measures ocean temperatures through radar scans of changes in sea surface height, caused by heat's expansionary effects upon water. The satellite has already observed several other Kelvin waves this year in anticipation of El Niño.Follow Live Science on social mediaWant more science news? Follow our Live Science WhatsApp Channel for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp we're also on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Flipboard, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and LinkedIn.

A photograph of Earth glowing in deep space, the moon's cratered horizon stretching across its foreground, caught many people's eyes in April 2026. Astronauts captured the image while aboard NASA's Artemis II mission, and like the famous Apollo 8 "Earthrise" image, the picture felt instantly real and inspiring for many.But when almost anyone can fabricate a visually similar image in seconds from a text prompt using artificial intelligence, how do people decide which image is real?The proliferation of AI-generated science images in public spaces is not simply a misinformation problem. As a researcher who studies visual science communication and public trust, I believe it also contributes to a crisis of trust in science in the age of AI, and the tools scientists have long relied on to establish visual credibility are losing their grip.AI-generated images infiltrate scienceAI tools are already changing how scientific visuals are created, shared and publicized.Researchers use them to generate illustrations, create synthetic data, edit lab images and produce materials for education and public outreach.While AI can help scientists communicate complicated ideas more creatively and efficiently, these same tools blur the lines between illustration, enhancement and fabrication.In 2024, two papers were retracted after publishing AI-generated figures posessing biologically impossible structures. In April 2026, the New England Journal of Medicine retracted a paper after discovering that a clinical image had been manipulated with AI. These are just cases that came to mass public attention and are likely just the tip of the iceberg. Researchers have warned that AI-generated visuals pose growing threats in fields that depend heavily on visual evidence, such as materials science.NEJM Images in Clincal Medicine from last week retracted due to AI image manipulation. Look at the numbers on the ruler🤦🏻‍♂️https://t.co/lafNw15Kao pic.twitter.com/c66u5ZX8PkMay 2, 2026Academic publishers are beginning to adopt AI-detection tools. However, systems designed to detect fake images will almost always lag behind systems designed to create them. Many detectors can identify only image patterns they were trained to recognize. As new AI models emerge, developers must constantly obtain new data and retrain detectors to catch up.The biggest concern are realistic-looking visuals that subtly distort scientific details while remaining believable enough to pass initial review.Trust in scientific imagesFor decades, scientific images carried authority partly because they were difficult to produce. Creating microscope images, climate graphs and space photographs required expensive equipment, institutional resources and specialized expertise. Most people assumed such images represented true observations because very few people could make them.Research in science communication, including my own, suggests that people judge scientific visuals using a few mental shortcuts. Does the image look technically sophisticated? Does it come from a trusted institution? Does it match what I already believe? Generative AI is undermining all three of these heuristics, or mental shortcuts.Today, anyone can create a polished, scientific-looking image from a text prompt. Images are also detached from their original source when circulating online. When visual quality and institutional attribution become unreliable cues for judging the credibility of science images, people tend to fall back on something else: their own prior beliefs.This image of the Earth taken from the Artemis II mission in April 2026 is very much real. Does everyone believe it? (Image credit: NASA)As a result, authentic scientific images that challenge someone's existing beliefs can now be dismissed as AI-generated, whereas fabricated images that confirm them are easily accepted as evidence. AI, in this way, may amplify motivated reasoning — that is, people's tendency to accept what they already agree with and question what they do not.This shift matters because visuals have long served as evidence for scientific claims. Nonexpert audiences rely on images not only to see what scientists have discovered but also to develop an emotional connection and perceive credibility in the science being presented.If audiences stop trusting visual evidence altogether, science loses one of its most powerful tools for public communication.Transparency, not restrictionAI tools offer real benefits for researchers communicating their work to diverse audiences. The challenge is using these tools without quietly transferring AI's credibility deficit onto the science the images are meant to convey.One practical path forward is for researchers to treat image provenance — where an image came from and how it was created — with the same seriousness they already apply to data provenance.Scientists routinely disclose funding resources, study methodologies and conflicts of interest. Similar standards may now be necessary for scientific images. Was AI used to generate or modify this image? Is it a direct observation, a simulation or an illustration? What exactly does the image represent, and how was it verified? Can it be replicated by other researchers?My colleagues and I found that people's familiarity with AI significantly shapes how they judge the credibility of AI-generated visuals. Those familiar with AI tools were more likely to view AI disclosure as a sign of transparency, and some rated clearly labeled AI-generated content as more credible than unlabeled content.Transparency gives audiences the necessary context to evaluate what they are seeing, but it may not resolve every dispute about how images are made. Responsible use of AI-generated scientific images will require honesty, adherence to professional norms and the collective development of evidence-based standards across fields.Why authentic images remain powerfulThe original Apollo 8 "Earthrise" photograph of 1968 carries significant emotional impact. So do the Artemis II images of 2026.What makes them meaningful is not simply their beauty. It is their traceable connection to scientific reality. When people look at these photographs of planets, they also know there are astronauts, physical cameras, documented missions and verifiable observations behind the images. In this sense, authenticity is a documented relationship between an image and the world.In the age of generative AI, scientific institutions can no longer assume audiences will automatically trust their visuals. Trust now depends on transparency, documentation and clear communication about how visual evidence is produced.Without guidelines and standards, science risks entering a world where every image can be questioned and no image carries inherent credibility.This edited article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.