Today's biggest science news: X-class solar flares | Chernobyl fungus | Modern humans interbred with 'hobbits'

Monday, Dec. 1, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Here's the biggest science news you need to know.

• Mould discovered at the site of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster could be feeding on radiation. Scientists want to use it to shield astronauts from cosmic rays.
• An X2 class solar flare hit Earth last night, with more flares and a coronal mass ejection likely on the way.
• Modern humans arrived in Australia 60,000 years ago and may have interbred with archaic humans such as 'hobbits'.

Latest science news

Live Science roundup

Here are some of the best stories Live Science published this morning and over the weekend:

• 'Potentially hazardous' asteroid 2024 YR4 was Earth's first real-life planetary defense test
• Roman sun hat: A 'very rare' 1,600-year-old brimmed cap that may have protected a Roman soldier from Egyptian sandstorms
• Antarctica's Southern Ocean might be gearing up for a thermal 'burp' that could last a century
• Time may be a psychological projection, philosopher argues

Solar flares corrupt airplanes

How much disruption can space weather really cause? Surprisingly, the answer is a lot — just ask Airbus.

Solar eruptions can grow to truly catastrophic scales, having the potential to wreak havoc on electrical systems and Earth-orbiting satellites.

Even aircraft aren’t immune from geomagnetic storms, as news broke over the weekend that aircraft manufacturer Airbus has recalled thousands of its A320 passenger jets owing to a fault that enabled intense solar radiation to "corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls", Gizmodo reports.

The A320 is the most delivered jetliner in history, and the recall has severely impacted some airlines such as Colombia’s Avianca, which said the issue had affected 70% of its fleet.

And as solar activity continues to unexpectedly ramp up in its activity for the next few decades, the issues posed by it are only likely to get worse.

Good morning, sunshine

Welcome back, science fans. We’re here with news of fresh geomagnetic storms, as Earth was hit by one solar flare last night and many more — alongside a coronal mass ejection — appear to be in the offing.

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are large, fast-moving clouds of magnetized plasma that occasionally get spat out into space by the sun alongside solar flares — powerful explosions on our star's surface triggered when solar magnetic loops snap in half like an overstretched elastic band.

Last night’s flare was a surprise, spaceweather.com reports, coming from a new sunspot on the sun’s northern surface that appeared to be harmless until it exploded. The flare ionized the Earth’s atmosphere and caused a radio blackout over Australia.

With multiple more sunspots appearing on the sun’s surface, it could be a busy week for solar storms, potentially bringing more disruption in space and auroras here on Earth.

1. 1Today's biggest science news: X-class solar flares | Chernobyl fungus | Modern humans interbred with 'hobbits'
2. 215,000 Amazon reviews can't be wrong (including ours). This astronaut star projector makes the perfect gift for young space fans at under $30 for Cyber Monday
3. 3Last chance to snap up the Oura Ring Gen 4 at its lowest-ever price
4. 47 Cyber Monday binocular deals to avoid (and 7 we think you should buy)
5. 5Deep sky imaging, simplified. If you've got cash to drop on your own home observatory, you could save this Cyber Monday.