From First Principles · Special coverage
Golden Goose Awards 2026
Unexpected beginnings. Extraordinary discoveries.
A noise complaint.
Holiday lights. A coffee stain.
Three unlikely starting points for discoveries that changed how we treat disease, see our planet, and understand the everyday world. Join Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare to explore the science and meet the people behind this year’s awards.
Our coverage
Part 1 · The science
Golden Goose Awards 2026: The Science Behind the Winners (Part 1)
Explore the science behind the 2026 Golden Goose Awards, from ultrasound that destroys tumors to NASA’s night lights and the deep physics of everyday life.
Chapters, transcript & research →Part 2 · The people
Coming soonMeet the minds behind the discoveries.
Conversations with the award-winning researchers and AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh about curiosity, collaboration, and the work that turns unexpected results into lasting discoveries.
Why the award matters
We don’t always know where a good question will lead.
The Golden Goose Award recognizes federally funded research that led to major benefits for society, often through surprising or seemingly unusual beginnings. It celebrates the scientists who followed those questions and the support that made their work possible.
Established in 2012 by a coalition led by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the award grew from an idea championed by former Congressman Jim Cooper: tell the full story of research whose importance may not be obvious at first.
That is what draws us to these stories. A discovery may start with a moment of curiosity, but turning it into something useful takes years of experiments, collaboration, and persistence. Our coverage follows that journey from the ground up.
Meet the awardees
Watch the Golden Goose Award’s documentary portraits, produced by 522 Productions, then explore the science with us.
Watch on YouTube
01 · A noise complaint
Sound that breaks new ground
Zhen Xu
University of Michigan
An unexpected laboratory result helped set researchers on the path to histotripsy: focused ultrasound that creates tiny bubbles to mechanically break apart targeted tissue. Follow the work from a surprising observation toward a new approach to treating liver tumors.
Federal research support
National Institutes of Health · Department of Defense
Watch on YouTube
02 · Holiday lights
A different kind of night vision
NASA’s Black Marble team
NASA
Miguel O. Román, Eleanor Catherine Stokes, Zhuosen Wang, Virginia Kalb, and Ranjay Man Shrestha
A satellite sensor designed to see faint clouds also revealed cities brightening during holidays. The Black Marble team turned nighttime observations into reliable, publicly available data that helps reveal power outages and the uneven course of disaster recovery.
Federal research support
NASA
Watch on YouTube
03 · A coffee stain
Deep physics, hiding in plain sight
Sidney R. Nagel
University of Chicago
Why does coffee dry into a ring? When does sand behave like a liquid, and when does it become rigid? Sidney Nagel’s pursuit of everyday puzzles has revealed fundamental physics, with consequences for how we understand and work with materials.
Federal research support
National Science Foundation · Department of Energy
Keep following the science
There are more stories worth discovering.
Follow the Golden Goose Award for more unexpected discoveries, and AAAS for news and perspectives from the wider scientific community.