Fleshing out the bones of Quetzalcoatlus, Earth"s largest flier ever
Look around any wetland today and you're likely to see 3-foot-tall egrets or 4-foot-tall herons wading in the shallows in stealthy search of fish, insects or crustaceans......»»
Experiment reveals how Earth"s magnetic field influences flow in planet"s core
A trio of physicists, two with Coventry University, in the U.K., and the third with Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses, in France, has demonstrated how Earth's magnetic field may be influencing internal flow, using what they descri.....»»
Ancient unicellular organism indicates embryonic development might have existed prior to animals" evolution
Chromosphaera perkinsii is a single-celled species discovered in 2017 in marine sediments around Hawaii. The first signs of its presence on Earth have been dated at over a billion years, well before the appearance of the first animals......»»
Making farming better for bees: Can we breed crops that produce more nectar and pollen?
Where once there were vast areas of forest and other natural habitats, farmland now covers much of Earth—including 70% of the UK. This transition has helped feed a growing number of people......»»
New report details what happened to the Arecibo Observatory
In 1963, the Arecibo Observatory became operational on the island of Puerto Rico. Measuring 305 meters (~1000 ft) in diameter, Arecibo's spherical reflector dish was the largest radio telescope in the world at the time—a record it maintained until.....»»
Microbial slime: The ultimate system to understand our planet
Billions of years ago, Earth was home to extreme environments, including intense UV radiation, frequent volcanic eruptions, and very high concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Yet, under these conditions, biofilms formed and within thes.....»»
Earth 2 at 30: A look back at NBC’s big swing at sci-fi in the early ’90s
A long-forgotten sci-fi series premiered on NBC 30 years ago this month, but it paved the way for some of the shows that came after it......»»
Anthropic’s Haiku 3.5 surprises experts with an “intelligence” price increase
Anthropic’s smallest AI model now beats its older largest LLM, Opus, at some tasks. On Monday, Anthropic launched the latest version of its smallest AI model, Claude 3.5 Haiku,.....»»
"The nastiest soils on Earth" are getting recognized as a bigger problem
Acid sulfate soils are characterized by their orange hue and their tendency to kill surrounding vegetation and fish. Anders Johnson's extensive research along Sweden's coastline reveals the widespread presence of these soils, underscoring their signi.....»»
Testing thousands of RNA enzymes helps find first "twister ribozyme" in mammals
The "RNA world" hypothesis proposes that the earliest life on Earth may have been based on RNA—a single-stranded molecule similar in many ways to DNA—like some modern viruses. This is because, like DNA, RNA can carry genetic information, but, lik.....»»
Earth underwent a massive, rapid melting period after the last global ice age, new study suggests
At the end of the last global ice age, the deep-frozen Earth reached a built-in limit of climate change and thawed into a slushy planet. Results from a Virginia Tech-led study provide the first direct geochemical evidence of the slushy planet—other.....»»
Next-generation space materials blast off for tests on ISS
A new generation of space materials left Earth on November 5 as they head to the International Space Station (ISS) to undergo testing in the brutal conditions of low Earth orbit......»»
Moon waves goodbye to Hera
As ESA's Hera mission for planetary defense departed its homeworld, it looked back to Earth to show the moon orbiting around it. In this sequence of images the terrestrial disk gradually shrinks as the spacecraft recedes away from it, and the moon mo.....»»
Portal to the past: Geologist identifies metamorphic rock as a crucial feature of the ancient Earth"s carbon cycle
If Earth's history were a calendar year, humans would not appear until the last few minutes before midnight on Dec. 31. During the Proterozoic Eon—2.5 billion years to 543 million years ago—the sun was still a young star, much dimmer than today,.....»»
Dams have taken half the water from Australia"s second biggest river—and climate change will make it even worse
The largest wetland on Australia's second longest river, the Murrumbidgee in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, is drying up. This is bad news for the plants, animals and people who rely on the vast Lowbidgee Floodplain. So it's important to understa.....»»
Apophis: A new European space mission could get up close with a large asteroid that"s set to brush by Earth
The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for initial work on a mission to visit an asteroid called (99942) Apophis. If approved at a key meeting next year, the robotic spacecraft, known as the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses),.....»»
China space station crew returns to Earth after 6 months in space
Three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth on Monday after a six-month stay on the Tiangong space station, part of China's effort to be a global leader in space exploration......»»
Fossil of huge terror bird offers new information about wildlife in South America 12 million years ago
Researchers including a Johns Hopkins University evolutionary biologist report they have analyzed a fossil of an extinct giant meat-eating bird—which they say could be the largest known member of its kind—providing new information about animal li.....»»
Chinese space station crew returns after six months in orbit
A three-person Chinese crew returned to Earth early Monday after more than six months aboard the Tiangong space station, state news agency Xinhua reported......»»
Geodynamic mantle-flow model explains deformation of continental crust block in North China
Cratons are fascinating yet enigmatic geological formations. Known to be relatively stable portions of the Earth's continental crust, cratons have remained largely unchanged for billions of years. Although cratons have survived many geological events.....»»
Report reveals how the state of our oceans is intrinsically linked to human health
A study published in the journal One Earth explores how marine biodiversity conservation, human health and well-being are connected. The results suggest that marine protected areas can be good for both planet and people......»»