New evidence found for Planet 9
A small team of planetary scientists from the California Institute of Technology, Université Côte d'Azur and Southwest Research Institute reports possible new evidence of Planet 9. They have published their paper on the arXiv preprint server, and i.....»»
The other greenhouse gases warming the planet
While carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the best known greenhouse gas, several others, including methane and nitrous oxide, are also driving global warming and altering the Earth's climate......»»
Research suggests Earth"s oldest continental crust is disintegrating
Earth's continental configurations have changed dramatically over its billions of years' history, transforming not only their positions across the planet, but also their topography as expansion and contraction of the crust made a mark on the landscap.....»»
New study eases concerns over possible "doomsday" asteroid swarm
Astronomers have good news about potentially hazardous asteroids lurking near our planet: There aren't as many as we thought......»»
Curiosity rover provides new insights into how Mars became uninhabitable
NASA's Curiosity rover, currently exploring Gale crater on Mars, is providing new details about how the ancient Martian climate went from potentially suitable for life—with evidence for widespread liquid water on the surface—to a surface that is.....»»
Sacrificial burial confirms Scythians" eastern origins
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence for sacrificial funerary rituals at the Early Iron Age burial mound of Tunnug 1 in Tuva, Siberia, indicating that the horse-riding Scythian culture, best-known from Eastern Europe, originated far to the east......»»
Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time, but designing the reactors that would power them isn"t easy
NASA plans to send crewed missions to Mars over the next decade—but the 140 million-mile (225 million-kilometer) journey to the red planet could take several months to years round trip......»»
New article provides orientation to using implementation science in policing
Since the 2020 murder by Minneapolis police of George Floyd brought nationwide calls for change amid concerns that prevailing practices were not grounded in evidence and created harm, policing has been in turmoil. Implementation science (IS) involves.....»»
OpenAI secures $6.6 billion in latest funding round
Thanks to $6.6 billion in funding from the likes of Microsoft and Nvidia with a $157 billion valuation, OpenAI is now one of the wealthiest private enterprises on the planet......»»
2-billion-year-old rock could help understand very early life on Earth and the hunt for evidence of life on Mars
Pockets of microbes have been found living within a sealed fracture in a 2-billion-year-old rock. The rock was excavated from the Bushveld Igneous Complex in South Africa, an area known for its rich ore deposits. This is the oldest example of living.....»»
Lunar mission data analysis finds widespread evidence of ice deposits
Deposits of ice in lunar dust and rock (regolith) are more extensive than previously thought, according to a new analysis of data from NASA's LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) mission. Ice would be a valuable resource for future lunar expeditions. W.....»»
The medicines we take to stay healthy are harming nature. Here"s what needs to change
Evidence is mounting that modern medicines present a growing threat to ecosystems around the world. The chemicals humans ingest to stay healthy are harming fish and other animals......»»
Mercury"s magnetic landscape mapped in 30 minutes
As BepiColombo sped past Mercury during its June 2023 flyby, it encountered a variety of features in the tiny planet's magnetic field. These measurements provide a tantalizing taste of the mysteries that the mission is set to investigate when it arri.....»»
Supercharged storms: how climate change amplifies cyclones
From Hurricane Helene to Typhoon Yagi, powerful storms are battering the globe, and scientists warn that a warming planet is amplifying their destructive force to unprecedented levels......»»
Researchers develop Biodiversity Digital Twins to model our planet"s life
Biodiversity is essential for the processes that support all life on Earth. It provides critical resources such as food and energy, and supports ecosystem health. However, climate change, deforestation, and pollution are destroying habitats, altering.....»»
Monkey fossils found in cave shed light on the animals" extinction centuries ago
By studying rare fossils of jaws and other skull parts of a long-extinct Caribbean monkey, a team of researchers that includes a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professor says it has uncovered new evidence documenting the anatomy and ecol.....»»
Q&A: Researchers examine link between light pollution and interest in astronomy
Picture walking outside on a dark, cloudless evening. You look up to admire the stars—maybe even a planet, if you're lucky—and a sense of wonder washes over you. New research from the University of Washington shows this might be more than a memor.....»»
Influence of a black hole"s spin: First evidence of precession in ultraluminous accretion disks
Gas swirls around a black hole due to its intense gravity, forming an accretion disk. These accretion disks, being among the most efficient energy conversion mechanisms in the universe, emit light and plasma jets. When a black hole spins on its axis,.....»»
Fires taking Amazon closer to "point of no return": Expert
A year ago, Carlos Nobre, one of Brazil's top climate scientists, was a rare voice of optimism about the future of the planet......»»
Research highlights global plant diversity "darkspots" where scientific efforts are urgently needed
An ambitious project led by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, along with global partners, seeks to shed light on the planet's "plant diversity darkspots"—regions teeming with biodiversity but where geographic and taxonomic data remain.....»»
NASA"s instruments capture sharpest image of Earth"s radiation belts
From Aug. 19–20, ESA's (European Space Agency's) Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) mission made history with a daring lunar-Earth flyby and double gravity assist maneuver, a spaceflight first. As the spacecraft zipped past our moon and home planet.....»»