Brigid Lynch, a scientist who studies the Earth’s surface, was walking through a preserve in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) in San Mateo County when she came across an important find: a giant Ice Age tooth. Lynch was working in a stream bed on a field study for the threatened California red-legged frog … Read more
A “forbidden” merger between two massive black holes may not have been as impossible as previously thought. This is according to new research that suggests the black holes involved were smaller than expected. On November 23, 2023, the gravitational wave detector LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory) detected small ripples in space-time caused by the … Read more
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — The two NASA astronauts who led the launch of Artemis II to the moon this year are stepping away from spaceflight. NASA announced Wednesday that Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will no longer serve as active astronauts, but will continue to support the lunar exploration program as … Read more
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The two NASA astronauts who led the launch of Artemis II to the moon earlier this year are stepping away from spaceflight. NASA announced Wednesday that Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover will no longer serve as active astronauts, but will continue to support the lunar exploration program … Read more
In 2025, researchers used protein analysis to show that a jawbone recovered from ocean sediments off the coast of Taiwan belonged to a Denisovan. Credit: Yousuke Kaifu An abandoned quarry in southwestern China has given scientists a portal to the Stone Age. The site’s trove of fossils and artifacts offers an unprecedented glimpse into the … Read more
Archaeologists excavating a cave in southwestern China have unearthed fossilized remains that belonged to an enigmatic population of extinct hominids, revealing new details about their long-lost way of life. The new haul, which includes four teeth, part of an arm bone and two skull fragments, brings the total number of known fossils of these mysterious … Read more
Neanderthals and Denisovans are among our closest extinct human relatives, but there is still a lot we don’t know about this ancient relative of ours, but new research may help us take the next step. Today, research teams based primarily in China published two papers in Nature detailing the discovery and analysis of Denisovan remains … Read more
China is advancing its Tianwen 3 Mars sample return mission, which aims to bring approximately 500 grams (17.6 ounces) of Red Planet collectibles back to Earth in 2031. According to the China National Space Administration, the Tianwen 3 mission will have a lander, an ascender, a service capsule, an orbiter, and an Earth reentry module. … Read more
The expected Christmas greeting from Beagle 2 never arrived. The British-led lander was due to reach Mars on December 25, 2003 and then transmit from the surface. As no signal arrived, the silence left several possible failures unresolved: entry into the atmosphere, descent, landing or the steps necessary to begin operating later. The images announced … Read more
A small magnet floating above a superconductor has given physicists a way to test an unusually heavy set of dark matter candidates. The detector did not identify dark matter. What it showed was that a small mechanical sensor, kept exceptionally quiet and monitored for long enough, could investigate masses far beyond the reach of previous … Read more