Science

The stripes on Perseverance’s parachute were mostly there so engineers could see how the canopy was oriented, but the pattern also hid a message in binary, and the internet decoded it within hours of the landing — a motto, and a set of coordinates pointing at a spot on Earth

The stripes on Perseverance's parachute were mostly there so engineers could see how the canopy was oriented, but the pattern also hid a message in binary, and the internet decoded it within hours of the landing — a motto, and a set of coordinates pointing at a spot on Earth

A parachute about 70 feet wide has to open faster than the speed of sound in the thin air of Mars. When the first images appear, you will need to quickly answer a simple question: is the canopy positioned as it should or is it crooked? A white parachute is much less useful for that. … Read more

Perseid meteor shower: California astronomer on best peak viewing time

Perseid meteor shower: California astronomer on best peak viewing time

The Perseid meteor shower streaks across the Bay Area sky in August 2020, as seen from the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland. The annual summer extravaganza will peak Wednesday night through Thursday. Courtesy of Rick Taft A dazzling summer meteor shower will peak on a moonless night this week, lighting up the night … Read more

In 2017, a young woman glanced at a solar eclipse for only a handful of seconds, and days later doctors found the exact shape of the eclipse burned into the back of her eye. What she began drawing to describe her ruined vision matched that shape almost perfectly.

In 2017, a young woman glanced at a solar eclipse for only a handful of seconds, and days later doctors found the exact shape of the eclipse burned into the back of her eye. What she began drawing to describe her ruined vision matched that shape almost perfectly.

The eclipse of August 21, 2017 was, in the specific sense that interests astronomers, a normal eclipse. It was complete in a narrow strip of the continental United States, from Oregon to South Carolina, and partial in the rest of the country. However, public interest in him was extraordinary. Tens of millions of people bought … Read more

Australian researchers fitted five magpies with GPS trackers to map their movements, but the birds began removing one another’s harnesses within minutes, turning a failed trial into an unexpected observation of cooperation

Australian researchers fitted five magpies with GPS trackers to map their movements, but the birds began removing one another’s harnesses within minutes, turning a failed trial into an unexpected observation of cooperation

Queensland researchers equipped five Australian magpies with small GPS trackers, hoping to map their movements and social relationships. The flock had other plans. Within about ten minutes, an untagged adult female was using her beak to work the harness of a juvenile. The tracker went off. Nearby, another magpie was helping a second bird marked … Read more

Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

A river has my heart. It’s not the austere, black Thames winding through London, where I was born, but a lazy green one 5,000 miles away, where I spent my adolescence: the Blanco River in Texas. My maternal ancestors have dipped into its waters for generations, as I have on countless summer days. The Blanco … Read more

There’s a parasite in the ocean that doesn’t just feed on its host, it becomes part of it — Cymothoa exigua enters a fish through the gills, kills off its tongue by cutting the blood supply, and then attaches itself to the stump, living the rest of its life as the fish’s new, functioning tongue

There's a parasite in the ocean that doesn't just feed on its host, it becomes part of it — Cymothoa exigua enters a fish through the gills, kills off its tongue by cutting the blood supply, and then attaches itself to the stump, living the rest of its life as the fish's new, functioning tongue

Open the mouth of a snapper lying on a fishmonger’s ice and, every so often, something looks back. Not a tongue. A pale, plated crustacean roughly the length of a thumbnail, wedged into the floor of the mouth on seven pairs of hooked legs, sitting exactly where the tongue should be and doing more or … Read more

Scientists exploring the Amazon with Will Smith find huge anaconda

Scientists exploring the Amazon with Will Smith find huge anaconda

Deep in the Amazon, while filming a National Geographic documentary series alongside actor Will Smith, a team of scientists stumbled onto something few ever see: an anaconda stretching a remarkable 7.5 meters. The jungle seldom gives up its secrets, but this discovery illuminated both the immense biodiversity of the rainforest and the growing threats pressing … Read more

Total solar eclipse Aug. 12, 2026 live updates — 2 days to totality

Total solar eclipse Aug. 12, 2026 live updates — 2 days to totality

2026-08-10T09:45:55.037Z Greetings from East Greenland – Weather prospects are not looking promising for eclipse day If only we could bring this good weather with us for eclipse day. (Image credit: Daisy Dobrijevic/Future) Good morning space fans! What a beautiful start to the day here in East Greenland. If only we could bring this good weather … Read more