Very large things often have small beginnings. That certainly was true for brontotheres, the enormous, rhino-like herbivorous mammals that lumbered across North America and Asia during the Eocene Epoch. Brontotheres started out as dog-size animals, but then most species evolved…
Giant solar balloons were sent 70,000 feet up in the air to record sounds of Earth's stratosphere — and the microphones picked up some unexpected sounds.The stratosphere is the second layer of Earth's atmosphere, and its lower level contains the…
Wildfires raging in Russia's Ural Mountains killed at least 21 people and hospitalized several others, state news agency TASS reported on Thursday, quoting officials.The deaths and injuries were reported in the Kurgan region, on the border between the Urals and…
The window to prevent catastrophic climate change is closing. Concentrations of planet-warming carbon pollution in the air are at their highest level in more than 2 million years -- and the world has yet to even hit peak fossil fuel…
Vast — a California-based startup and one of the newest entrants in the world of privatized spaceflight — plans to use a SpaceX rocket to launch what it hopes to be the world's first commercial space station and ferry passengers…
When the Voyager probes lifted off weeks apart in 1977, no one expected that the twin spacecraft would have their missions extended from four years to 45 years and counting.Now, the mission team is getting creative with its strategies for…
When the crewed Artemis II mission makes its lunar flyby in late 2024, we'll be able to see video of the moon like never before — and it's all thanks to lasers.The Orion spacecraft will launch atop the Space Launch…
What could be a meteorite struck a home in Hopewell Township, New Jersey, authorities said Monday. The metallic object crashed through the roof of a house and ricocheted around a bedroom. No one was in the bedroom at the time…
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the first asteroid belt seen outside of our solar system and unveiled some cosmic surprises along the way.The space observatory focused on the warm dust that encircles Fomalhaut, a young, bright…
A new mission designed to improve hurricane forecasting has launched, just ahead of the June 1 arrival of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.The NASA mission includes a constellation of CubeSats called TROPICS, or Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm…
Sweden has summoned Iran's acting ambassador to protest against the execution of Habib Chaab, a dual Swedish-Iranian national who had been convicted of leading an Arab separatist group accused of attacks."The death penalty is an inhuman and irreversible punishment and…
One of the great rewards for any scientist or researcher is the joy of unexpected discovery.It's the kind of feeling Joseph Botting experienced when he found a piece of rock in 2013 "which had things with tentacles" within it at…
The rival military factions fighting for control in Sudan are to hold face-to-face talks for the first time since fighting began last month.The meeting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is aimed at ending the…
Translucent, fragile marine creatures that drift through the sea are riding the motion of the ocean to a destination that's infamous as a home for trash: the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.Ocean surface currents have shaped the enormous garbage pile for…
Ocean surface heat is at record-breaking levels. Temperatures began climbing in mid-March and skyrocketed over the course of several weeks, leaving scientists scrambling to figure out exactly why.Temperatures have fallen since their peak in April -- as they naturally do…
With bright meteors blazing across the sky from the Aquariids meteor shower and a chance to see a lunar eclipse, Friday will be the time to look up to the sky for a day of spectacular celestial events.Anyone venturing out…
Traces of ancient DNA contained in old bones have spilled fascinating secrets about the past. But extracting genetic material involves a certain amount of damage to the object in question, and many archaeologists have been reluctant to hand over their…
In a world first, scientists have observed the moment that a dying star consumed a planet — a fate that eventually awaits Earth.While astronomers have previously seen planets just before and just after being engulfed by a star, this is…
Traces of ancient hormones were detected in the tusks of a woolly mammoth that lived more than 33,000 years ago, revealing that the now-extinct creatures had episodes of raging testosterone.The findings provide what researchers believe to be the first direct…
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected water vapor around a rocky exoplanet that orbits a star located 26 light-years away from Earth.Now, astronomers are trying to determine whether that water vapor is an indicator of what would be the…
