Research, climate change, and environmental issues.
On a cold March night in 2024, the Martian sky lit up—and NASA’s Perseverance rover caught it on camera. What it saw made history: the first visible-light auroras ever recorded from the surface of another planet. The event wasn’t a fluke. A solar storm had been brewing. The Sun launched a massive coronal mass ejection,…
Chimpanzees in Uganda’s Budongo Forest have been seen applying medicinal plants not just to heal their own wounds but also to care for the wounds of other group members. This extraordinary behavior, similar to primitive first aid, illuminates the ancient roots of health care and healing among human ancestors, a new study in Frontiers in…
Each month, a global network of Indigenous scientists logs into Zoom. These informal meetings usually feel like a catch-up among friends. But this February, the mood was different. Fear and urgency took over. “There was this cascade,” said Max Liboiron, a Métis scientist and professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. “Everyone in the US was…
A team of scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, India, and Saudi Arabia has identified 26 previously unknown bacterial species living inside NASA’s cleanrooms. These rooms are designed to be nearly sterile, yet these resilient microbes have managed to thrive, and they may offer major clues about surviving in space. The study was published in the journal…
An online study has shown a disturbing increase in online abuse of some of the most marginalized young people in low and middle-income countries. They include sex workers, gay men, trans people, and those living with HIV. The abuse includes blackmail and harassment to threats, and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Experts caution that…
A Soviet spacecraft launched more than five decades ago finally came crashing back to Earth on Saturday, May 11. Known as Kosmos 482, it was part of a failed 1972 mission to Venus that never escaped Earth’s orbit due to a rocket malfunction. Russian space officials confirmed the spacecraft’s reentry and believe it came down over the…
North Korea, long isolated from the world, is now in the spotlight for a lesser-known crisis: its illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. A new study by researchers at University College London (UCL) and partners has found that North Korea is not only ignoring its own conservation laws but is also profiting from the illegal trade of endangered…
On Tuesday night, May 6, SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink satellites into space. The mission, named Starlink 6-93, carried 28 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The rocket lifted off at 9:17 p.m. EDT (0117 GMT on May 7) from Launch Complex 40. This wasn’t just another launch; it marked the…
According to a new scientific study, bee production in Brazil, one of the country’s most powerful economic engines, is emitting over twice the greenhouse gas levels allowed under international climate targets. Published in the journal Environmental Science and Pollution Research, the study estimates that if current trends persist, Brazil’s beef sector would produce between 0.42 and 0.63…
Life on Earth couldn’t exist without heavy metals. These elements are vital from the iron in our blood to the gold in our electronics. But where did they come from? A new study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters finds that some of the universe’s heavy elements, such as gold, platinum, and uranium, possibly came from one…
