Research, climate change, and environmental issues.
For years, scientists believed that massive, meat-eating reptiles called sebecids disappeared from the planet around 11 million years ago. But fresh fossil finds from the Dominican Republic challenge that timeline and put the Caribbean back on the prehistoric map. Sebecids are not average crocodiles. They were built more like greyhounds than swamp lurkers. These creatures…
A fossilized humerus bone discovered three decades ago in southeastern Australia is rewriting scientists’ knowledge on how the world’s most bizarre mammals, echidnas and platypuses, developed. Echidnas were long regarded as land-dwellers only, but they could have inherited a semi-aquatic ancestor from the platypus, suggests new research coordinated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW). The research, in…
Filoviruses are perhaps the most deadly pathogens ever known to science. And even though decades have passed since the Marburg virus was first found in 1967 and the initial Ebola outbreak occurred in 1976, still much of this deadly virus family is not known. Filoviruses are thought to have crossed from animals to humans, perhaps…
Air quality in the United States has gotten much better over time, resulting in improved health and fewer asthma attacks. Yet almost half of all Americans continue to breathe unhealthy air, a new report from the American Lung Association says. Despite sustained efforts over the years, the report pinpoints that 156 million Americans still live…
A new archaeological study suggests Britain’s Pagan roots endured longer than previously thought, thanks to surprising finds in East Anglia. A Hoard with Hidden Stories A stash of Roman-era jewelry and silverware found in Thetford Forest, East Anglia, is challenging long-held beliefs about the spread of Christianity in Britain. According to a new paper published…
In 2024, over 50 million Americans resided in counties where there was no air-quality monitoring, a new study released in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports. Researchers at Penn State University caution that the gap leaves millions without the benefit of real-time data about whether or not the air they breathe is…
While most people spend their 70th birthday with cake and candles, Don Pettit celebrated his in zero gravity, returning to Earth from a seven-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Homecoming from the Stars Don Pettit, the oldest active astronaut at NASA, came down Sunday in Kazakhstan, Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner,…
Scientists studying a distant exoplanet say they’ve found what could be the strongest sign of alien life yet, a molecule that, on Earth, is only made by living organisms. The planet in question, K2-18b, is 120 light-years away and orbits a star in the constellation Leo. Its atmosphere, as indicated by a recently released research…
Crocodiles can appear as dinosaur relics, yet their survival saga is anything but static. The ancestors of modern crocodilians survived two of the most destructive mass extinction events on Earth, and their key to survival was adaptability, according to a recent study headed by the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) and the University of Utah….
A dangerous sandstorm raged through central and southern Iraq on Monday, taking more than 1,800 to hospitals with breathing difficulties, health officials said. The storm, which was the most severe of the year, also prompted authorities to close airports temporarily and greatly lowered visibility in the affected areas. Widespread Respiratory Emergencies Hospitals in Muthanna province…
