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Meteorite found in a drawer at university contains 700-million-year-old evidence of water on Mars
By Stephanie Pappas published
The Lafayette meteorite was discovered in a drawer at Purdue University in 1931, with no clear indication of how it got there. A new analysis of the rock reveals evidence of liquid water on Mars 742 million years ago.
Severe COVID-19 may shrink cancer tumors, early data suggest
By Julie Goldenberg published
Immune cells produced during severe COVID-19 infection may shrink tumors. The unexpected mechanism offers a new therapeutic possibility for advanced and treatment-resistant cancers.
The best value rowing machine we've ever tested now has a $101 saving in this early Black Friday deal
By Rich Owen published
Deals The budget-friendly ProForm 750R rowing machine is even better value than ever with this price cut.
35,000-year-old saber-toothed kitten with preserved whiskers pulled from permafrost in Siberia
By Sascha Pare published
Researchers have analyzed mummified remains pulled from Siberia's permafrost in 2020 and determined they belong to a 3-week-old saber-toothed kitten that died at least 35,000 years ago.
'Another piece of the puzzle': Antarctica's 1st-ever amber fossil sheds light on dinosaur-era rainforest that covered South Pole 90 million years ago
By Harry Baker published
Until now, Antarctica was the only continent on Earth without any known amber fossils. But sediment cores taken from below the seafloor have revealed a tiny piece of fossilized resin holding fragments of an ancient rainforest that covered the South Pole during the Cretaceous period.
Save $110 on these amazing stargazing binoculars at Amazon
By Kimberley Lane published
Deals Explore the skies for less with the Celestron SkyMaster Pro 20x80 at their lowest price since February — now $210 ahead of Black Friday
Mass child sacrifices in 15th-century Mexico were a desperate attempt to appease rain god and end devastating drought
By Ben Turner published
The sacrifice of at least 42 children in Tenochtitlán, now Mexico City, was an effort to calm the anger of the Aztec rain god during a devastating drought, researchers have revealed.
World's biggest coral — so big it can be seen from space — discovered by chance off Solomon Islands
By Jacklin Kwan published
The world's biggest coral — an organism made up of about a billion polyps — is about three times bigger than the previous record-holder and was discovered by chance during an expedition off the Solomon Islands.
'It invites us to reconsider our notion of shadow': Laser beams can actually cast their own shadows, scientists discover
By Skyler Ware published
After discussing the quirks in 3D modeling software, where a laser beam is treated as a solid object that can cast a shadow, scientists decided to experiment in real life — and found that laser beams can indeed cast a shadow under the right conditions.
El Ojo: The mysterious floating island in Argentina's swampland that looks like a perfectly round eye
By Sascha Pare published
Argentina's El Ojo is said to harbor UFOs and the ghosts of ancient deities, but as far as scientists can tell, the island is simply a fluke of nature that formed through erosion and water currents.
Where do fast radio bursts come from? Astronomers tie mysterious eruptions to massive galaxies .
By Sharmila Kuthunur published
Fast radio bursts — powerful and poorly understood cosmic eruptions — tend to occur in massive galaxies that host long-dead stars known as magnetars, a new study suggests.
'Unique and extreme': James Webb telescope detects possible alien world bubbling over with volcanoes
By Agnibha Banerjee published
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have detected possible signs of gases released by volcanic activity on a distant exoplanet.
Rare gladiator-shaped knife handle discovered by Hadrian's Wall
By Margherita Bassi published
It's rare to find gladiator memorabilia from Roman Britain, but archaeologists by Hadrian's Wall have just found a 2,000-year-old knife handle depicting a left-handed fighter.
Declassified spy satellite images reveal 1,400-year-old battle site in Iraq that set off the Muslim conquest
By Sierra Bouchér published
Historical texts that mentioned details about the battle site helped researchers match the images to the lost town of al-Qadisiyyah.
'The bottom line is, I told you so': JWST observations upend standard model of how galaxies form, new study claims
By Ben Turner published
The James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of unusually bright and massive galaxies soon after the Big Bang has cast doubt on the standard model of galaxy evolution and bolstered a rival theory for how physics may work on large scales, according to a team of astronomers.
We've been wrong about Uranus for nearly 40 years, new analysis of Voyager 2 data reveals
By Ben Turner last updated
Voyager 2's 1986 flyby of Uranus, the main source of our knowledge of the icy planet, could have come at the same time as a weird plasma burst from the sun.
James Webb Space Telescope discovers mysterious 'red monster' galaxies so large they shouldn't exist
By Ben Turner published
The James Webb telescope has spotted three gigantic "red monster" galaxies that were spawned soon after the Big Bang. They're so large they could rewrite the laws of galactic evolution.
It would be easier to find aliens in a parallel universe than in our own, new multiverse study claims
By Harry Baker published
A new model based on the famous alien-hunting Drake equation suggests that some parallel universes within the hypothetical "multiverse" could have higher chances of containing extraterrestrial life than our universe.
Teen sickened with Canada's first human case of bird flu is in critical condition — and the source remains a mystery
By Stephanie Pappas published
A teenager in Canada is critically ill with the country's first human case of H5N1 bird flu. Health officials aren't sure how the youth was exposed.
'Edge of chaos' neuroscience theory could lead to superfast computing chips that behave like superconductors
By Skyler Ware published
By tapping into the enigmatic theory of how neurons transmit signals, scientists have proven they can one day build computer chips with near-zero electrical resistance.
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