For decades, scientists have been studying intriguing “gravity holes,” which are enormous depressions in the Earth’s crust where the effects of gravity are significantly lower than average. It’s an especially pertinent phenomenon in the Antarctic, a region that has seen significant changes not just due to global warming, but far longer-term climate changes spanning tens
The Cambrian period is most famously remembered as an era of biological experimentation, with bizarre creatures such as Hallucigenia, whose body resembled anti-bird spikes, and Wiwaxia, which looked like a medieval flail come to life. But the Cambrian should also be remembered as a time when shit got extremely real for fish. If life in
NASA has officially categorized the 2024 failure of the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which stranded astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore on the International Space Station (ISS) for nine months, as a Type A mishap. This is NASA-speak for the maximum level of failure a mission can reach, defined as
Faded white rings around rusting barrels on the ocean floor have been traced to leaks of highly corrosive chemical waste into the surrounding mud. The finding shows that material dumped off the U.S. coast decades ago is still reshaping deep habitats more than 50 years later, reacting with the seafloor and changing deep ocean life
The first major astronomical event visible in 2026 is a total lunar eclipse, or “blood moon.” This phenomenon is highly prized by stargazers because the entire lunar disk takes on a reddish color for a few moments. The total lunar eclipse will occur on March 3. It will be clearly visible in North and Central
A new investigation of ancient horned animal skulls found in Spain’s Des-Cubierta Cave deepens the mystery of when and why Neanderthals put them there. According to multiple lines of evidence, the skulls weren’t all placed there at the same time but were likely carried into a narrow gallery repeatedly over a prolonged period during the
A planetary parade is about to bring six of Earth’s neighbors into the night sky at once — but it won’t be easy to see. If you can find an unobstructed view due west and clear skies on Saturday, Feb. 28, you may see the two inner planets, Venus and Mercury, close to Saturn, with
On January 19, the Webb space telescope stared deep into the chaotic world of Uranus for 17 hours, observing as the faint glow from molecules above the planet’s clouds meets its unusual magnetic field. The resulting data helped scientists map Uranus’s upper atmosphere in unprecedented detail, revealing new insight into how its tantalizing auroras are
A surprisingly ravenous black hole from the dawn of the universe is breaking two big rules: It’s not only exceeding the “speed limit” of black hole growth but also generating extreme X-ray and radio wave emissions — two features that are not predicted to coexist. The object — a quasar known as ID830 — is
NASA has given its Perseverance Mars rover a powerful new ability to determine its exact location on the Red Planet without waiting for instructions from Earth, effectively giving the six-wheeled explorer its own version of GPS. Unlike on Earth, Mars has no network of navigation satellites. Instead, robotic missions including Perseverance have long depended on