Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are intense sources of high-energy radiation that scientists detect on Earth in the form of gamma rays. They were first detected in the 1960s by US military satellites looking for nuclear detonations on Earth, which saw bright bursts of gamma rays coming from the sky. They didn’t know what they were, but
By Katie Hunt, CNN An artist’s impression of what Prototaxites may have looked like 400 million years ago. Photo: CNN / Matt Humpage Some 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs or even trees had evolved, an enigmatic organism towered over the landscape like a prehistoric monolith. Now, new research makes the case that the
Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have defied long-standing material theories by developing a brand-new class of material known as a “compleximer.” This amber-colored substance achieves a combination of traits previously thought to be mutually exclusive: it possesses the rugged impact resistance of plastic while remaining as easy to reshape and blow as glass.
In a cave nestled high in the Calabrian mountains, ancient bones have revealed a shocking genetic discovery: a child born from a father-daughter union over 3,700 years ago. The rare finding, backed by DNA analysis, is the earliest confirmed case of this kind in prehistoric Europe. The discovery comes from Grotta della Monaca, a burial
Scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) say they may have found an answer to a puzzle that has lingered for nearly four decades involving the radiation belts surrounding Uranus. When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in 1986, it made a surprising discovery. Instruments detected an electron radiation belt far stronger than scientists had
Starbase’s launch site lays groundwork to double in size – NASASpaceFlight.com We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience
Last year, astronomers were fascinated by a runaway asteroid passing through our Solar System from somewhere far beyond. It was moving at around 68 kilometres per second, just over double Earth’s speed around the Sun. Imagine if it had been something much bigger and faster: A black hole travelling at more like 3,000 km per
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Feb. 7, 2026. This mission marked a return to flight for the Falcon 9 rocket following a brief stand down as a result of a mishap during the Starlink 17-32 mission on Feb. 2, 2026.
A United Launch Alliance Vulcan booster is offloaded from the company’s R/S RocketShip barge at a dock at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This will be the first Vulcan rocket to launch from the West Coast. Image: United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance is staging rockets at launch complexes on both the West Coast
Newly discovered fossil imprints of ancient microbial colonies suggest that researchers need to broaden their search for the oldest life to deeper and more unstable areas. The wrinkled fossil structures, found in the Central High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, are imprinted on turbidites, which are deposits laid down by underwater landslides. The researchers were surprised