The domestication of horses changed the course of human history, but scientists have tried for years to figure out when and where this crucial event happened. Now, evidence from a new study using DNA analysis suggests horses were first domesticated 4,200 years ago in the steppes of the Black Sea region, part of modern-day Russia,…
World News
NASA’s Artemis I mission to the moon has been delayed
The launch of Artemis I, an uncrewed mission serving as the first step of NASA’s ambitious program to return humans to the moon, has been delayed until at least February, according to the agency. The mission was originally scheduled to launch in November, but delays due to the pandemic, storms like Hurrican Ida and other…
Giant 4,000 pound sunfish was rescued from a fishing net off the Spanish coast of Ceuta
To the surprise of researchers and sunfish enthusiasts worldwide, a more than 4,000-pound sunfish was found tangled in the nets of a tuna-fishing boat off the coast of Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish port city in north Africa bordering Morocco, on October 4. The mammoth sunfish measured 10.5 feet long and 9.5 feet wide. Enrique Ostale,…
Najin, one of the world’s last northern white rhinos, retires from breeding
Hopes that mankind can save the northern white rhino from extinction appeared more remote than ever this week, after scientists announced they will retire one of the last two living northern white rhinos from a breeding program. Najin, a 32-year-old northern white rhino — who, along with her daughter Fatu is one of only two…
Dinosaur fossil from a supposed huge carnivore actually belongs to something else
A dinosaur fossil footprint found about 50 years ago is from a plant-eating dinosaur — not a huge meat-eating dinosaur as previously thought, according to a new study. The footprint, which dates back to the Triassic Period about 220 million years ago, was initially thought to have come from a large dinosaur from the Eubrontes…
Explosive star death witnessed by Hubble could help develop an early warning system
Astronomers had an unprecedented front-row seat to the explosive death of a star 60 million light-years away. They witnessed the event thanks to telescopes on the ground and in space, including the Hubble Space Telescope. These observations not only provided groundbreaking insight into what happens before a star dies, but could also help astronomers develop…
NASA’s Lucy mission struggles with solar array issue after launching to space
The first NASA mission that will fly by eight ancient asteroids launched early Saturday morning, but not everything went according to plan once the Lucy spacecraft reached space. After Lucy successfully separated from the rocket, it deployed both solar arrays. However, NASA only received confirmation that one of the solar arrays fully unfurled and latched.…
A new Delta descendant is rising in the UK. Here’s what to know
British and international authorities are closely monitoring a subtype of the Delta variant that is causing a growing number of infections in the United Kingdom. This descendant of the Delta variant, known as AY.4.2, accounted for an estimated 6% of cases in the week of September 27 — the last week with complete sequencing data — and…
The world is banking on giant carbon-sucking fans to clean our climate mess. It’s a big risk.
The windswept valleys surrounding the Hengill volcano in southwestern Iceland are dotted with hot springs and steam vents. Hikers from all over the world come here to witness its breath-taking scenery. Even the sheep are photogenic in the soft Nordic light. Right in the middle of all that natural beauty sits a towering metal structure…
October night skies bring full moon and meteor shower
October’s full moon, the hunter’s moon, and the Orionid meteor shower are on this week’s celestial forecast, but you might only be able to catch one of them. The hunter’s moon will be fullest at 10:58 a.m. ET on October 20, and 99% full during the evenings of October 19 and 20, according to EarthSky.…
A ray gun-like device helps scientists see plants in a different light
Scientists are aiming little ray gun-like devices, called leaf clips, at plants in an attempt to better understand biodiversity as environments respond to the climate crisis. Not unlike the tricorder used to perform environment scans in “Star Trek,” the nifty gadget is a type of spectroradiometer that helps record how plant leaves reflect light differently…
‘CITGO 6’ oil execs held in Venezuela were picked up by country’s forces hours after Alex Saab’s extradition to US
Five United States citizens and a permanent resident who were serving house arrest in Caracas, Venezuela, were picked up by the country’s intelligence service SEBIN on Saturday, just hours after the extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian financier close to embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the families of two of the detainees and one of…
This dead star offers a glimpse of our solar system’s eventual fate
Space truly is the final frontier. Fifty-five years after the world met Capt. James T. Kirk and his crew on the USS Enterprise, William Shatner was able to boldly go there. The “Star Trek” actor became the oldest person to ever travel to space. The trip was a blisteringly brief 10 minutes aboard Blue Origin’s…
NASA’s Lucy mission has launched to explore never-before-seen asteroids
The first NASA mission that will fly by a total of eight ancient asteroids has launched on its ambitious journey. Weather conditions were greater than 90% favorable Saturday morning when the Lucy mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:34 a.m. ET. The launch team confirmed that they received a signal from…
Russian crew wraps trailblazing movie in space, safely returns to Earth
After filming the first movie in space, Russian actress Yulia Peresild, producer-director Klim Shipenko and cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy have safely returned home. After saying farewell to the rest of the astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station and closing the hatch at 4:41 p.m. ET on October 16, their Soyuz MS-18 spacecraft undocked from…
NASA’s Lucy mission is ready to launch and explore never-before-seen asteroids
The first NASA mission to fly by a total of eight ancient asteroids is ready for launch. Weather conditions will be 90% favorable on the morning of October 16, when the Lucy mission is set to leave Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:34 a.m. ET. If it doesn’t launch at that time, the window…
From ‘net zero’ to ‘mitigation,’ here’s how to sound smart on climate
The whole world seems to be talking about the climate crisis, thanks to months of wild weather and new science showing that we need to act quicker than we previously thought to avoid the worst consequences. As leaders prepare to meet in Glasgow, Scotland, next month for crunch talks, they’ll be using a lot of…
Over a thousand cosmic explosions traced to mysterious repeating fast radio burst
Talk about a cosmic temper tantrum. An outburst of explosions has been traced back to a mysterious repeating fast radio burst in space called FRB 121102. Using China’s Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope, or FAST, researchers detected 1,652 bursts over the course of 47 days, between August 29 and October 29, 2019. This is the…
Giant planet found orbiting a dead star shows what may happen when our sun dies
The discovery of a distant Jupiter-like planet orbiting a dead star reveals what may happen in our solar system when the sun dies in about 5 billion years, according to new research. This unusual duo was discovered 6,500 light-years away, near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The pairing is unexpected because this gas…
New findings a ‘complete reversal’ in understanding why Earth became hospitable to life and its ‘twin’ didn’t
Venus may be a sweltering wasteland today, but scientists have questioned whether the planet was always so inhospitable. While previous studies suggested Venus might have once been covered in oceans, new research has found the opposite: Venus has likely never been able to support oceans. Researchers also determined that a similar story could have played…
It’s time to talk about money with your tweens and teens. Here’s how
Children are watching — and it’s not just behaviors like kindness and empathy that can make an impression. They also see how their parents handle money, for better or worse. “I wish I was taught how to pay bills, and the importance of paying them on time,” said Amiyrah Martin, a mother of three from…
Putin says Russia needs to speed up vaccination for Covid-19
Russia must accelerate Covid-19 vaccinations, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated on Tuesday as the country recorded its highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic. Addressing newly elected lawmakers of the State Duma — Russia’s lower parliament house — Putin urged the deputies who had gathered in the Kremlin to convince the Russian…
Northern Lights shimmer farther south than usual tonight as geomagnetic storm hits Earth
A geomagnetic storm triggered by a flare of solar energy hit Earth on Monday, making the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis, light up the sky at lower latitudes than usual. More people will be able to see the dazzling display, with auroras visible in Scotland and the north of England and as far south as…
Our underwater future: What sea level rise will look like around the globe
The planet is warming rapidly, resulting in historic drought, deadly floods and unusual melting events in the Arctic. It is also causing steady sea level rise, which scientists say will continue for decades. A new study from Climate Central, a nonprofit research group, shows that roughly 50 major coastal cities will need to implement “unprecedented”…
Strange radio waves coming from the heart of the Milky Way stump scientists
Space experts have detected unusual radio waves coming from the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The energy signal is unlike any phenomenon studied before and could suggest a previously unknown stellar object, according to a new study. The brightness of the object varies dramatically, and the signal switches on and off apparently at random,…
COP26 chief Alok Sharma calls on the G20’s climate laggards to ‘step up’
COP26 President Alok Sharma called out the G20 nations that have not increased their pledges on climate ahead of the international talks in the Scottish city of Glasgow, which begin in less than three weeks, alluding to nations like China, India, Australia and Saudi Arabia. In a speech at the UNESCO World Heritage Center in…
Scientists looked at more than 100,000 studies and found the world has a giant climate-crisis blind spot
Scientists using artificial intelligence to sift through around 100,000 climate studies were trying to put a number on how many people in the world were already experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis. Instead, they discovered something else: there is a worrying inequality in the world of climate science. Climate change studies are twice as…
More than 30 countries have joined pledge to slash climate-warming methane emissions by 30%
Canada, Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan are among 31 parties to join a global pledge, led by the US and EU, to slash planet-warming methane emissions by 30% by the end of the decade, US climate enjoy John Kerry announced Monday. Kerry said the agreement, which was announced last month, now included nine of the top…
England to remove another ‘discriminatory’ barrier to blood donation
England is set to remove an “outdated, unnecessary and actively discriminatory” question from blood donor forms, which campaigners say has predominantly affected Black communities’ ability to give blood. It comes after UK-wide changes in June made it easier for sexually active gay and bisexual men to give blood — overturning a ban that originated during…
‘I’m just trying to survive’
His messages are a mix of uncertainty and terror — with glimmers of hope. He is gay, a convert to Christianity and a member of the Hazara ethnic minority — three groups that have been historically persecuted by the Taliban. The 32-year-old man went into hiding after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August,…
Dubai Expo presents a facade of 192 nations at peace. The reality is never far from the surface
Spend a few hours wandering the manicured walkways of the Expo 2020 grounds and the world — or at least this sanitized version in the Dubai desert — feels at peace and in harmony. But, for many nations, it’s all a façade. A record 192 countries are represented at this year’s postponed Expo — up…
Afghan evacuee flights to the US from Ramstein Air Base in Germany resume
Flights of Afghan evacuees from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to the US resumed Saturday after pausing for weeks due to confirmed cases of measles amongst evacuees. One flight left the base Saturday with a few hundred evacuees headed for Philadelphia, a spokesman for the 86th Airlift Wing told CNN. Five more flights are expected…
‘Once-in-a-generation’ find reveals microscopic fossil in amber
Let’s hear it for the trailblazers. This week, the winners of the Nobel Prize in physics, medicine, chemistry and literature were announced, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize. The research, discoveries and contributions of these individuals cannot be understated — they can change lives, enhance understanding and shift perspectives. Scientists Syukuro Manabe and Klaus…
Hearing you’ve won a Nobel is incredible for most people. For some, it just spoils their sleep
At five o’clock in the morning, the esteemed 86-year-old astrophysicist Jim Peebles was woken suddenly by the telephone ringing. “In previous experience, the only phone calls at that time of night are bad news,” he said. This one was great news. “The opening sentence from the caller was: ‘The Nobel committee has voted to award…
UN says access to a ‘clean, healthy’ environment is a human right
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) acknowledged Friday that access to a “safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a basic human right for the first time. Despite criticism from some countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, ahead of the UNHCR session, the new resolution — proposed by Costa Rica, the Maldives,…
A group of little-known killer whales have been identified as big hunters of the sea
Swimming deep in the Pacific Ocean, a group of little-known killer whales that eat large sea mammals including grey whale calves has been found, researchers say. In a recently-published catalog, researchers from the University of British Columbia examined 13 years of photo-identification data and more than 100,000 photographs taken off North America’s west coasts. What…
Must-watch videos of the week
Capt. Kirk cracks Anderson Cooper up with his real-life trip to the final frontier, a “Hamilton” star sends a history teacher a message, and surveillance videos across Colorado capture an “event of a lifetime” on camera. These are the must-watch videos of the week. Space: The final frontier William Shatner, known for playing Capt. Kirk…
The Draconid meteor shower peaks October 8. Here’s how to watch
The Draconid meteor shower is expected to peak on Friday, October 8, and last through October 10, bringing with it a drizzle of meteors for dedicated stargazers. The Draconids are notoriously “sleepy” showers, only producing five meteors per hour most years, according to EarthSky. This weekend’s shower is expected to be that sort of “slow…
New lunar samples reveal more recent volcanic activity on the moon
When its Chang’e-5 mission landed on the moon in December 2020, China became only the third country to collect lunar rocks and soil. The mission, named after the mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, brought back the first fresh lunar samples in more than 40 years to Earth later that month. An international team of…
New Perseverance rover images reveal what happened before ancient Martian lake disappeared
Images captured by the Perseverance rover have allowed scientists to peer back in time at what Mars was like billions of years ago. Jezero Crater, the rover’s exploration site on Mars, was a quiet lake 3.7 billion years ago. A small river fed into the lake, sometimes leading to flash flooding that was so energetic,…
Turkey finally ratifies Paris climate agreement but protests key detail
Turkey became the last G20 nation to ratify the Paris climate agreement on Wednesday, almost six years after initially signing it, but at the same time, lawmakers protested a key detail — the country’s classification as a developed nation. Turkish environment and urbanization minister Murat Kurum said Wednesday that lawmakers had voted unanimously in favor…
New UAE space mission will orbit Venus and land on an asteroid
The United Arab Emirates is setting a course for Venus and the main asteroid belt. The new interplanetary mission, announced by the UAE Space Agency on Tuesday, will launch in 2028. The spacecraft will go on a five-year expedition, orbiting Venus and Earth before reaching the main asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter in…
The day Facebook went dark
A businessman in Atlanta changed his passwords because he thought his phone had been hacked. A Long Island woman who sells vintage items on Instagram lost revenue when she was forced to cancel a sale event. And a graduate student in Texas, freed from the distractions of social media, whipped through four assignments. For some…
Why it took nearly 50 years for scientists to name this mysterious tropical plant
After nearly half a century, the mystery of Manu is finally solved. In 1973, scientist Robin Foster discovered a plant with bright orange fruit shaped like paper lanterns inside Peru’s Manu National Park. It’s now been classified as Aenigmanu alvareziae, or Mystery of Manu, according to a paper authored by Foster and published Wednesday in…
The unused “miracle”
Before the advent of Covid-19 vaccines, the San Francisco Department of Public Health needed three whiteboards to capture all the names of senior facilities that had outbreaks, Jen Christensen reports. But by February, when seniors were being vaccinated in greater numbers, the department started to erase names of the facilities from these outbreak lists. “It…
Nobel Prize in chemistry awarded for ‘simple’ yet ‘ingenious’ discovery
The Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan, two scientists honored for creating “an ingenious tool for building molecules” that has helped develop new drugs and made chemistry greener. The pair were awarded the prize in Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday, “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.” Their discoveries…
‘Terrifying’: Facebook whistleblower cites violence in Myanmar and Ethiopia, spying by China and Iran
During much-anticipated testimony Tuesday before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen repeatedly pointed outside of the country for examples of how the social network could be used to dangerous ends — so much so that lawmakers wondered during the hearing if they should meet to specifically discuss national security concerns. The…
Tiny rare fossil found in 16 million-year-old amber is ‘once-in-a-generation’ find
Microscopic tardigrades have thrived on Earth for more than 500 million years, and may well outlive humans, but the tiny creatures don’t leave behind many fossils. Hiding in plain sight, the third-ever tardigrade fossil on record has been found suspended within a piece of 16-million-year-old Dominican amber. The find includes a newly named species, Paradoryphoribius…
Planet with iron rainfall is even more extreme than scientists thought
On this sizzling exoplanet hundreds of light-years from Earth, droplets of iron rain fall from the sky at night. Now, researchers have also detected sodium and ionized calcium in the planet’s atmosphere, based on observations from the Gemini North Telescope, which is located near the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. The new findings suggest…
NASA’s DART mission will deliberately crash into an asteroid’s moon in the name of planetary defense
A spacecraft that will deliberately crash into an asteroid is preparing to launch. The DART mission, or NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, will lift off at 10:20 p.m. PT on November 23 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. After launching in November, NASA will test its asteroid deflection…
Nobel Prize in physics awarded to scientists whose work warned the world of climate change
The Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to scientists Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi, whose groundbreaking work over the past 60 years predicted climate change and decoded complex physical systems. Manabe, 90, and Hasselmann, 89, were jointly honored for “the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming,”…
Mars robots take cruise control during solar event
Everyone needs a break. My technology-cluttered surroundings were replaced recently with mountain trails and a lake where sunlight scattered like diamonds. Standing at the base of two converging waterfalls, the fine spray of mist on my face, I was reminded that natural marvels are never out of reach — we just forget to seek them…
Winnie the Pooh’s ‘Poohsticks Bridge’ for sale at auction house
The bridge made famous in the Winnie the Pooh books — where the bear and his friends played “pooh sticks” — is up for sale by the British auction house Summers Place. The bridge in Ashdown Forest in England was the inspiration for the game described in A. A. Milne’s first Pooh book, “The House…
2021 has ‘not been a good year for peacemaking.’ But WHO is tipped for the Nobel Peace Prize
After 18 turbulent months spent tackling the global Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) is being broadly tipped as the frontrunner to take this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The United Nations agency, which runs the vaccine-sharing program COVAX, is certainly the bookmakers’ pick for the prestigious accolade. British firms Betfair and William Hill both…
He’s the most popular man on TikTok. And he doesn’t say a word
When Italy first went into a coronavirus lockdown last year, Khabane Lame had just lost his job at a factory near the northern city of Turin. He spent his days holed up at his parents’ home in Chivasso with his three siblings, looking for other jobs. One day, he downloaded TikTok and started tinkering with…
Mercury mission flies by closest planet to the sun for the first time
Smile, Mercury! The smallest planet in our solar system was getting photographed Friday by a European-Japanese space probe making its closest trip past the sphere on its seven-year mission. The BepiColombo mission made its first flyby of Mercury around 7:34 p.m. ET on Friday, passing within 124 miles (200 kilometers) of the planet’s surface. “BepiColombo…
This solar event will halt communication with Mars missions for 2 weeks
Things are about to get a little quiet between NASA and its fleet of robotic Mars explorers. That’s because an expected communication breakdown is about to happen, all thanks to the sun. The Mars solar conjunction takes place between October 2 and 16, and this lapse of check-ins between Earth and Mars occurs for a…
US inks $20 million deal to launch high-tech weather satellites in space
The United States is aiming to launch a group of small satellites to fill a critical gap in the ability to foresee precipitation dangers, like the deluge that overwhelmed Northeastern cities at the start of September. The US Air Force announced Thursday a nearly $20 million contract with Tomorrow.io to develop and deploy an entire…
All eyes on the Nobel Prizes for science next week. Here’s what to expect
The coronavirus pandemic has focused attention on the role of science in society like never before — and the pace of scientific discovery has been blistering. The greatest minds in physics, chemistry and medicine will be honored when the Nobel Prizes, the pinnacle of scientific achievement, are announced next week. The winners (who aren’t told…
Long Covid is a bigger problem than we thought
The long Covid problem might be bigger than we thought. A large study has revealed that one in three Covid-19 survivors have suffered symptoms three to six months after getting infected, with breathing problems, abdominal symptoms such as abdominal pain, change of bowel habit and diarrhoea, fatigue, pain, anxiety and depression among the most common issues reported. Researchers…
‘Horned crocodile-faced hell heron’ is one of two new Isle of Wight dinosaur discoveries
While the Isle of Wight may be better suited for tourists these days, it was once “Dinosaur Island.” Its fossil discoveries on the island off the south coast of England has led it to be known as the UK’s dinosaur capital. Now, researchers have uncovered two previously unknown species of predatory dinosaurs called spinosaurids, armed…
Greta Thunberg roasts world leaders for being ‘blah, blah, blah’ on climate action
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg mocked world leaders — including US President Joe Biden and the UK’s Boris Johnson — at a youth climate summit in Milan on Tuesday, saying the last 30 years of climate action had amounted to “blah, blah, blah.” Thunberg imitated the leaders by repeating their commonly used expressions on the climate…
NASA’s Lucy mission will observe the earliest ‘fossils’ of the solar system
The first NASA mission to study Jupiter’s Trojan asteroid swarms is getting ready to launch. The Lucy mission has passed all of its prelaunch tests and is set to leave Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at around 5:30 a.m. ET on October 16. The Trojan asteroids, which borrow their name from Greek mythology, orbit the…
How dinosaur stereotypes gave way in the past decade of discovery
Dinosaurs loom large in the imagination of many kids and, for some, it’s an obsession they never really grow out of. My passion for dinosaurs arrived much later in life. As a journalist in Hong Kong, I was lucky enough to interview some of China’s most eminent paleontologists and marvel at amazing fossils firsthand when…
Millions of deaths could be avoided under new air quality guidelines, WHO says
New air quality guidelines published on Wednesday by the World Health Organization could prevent millions of deaths globally each year, the UN agency said. Fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, is the tiniest pollutant yet also among the most dangerous. When inhaled, it travels deep into lung tissue where it can enter the bloodstream and…
Biden called for diplomacy over conflict at the UN General Assembly. Here’s how world leaders responded
In his United National General Assembly debut on Tuesday, United States President Joe Biden declared a “new era” of US diplomacy, making a case for international cooperation as the world stands at an “inflection point in history.” But the President’s call for unity comes as the US is embroiled in a series of global controversies…
‘Giant flying murder heads’ and other creatures that ruled the ancient sky
One close glimpse of a modern bird, especially around the eyes, and it may feel like you’re looking into the ancient past, when massive creatures walked the Earth and soared across its skies. It’s because birds are dinosaurs — they just happened to survive the mass extinction event that wiped out their large relatives 66…
Taliban request representation at the United Nations, kicking off credentials battle
The Taliban have requested representation at this week’s United Nations General Assembly, a move that is expected to kick off a diplomatic battle with the preexisting Afghan envoy. Afghanistan is currently represented at the UN by Ghulam Isaczai, an appointee of the country’s former democratic government, which crumbled under the Taliban’s advance last month. Rival…
China’s Xi Jinping promises to halt new coal projects abroad amid climate crisis
In a rare address to the UN General Assembly, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday made a major new climate commitment on behalf of the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. China will not build any new coal-fired power projects abroad, Xi said in a pre-recorded speech. The vow marks a shift in policy around…
Northern Hemisphere’s summer of wildfires let off record-breaking carbon emissions
The amount of carbon emitted from severe wildfires that tore across many parts of the Northern Hemisphere this summer broke records, according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service published Tuesday. Intense blazes, including fires in hotspots in the Mediterranean, North America and Siberia, let off more than 2.7 billion metric tons…
What we’ve been getting wrong about dinosaurs
Defined by their disappearance dinosaurs might appear to be evolutionary failures. Not so. Dinosaurs survived and thrived for 165 million years — far longer than the roughly 300,000 years modern humans have so far roamed the planet. They lived on every continent, munched on plants, snapped their jaws at insects, itched from fleas, suffered from…
‘Not counting our chickens’: UK’s Boris Johnson says world is watching for US to commit on climate finance
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday the world would have to wait to hear from US President Joe Biden about whether the country would pay its fair share in climate finance — funds for undeveloped nations to face the climate crisis. Johnson and the UN Secretary-General António Guterres held a closed-door meeting of world…
See the harvest moon shine in the night sky tonight
As the fall season approaches and colder temperatures set in, there’s a silver lining to look up to — literally — as the harvest moon makes its debut on September 20, bringing plenty of bright moonlight. The full moon known as the harvest moon, as it traditionally gave farmers more time to harvest their summer-grown…
The mysterious sex lives of dinosaurs
Dinosaurs must have had sex to reproduce but how they did it — with their neck frills, armored plates and tails tipped with spikes — isn’t exactly clear. No fossil has revealed two dinosaurs caught in the act — the only known vertebrates to be unequivocally preserved mating are a pair of 47 million-year-old turtles…
This is what happens to all the rats when cities flood
In the wake of Hurricane Ida, the pummeling rain that hit cities up and down the East Coast at the start of September overwhelmed storm drains, poured into subway stations and filled basements like bathtubs. The devastating human toll is well known. Less clear is what happened to the denizens of those cities’ subterranean depths:…
Woolly mammoth resurrection project receives $15 million boost
We live in a time bookended by extremes. Many believe our future is in space, where one day humans will live across the solar system. Looking back, we see evidence of a wild planet where giant creatures once roamed, only to fall in the face of natural disasters that shaped the Earth we know today.…
The UN General Assembly is about to start. Here’s what to watch for
Coronavirus be damned, the world’s diplomats are back. New Yorkers who enjoyed the peace and quiet of the United Nations’ all-virtual General Assembly last year will once again face the gridlock of diplomatic motorcades next week, as world leaders and their entourages descend on the international body’s headquarters in Manhattan. The 76th session of the…
These game-changing student experiments could help humans travel across deep space
The human body was not designed to live in space, but genetic experiments on the International Space Station are preparing a biological toolkit for the future of long-term spaceflight. And some of the most groundbreaking DNA investigations taking place on the orbiting laboratory were designed by students. The Genes in Space program, a national contest…
Must-watch videos of the week
Celebrities hit the red carpet at the Met Gala, Miley Cyrus performs with Metallica and a “megapod” of whales surfaces in Australia. These are the must-watch videos of the week. Strike a pose After a brief hiatus from the pandemic, this year’s Met Gala returned better than ever with an ode to American fashion. If…
The countries that are vaccinating children against Covid-19
Schools are in session, Covid-19 restrictions are being relaxed en masse and the Delta variant is raging worldwide, creating a maelstrom of confusion for parents on how to best protect their unvaccinated children. Data from earlier in the pandemic showed that children are less likely to become seriously ill. The emergence of Delta has been…
Fossil reveals bird with long, flashy tail feathers that lived 120 million years ago
Scientists have uncovered the fossil of a bird that lived 120 million years ago, and it definitely had flair, including unusually long tail feathers. These flashy feathers probably didn’t help the bird achieve aerodynamic flight, but they might have helped him find a mate, according to new research. The fossil was discovered in the Jehol…
The ozone hole over the South Pole is now bigger than Antarctica
The hole in the ozone that forms every year over the South Pole is now larger than Antarctica, scientists from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said Thursday. The ozone depletes and forms a hole over the Antarctic in the Southern Hemisphere’s spring, which is from August to October. It typically reaches its largest…
Biden announces global goal to reduce planet-warming methane emissions
President Joe Biden announced the United States and European Union have launched a global pledge to reduce emissions of methane — a potent greenhouse gas — nearly 30% by 2020 levels by the end of the decade. Biden made the announcement Friday morning during the Major Economies Forum, a virtual, closed-door meeting with other world…
Meghan and Harry are named ‘icons’ in Time’s list of 100 most influential people
This year has seen Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex take part in a groundbreaking interview with Oprah Winfrey and welcome their second child into the world, all while scandals have swirled around the royal family they left behind. Now, they can add another major moment to their 2021 diary — as Time has…
Not a single G20 country is in line with the Paris Agreement on climate, analysis shows
None of the world’s major economies — including the entire G20 — have a climate plan that meets their obligations under the 2015 Paris Agreement, according to an analysis published Wednesday, despite scientists’ warning that deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions are needed now. The watchdog Climate Action Tracker (CAT) analyzed the policies of 36…
Ancient spider caring for her offspring is trapped in 99 million-year-old amber
Nothing gets between a fiercely protective mother spider and her children. Dripping tree resin trapped adult female spiders and baby spiderlings about 99 million years ago, forever showcasing the maternal care exhibited by these arthropods, according to new research. The Lagonomegopidae family of spiders is now extinct, but spiders have a long history and first…
Most in the developed world think the US is doing a bad job on climate, Pew poll finds
Despite efforts from President Joe Biden to turn the United States into a global climate leader, most people in the advanced world don’t think the US is doing a good job on the issue, and China is doing even worse, a new poll by the Pew Research Center published Tuesday shows. The poll, of more…
A 9-year-old girl was raped and murdered in India. Her death is part of a bigger problem facing Dalit women
CNN spoke to several activists from Dalit Women Fight (DWF), which campaigns for the rights of women from their community. While Riya Singh and Mohini Bala are public about their work, the names of the other activists have been changed for their protection. This story is part of CNN’s commitment to covering issues around identity,…
Scientists want to resurrect the woolly mammoth. They just got $15 million to make it happen
Bringing extinct creatures back to life is the lifeblood of science fiction. At its most tantalizing, think Jurassic Park and its stable of dinosaurs. Advances in genetics, however, are making resurrecting lost animals a tangible prospect. Scientists have already cloned endangered animals and can sequence DNA extracted from the bones and carcasses of long-dead, extinct…
227 people were killed defending the environment last year, a new report shows. That’s a record.
Behind the veil of the Covid-19 pandemic, 227 people were killed last year protecting forests, water and other natural resources under increasing stress from climate change, making 2020 the deadliest year on record for environmental defenders according to a report published Monday. The environmental and human rights watchdog Global Witness gathered and analyzed 2020 data…
Prince Charles’ charity faces fresh investigation after reported donations from Russian banker
A Scottish regulator said it was investigating one of Prince Charles’ charities after a UK newspaper reported that a Russian banker had tried to donate a six-figure sum to the future king’s foundation. The Sunday Times reported that Prince Charles wrote a thank-you letter to Dmitry Leus and offered to meet him in person after…
Orban gives Pope a loaded gift during visit to Hungary
Pope Francis urged Hungarians to be more “open” and “considered” during an open-air mass in Budapest after meeting the country’s hardline Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday. Orban, a self-styled defender of Christian values, has rolled back civil liberties, ranging from migrant and LGBTQ+ rights to media freedom, and worked to erode judicial and academic…
Astronauts complete NASA spacewalk to prepare for International Space Station power boost
European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are back inside the International Space Station after completing a successful spacewalk Sunday to prepare for more solar array upgrades. The spacewalk started around 8:15 a.m. ET and lasted six hours and 54 minutes, according to NASA tweets and footage. Live…
Australian man with chronic pain sets world record by holding plank for over 9 hours
Nine hours, 30 minutes and 1 second. That’s how long Daniel Scali held an abdominal plank position, shattering the men’s world record. When the 28-year-old Australian man broke the record last month, the tough feat was made even more difficult by complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, which causes almost constant pain in his left…
How a NASA astronaut fulfilled this 9/11 victim’s space dream
Today is one for remembrance and holding your loved ones a little tighter. There’s no way around it. September 11 will always be a difficult day because the memories don’t fade. I’ll never forget sitting in my classroom on that beautiful fall morning. The sky was impossibly blue and the air was crisp. Then, everything…
America’s response to 9/11 was as damaging as the attack. It’s not too late to change course
On that ghastly day, September 11, 2001, I never saw what happened in real time. I was on assignment in West Africa, in the midst of Sierra Leone’s civil war. But I recall vividly as I was interviewing the hacked-up victims of the Revolutionary United Front guerrilla army — their lips, ears, limbs macheted off,…
Prince Andrew served with legal papers for sex abuse lawsuit, Virginia Giuffre’s lawyers claim
Lawyers for a woman who has accused Prince Andrew of sexual abuse say they have served the senior British royal with legal papers for a lawsuit. Prince Andrew is being sued in New York by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who says he had sex with her when she was 17. Andrew has denied similar allegations from…
Perseverance’s Martian rock samples may contain ancient water bubbles
Two Martian rock samples collected by the Perseverance rover may contain evidence of ancient water bubbles, according to NASA. The rock samples were found to include salt minerals, which may reveal insights about the ancient climate and habitability of Mars billions of years ago — and could even preserve evidence of ancient life, if it…
Must-watch videos of the week
A pilot sets a Guinness World Record, a missing toddler is found safe, and a delivery driver saves the day. These are the must-watch videos of the week. 3,2,1 – lift off! Remarkably, it was stunt pilot Dario Costa’s first time flying in a tunnel when he earned the Guinness World Record for the longest…
Upside-down rhino experiment wins Ig Nobel Prize
A team of researchers behind an experiment that involved hanging rhinoceroses upside down, suspended in the air by their feet, has been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize. The spoof accolade borrows its name from, but is not connected with, the world-famous Nobel Prize. Created by the science magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the annual Ig…
Stay Informed with KSFO
Subscribe to 560 KSFO's weekly eblast for the latest national and local news updates, exclusive contests, events and more.
