Science

In late 2022, NASA celebrated its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) as a massive success, a proof of concept for saving humanity in case a similar space rock were to ever head straight for Earth. The small spacecraft smashed into asteroid Didymos’ moonlet Dimorphos at a violent 14,000 mph, knocking it severely off course. But three years later, astronomers found …

Lockheed Martin has announced the details of a proposal to take over NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, tasked with retrieving the samples that the Perseverance rover on the red planet has already collected. These samples have great scientific value, including the possibility of the evidence of life. While originally conceived as an in-house …

Antarctica’s waters are getting saltier and driving a collapse in its sea ice — and scientists aren’t sure why. Antarctic sea ice has been declining since 2015, defying model predictions to hit a record 0.6 million square miles (1.55 million square kilometres) below its expected average extent in 2023. At winter’s peak in July of that year, the region was …

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Botanists confirmed recently that a towering tree discovered in Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains is an entirely new species, Tessmannia princeps. The research team is led by Andrea Bianchi, a horticulturist and researcher at Muse Science Museum in Trento, whose group worked with Tanzanian experts to document the species and its remote habitat. Discovering Tessmannia princeps Bianchi and local plant …

Researchers have recreated the tumultuous beginnings of Earth, simulating what the planet was like just after its formation 4.5 billion years ago. The results, derived from a new computer model, provide a fascinating insight into the fiery youth of our planet, uncovering how Earth’s molten early years shaped its current geological structure. A Molten World Cooled in Layers When Earth …

This Jungle Plant Is a Good Landlord to Its Tenant Ants  The New York Times This tropical plant builds isolated ‘apartments’ to prevent battles among the aggressive ant tenants it relies on for survival  The Conversation Condo-style living helps keep the peace between homicidal neighbors inside these ant plants  Phys.org Some plants have a strategy to prevent violent ant fights  Earth.com How tropical plants …

The second half of July and the early days of August are the perfect time to get outside and look at the night sky. That’s when three of the year’s best meteor showers peak, each with their own special idiosyncrasies. For the Northern Hemisphere, the balmy temperatures of summer will make meteor-spotting the perfect activity, while in the south, longer …

A recent deep-sea experiment has led to the discovery of a “zombie worm” species capable of devouring entire alligators. Conducted by researchers at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), this study has revealed some truly unexpected behaviors from ocean scavengers. The experiment involved dropping three dead alligators into the Gulf of Mexico, aiming to see how creatures in the deep …

For the first time in recorded history, researchers have identified a drastic reversal in ocean circulation within the Southern Ocean, a finding that carries profound implications for global climate patterns. This momentous study, led by the National Oceanographic Centre (NOC) in the UK and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals that since 2016, the …