Thirteen years into its mission, NASA’s Curiosity rover is still uncovering Martian mysteries — and learning to do more with less. Since landing in Gale Crater in 2012, Curiosity has traveled more than 22 miles (35 kilometers), studying rock layers, analyzing soil and revealing Mars’ ancient past, including signs that the planet once harbored liquid water, a thicker atmosphere and …
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Packages of M&M’s milk chocolate candy are stacked at a Costco Wholesale store on July 12, 2025 in San Diego, California. Kevin Carter | Getty Images News | Getty Images Candy maker Mars said Wednesday it’s partnered with biotech company Pairwise to speed up the development of more resilient cocoa using CRISPR-based gene editing technology. The agreement gives the M&M’s …
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NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover demonstrated a new multitasking capability when capturing this view: It snapped the 15 images that make up the mosaic while simultaneously communicating with an orbiter. The images were taken by the right navigation camera on Curiosity’s mast July 26, 2025, the 4,611th sol, or day, of the mission. The rover’s tracks cross through a region filled …
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Instead, Curiosity and its younger sibling Perseverance each use their MMRTG nuclear power source, which relies on decaying plutonium pellets to create energy and recharge the rover’s batteries. Providing ample power for the rovers’ many science instruments, MMRTGs are known for their longevity (the twin Voyager spacecraft have relied on RTGs since 1977). But as the plutonium decays over time, …
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Will she vie with a smile? Lady Gaga is the frontrunner for MTV’s Video Music Awards, as the singer racked up a leading 12 nods in nominations announced Tuesday for the 2025 ceremony, set to air live on CBS Sept. 7. Gaga’s dozen nominations are followed by 11 for Bruno Mars, 10 for Kendrick Lamar, eight apiece for Sabrina Carpenter …
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We have the nominations for MTV‘s 2025 VMAs. Lady Gaga leads the field with a dozen noms, followed by Bruno Mars with 11 and Kendrick Lamar with 10. They’re the only performers in the double digits, and this marks the third year that Gaga has led all nominees. Rosé and Sabrina Carpenter are next with eight each, followed by Ariana Grande and The Weeknd (seven), Billie Eilish (six) …
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NASA’s Europa Clipper probe checked out its radar as the spacecraft hurtled past Mars on the way to Jupiter’s moon Europa. The Mars flyby in March was primarily to use the planet’s gravitational pull to tweak the Europa Clipper’s trajectory. However, boffins were able to use the proximity of the planet to calibrate the spacecraft’s infrared camera and test its …
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New capabilities allow the rover to do science with less energy from its batteries. Thirteen years since Curiosity landed on Mars, engineers are finding ways to make the NASA rover even more productive. The six-wheeled robot has been given more autonomy and the ability to multitask — improvements designed to make the most of Curiosity’s energy source, a multi-mission radioisotope …
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NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft successfully tested its ice-penetrating radar system during a close flyby of Mars earlier this year, proving that the probe is ready for its main mission: peering beneath the frozen crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa to search for signs of subsurface liquid water and possibly even determine if those oceans have the ingredients to form and sustain …
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Recent simulations and research have unveiled a fascinating new insight into the history of the solar system’s terrestrial planets. For years, scientists speculated about how the rocky planets—Earth, Mars, Venus, and the mysterious long-lost world, Theia—formed and evolved in relation to one another. However, a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal has provided new findings suggesting that these planets, …
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