Long before dinosaurs roamed the land, Earth looked very different from the planet we know today. Around 500 million years ago, most of Earth’s surface was bare rock and dry soil. There were no trees, no grass and no flowers. Life existed almost entirely in the oceans. Then something amazing happened: Plants began to grow … Read more
Solar flares often disrupt Earth’s upper atmosphere and help power stunning auroras. Now, scientists suggest those same bursts of solar energy might also influence earthquakes. When a solar flare erupts toward our planet, it can subtly rearrange charged particles in Earth’s ionosphere, a region of the upper atmosphere filled with electrically charged gas. In a … Read more
If 1 million satellites were positioned at different points between Earth and the moon, less than 10% would survive long enough to be worth the hassle of sending them up in the first place, new supercomputer simulations suggest. This is not as disastrous as it initially sounds, but it does highlight the complex challenges of … Read more
Going to space is harsh on the human body, and as a new study from our research team finds, the brain shifts upward and backward and deforms inside the skull after spaceflight. The extent of these changes was greater for those who spent longer in space. As NASA plans longer space missions, and space travel … Read more
Canada could remove more than five times its annual carbon emissions from the atmosphere by the end of the century by planting trees along the northern edge of its boreal forest, a new study suggests. In recent decades forests have slowly moved north in response to climate change — in particular the taiga area on … Read more
Carbon dioxide emissions from China have flatlined or fallen for 21 months, meaning the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter may have reached a global turning point sooner than expected. China’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions dropped by 1% in the last quarter of 2025 and likely by 0.3% over the whole year, keeping them just beneath … Read more
Mass tree planting in China is turning one of the world’s largest and driest deserts into a carbon sink, meaning it absorbs more carbon from the atmosphere than it emits, new research reveals. The Taklamakan Desert (also spelled Taklimakan or Takla Makan) is slightly larger than Montana, stretching across about 130,000 square miles (337,000 square … Read more
In the Hollywood blockbuster “Inception” (2010), a dedicated team of “dream extractors” is hired to alter a CEO’s decision-making by manipulating his dreams. In the movie, this feat involves a private jet and liters of sedative gas — but a new study suggests they could have achieved a similar effect with only some steel-drum jingles … Read more
Beneath Earth’s surface lies a kingdom of undiscovered microscopic life. These “intraterrestrials” survive in some of the harshest conditions on the planet — and scientists are hunting for these microbes. In this excerpt from “Intraterrestrials: Discovering the Strangest Life on Earth” (Princeton University Press, 2025), author Karen G. Lloyd, a microbial biogeochemist at the University … Read more
Many tiny specks of ancient water are locked within one of the oldest and most famous Martian meteorites ever to fall to Earth, a new study finds. The surprising discovery, achieved using a new form of “neutron scanning,” reveals more clues about the Red Planet’s watery past, which may have set the stage for extraterrestrial … Read more
