New evidence of ancient rivers suggests Mars may have been a “blue planet,” thanks to an ocean spanning its entire northern hemisphere. Cameras from several Mars orbiters captured the dusty remnants of apparent river deltas, which were described in research published Jan. 7 in the journal NPJ Space Exploration. The team, led by researchers at … Read more
The ocean soaked up more heat last year than in any year since modern measurements began around 1960, according to a new analysis published in Advances in Atmospheric Science. The world’s oceans absorb more than 90% of excess heat trapped in Earth’s atmosphere by greenhouse gas emissions. As heat in the atmosphere accumulates, heat stored … Read more
Today, trans people face politicization of their lives and vilification from politicians, media and parts of broader society. But in some of history’s earliest civilizations, gender-diverse people were recognized and understood in a wholly different way. As early as 4,500 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, for instance, gender-diverse people held important roles in society with … Read more
NASA recently revealed the first pictures of its newly constructed Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which could soon help researchers hunt for exoplanets, map the Milky Way and unravel some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, such as the true nature of dark matter. Experts have also revealed the most probable launch date for the next-generation … Read more
What if some of the alien worlds we’ve discovered are not actually planets at all? Astronomers have spent years cataloging thousands of worlds orbiting distant stars, assuming that if something has the mass of a planet and exerts a gravitational pull on its parent star, it must be a planet. But there may be a … Read more
Scientists say they may have extracted Leonardo da Vinci’s DNA from a Renaissance-era drawing for the very first time. The trace DNA, embedded in a red chalk sketch called the “Holy Child” that some claim was made by da Vinci, shows similarities with genetic material recovered from a letter penned in the 1400s by Frosino … Read more
The moon is quietly absorbing tiny fragments of Earth’s atmosphere — and has been doing so for billions of years, a new study reveals. This surprising case of cosmic cannibalism is thanks to supercharged solar winds and, more importantly, our own planet’s magnetic field. The findings upend a 20-year-old theory about how certain charged particles, … Read more
People and institutions are grappling with the consequences of AI-written text. Teachers want to know whether students’ work reflects their own understanding; consumers want to know whether an advertisement was written by a human or a machine. Writing rules to govern the use of AI-generated content is relatively easy. Enforcing them depends on something much … Read more
The idea of humans living beyond Earth was once only possible in science fiction, but now space agencies are making plans to bring space colonization closer to reality. NASA and SpaceX are exploring long-term missions to the moon and Mars, while astronomers continue to discover potentially habitable exoplanets orbiting distant stars beyond our solar system. … Read more
In science fiction films, nothing raises tension quite like the good guys’ spaceship getting caught in an invisible tractor beam that allows the baddies to slowly reel them in. But what was once only a sci-fi staple could soon become a reality. Scientists are developing a real-life tractor beam, dubbed an electrostatic tractor. This tractor … Read more
