Science
On this day in space! Sept. 6, 1947: The US Navy launches 1st V-2 rocket at sea in ballistic missile test
On Sept. 6, 1947, a V-2 rocket launched from an U.S. Navy aircraft carrier for the first time. Here's why it mattered.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 27 Starlink satellites, lands on ship at sea (video)
SpaceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites today (Sept. 6), sending them up from California's central coast.
The extinct American 'cheetah' was not a cheetah after all
With their slender bodies and long front legs, Miracinonyx trumani—often nicknamed the "American cheetah"—was long thought to be a North American analog of the African big cat. Bu…
Feel the Force with these 10 out-of-this-world Lego Star Wars starships
Whether you're a Jedi or a Sith, if you love Star Wars' iconic vessels you'll want to own these ten Lego Star Wars starships.
German startup sends first commercial rocket into space from Europe
Isar Aerospace plans rapid expansion amid race to capitalise on expanding satellite-launch marketA German startup has launched the first commercial rocket to reach orbit from cont…
'Quiet' pulsar suddenly reveals three glitches in 15 years of observations
Using more than 15 years of observations from the Parkes radio telescope, astronomers detected three rotational glitches in the pulsar PSR J1637−4642—a young neutron star that had…
An island in Western Canada was spotted for the first time. Then it disappeared
A floating island is playing peekaboo on Williston Lake in British Columbia. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe chats with BC Hydro's Bob Gammer about this natural mystery.
NPR's wildfire correspondent on one of the Western U.S.'s worst wildfire seasons
The Western U.S.'s wildfire season has been one of the worst in years. More than 8 million acres have burned, at least seven wildland firefighters have died, and hundreds of homes…
Air conditioners are our best bet in the fight against extreme heat – whether we like it or not
Global AC demand will inevitably accelerate as the world continues to warm amid the climate crisisThe greenest campaigners against climate change have long suffered from a crippli…
NASA expands Deep Space Network with giant new dish in California desert
The new antenna will boost capacity on NASA's increasingly strained deep-space communications network as Artemis and other missions drive up demand.
Farmers Are Going Broke Amid Rising Gas Prices, While the Ag Secretary Profits Off Them
As farmers grapple with soaring diesel and fertilizer prices and the Department of Agriculture yanks support for cheaper, renewable forms of energy, the agency’s chief, Brooke Rol…
Elevated Levels of Lead Surround Local Oregon Airports
For years health officials have held that there is no safe level of lead exposure for humans. Even low levels can cause irreversible cognitive decline in children. Yet despite the…
Germany's Isar Aerospace launches rocket into orbit from Norway
Germany's Isar Aerospace launched a rocket into orbit from Norway on Saturday as Europe races to boost its ability to economically send satellites into space independently of the …
Introducing Black Box: The Chatbots – podcast
From the Guardian Investigates team: Across the world, hundreds of people have come to believe they have made extraordinary scientific discoveries with AI chatbots such as ChatGPT…
Breaking through AlphaFold's limits to predict how proteins change shape
Conformational changes in proteins are vital to their function yet remain challenging for state-of-the-art artificial intelligence, such as AlphaFold3, to predict. Researchers at …
How much clearcutting can nature sustain? A study determines the ecological limit for boreal forest birds
A study led by the University of Jyväskylä in Finland evaluated, for the first time, an ecological threshold for the amount of clearcutting in boreal forests. According to the res…
FAST finds two mysterious hydrogen clouds with no visible stars
Astronomers have found two clouds of hydrogen near the Whirlpool galaxy that appear to contain almost no stars. The clouds, discovered with China's FAST radio telescope, each cont…
Views from a physician and veterinarian: How to improve barriers to pet care when owners are hospitalized
The human-animal bond is often so strong that pet owners may delay or forgo medical treatment or leave a health care facility against medical advice if they have no one to care fo…
US study tests psilocybin to fight cancer side effects
Here's a novel idea for countering the painful side effects of chemotherapy: Beforehand, take the hallucinogenic drug found in magic mushrooms.
A black hole as light as 40 tons can exist inside a star if dark matter helps
In 1974, Stephen Hawking made a prediction that transformed our understanding of black holes. Black holes, he showed, are not truly black: They slowly lose energy through a quantu…
Tree species diversity protects forests from climate extremes, study finds
New research has found that tree species diversity can play a crucial role in protecting forests from the growing threat of extreme climate events. The study analyzed data from 88…
Scientists discover how narwhals grow nature's only straight tusk
Narwhals have nature's only straight tusk, a single tooth up to three meters (10 feet) long, so strange they were sold as magical unicorn horns during the Middle Ages.
Venus is disappearing from the evening sky — here's how to see it while you can
Venus is sinking lower into the sunset this September, but the brilliant Evening Star won't be gone for long.
Watch Isar Aerospace try to make history today with launch from Norway
Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket will attempt to become the first vehicle to reach orbit from European soil today (Sept. 5), and you can watch the action live.