Science
Twenty years and 7,500 fossils reveal what blurs Earth's marine fossil record
In productive marine environments, a square meter (10.8 square feet) of seafloor can be perforated by hundreds to thousands of isolated and interconnected tunnels through which cr…
Scientists uncover environmental cues behind black bear hibernation
New research from Virginia Tech scientists in the College of Natural Resources and Environment provides fresh insight into how environmental conditions influence black bear hibern…
Stellar eruptions in the laboratory: First experimental evidence for their suppression in strong magnetic fields
An international team of astrophysicists and plasma physicists has provided the first experimental evidence that strong magnetic fields surrounding active stars can completely sup…
Stellar spin may explain why repeated black hole flares grow dimmer
At the center of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole, with a mass millions to billions of times that of our sun and some of the most extreme gravity in the universe.
SpaceX fires up Starship ahead of megarocket’s 1st orbital flight (video)
SpaceX completed a single-engine test-firing of its next Starship spacecraft to prepare for its coming test flight, which will be the first to reach orbit.
Shark DNA could hold answers to how we age
Age isn't just a number for one of the ocean's top apex predators. It's a mystery University of Georgia researchers are solving. A new UGA study has determined how to estimate the…
'Dark stars' could be the seeds of supermassive black holes, scientists say
A mysterious hum of gravitational waves that fills the cosmos may be the echo of long-dead "dark stars" that served as the seeds of the first supermassive black holes.
SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites, lands rocket on ship at sea (video, photos)
SpaceX launched yet another Starlink mission today (Aug. 21), sending 29 more of the broadband satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast.
Lab-grown brain models gain a sense of place
The human brain is often described as one of the most complex structures in biology, and much of its power comes from how it's organized. Its outer layer, the cerebral cortex, is …
Breaking up of swan families in winter disrupts spring migration
Young Bewick's swans only survive their first spring migration if they stay with their parents long enough. If they lose their parents in winter, they leave later and are unable t…
Antarctic krill fishing is now concentrated in the exact pattern conservation rules were designed to prevent
The companies fishing for Antarctic krill have harvested so much so quickly that the season had to close in August 2026, three months before it was scheduled to end. That's the se…
First ever Fat Marmot Week to kick off in effort to raise money for research
Researchers hope contest – similar to Fat Bear Week – starting Monday will be latest wildlife watching crazeMonday sees the start of what researchers hope will be the latest wildl…
'Rainbow-on-a-chip' could help unlock 6G networks and precision timing for quantum technologies
Loughborough University physicists and an international team have demonstrated that a grain-of-rice-sized microchip can be used to produce a spectrum of precisely spaced frequenci…
On this day in space! Aug. 21, 1914: Total solar eclipse expedition crashed by WWI
On Aug. 21, 1914, a total solar eclipse temporarily darkened skies across Europe and Asia.
Ancient stars dazzle in a celestial chandelier | Space photo of the day for Aug. 21, 2026
Stars scattered across the cosmos sparkle in the appropriately named Chandelier Cluster.
New solar system models show Earth is no fluke
Over the past three decades, computer models of planetary system formation have gone from fairly crude representations to sophisticated simulations using thousands of different st…
Interplanetary spacecraft capture a coronal mass ejection component hidden from Earth
During a coronal mass ejection (CME), the sun hurls billions of tons of magnetized plasma into space. These eruptions are among the most powerful events in the solar system, and w…
Forest service detects emerald ash borer in 5 additional counties
The Texas A&M Forest Service has confirmed emerald ash borer in Delta, Erath, Hardin, Walker and Wood counties, continuing the spread of the invasive insect into new areas of Texa…
China is launching a moon mission to find water ice
We've known for nearly two decades that some form of water exists on the moon. What we still don't know is exactly how much accessible water ice lies inside permanently shadowed c…
My favorite thing in the night sky appears on Aug. 28 — and it proves Earth is a sphere
We'll soon get a chance to see a giant curved shadow in space move slowly across the moon during a very deep partial lunar eclipse. There are few more awesome or enlightening sigh…
Ph.D. student's forensic review highlights need for standardized bloodstain pattern classification
A University of Staffordshire Ph.D. student has received national recognition for research that could transform how bloodstain evidence at crime scenes is analyzed. Emma Hook has …
Spinach peptide discovery leads to citrus greening treatment
A citrus greening disease treatment rooted in more than a decade of research at Texas A&M AgriLife Research has reached a milestone on the path to commercial availability. The U.S…
Proposed London datacentre will have annual carbon footprint of 27,000 flights to New York
Exclusive: Planning documents show datacentre in north Ockendon will be incompatible with UK net zero targetsA “hyperscale” datacentre in outer London would generate more than 1m …
Could 'dark photons' explain dark matter?
New research suggests that if dark matter is composed of "dark photons," it would not have heated the early cosmos like scientists thought.