An asteroid carrying some of the basic building blocks of life has been reported in the journal Nature Astronomy. This finding opens the possibility that life on Earth could have been seeded by chemicals in the cosmos billions of years ago.“Asteroids provide a time capsule into our home planet’s history, and Bennu’s samples are pivotal in our understanding of what ingredients in our solar system existed before life started on Earth,” Nicky Fox, a NASA official, said in a news release. � ...read more

Although Mars is known for being a dry and desolate desert, its landscape hasn’t always been so hostile. Rivers and lakes were once present on the Red Planet before it began to dry up somewhere around 3 billion years ago. The latest research has explored evidence from this distant chapter of Mars’ past, revealing ancient sources of water in the Gale crater region that evaporated and left behind wave ripples. Researchers have investigated these geological clues in a recent study published in ...read more

According to a recent study published in Science Advances, a greasy hair day keeps the ice away — for polar bears, that is. After examining polar bear fur, an international research team identified what helped keep polar bears ice-free, even in sub-zero temperatures. It all comes down to their greasy fur. “This work not only represents the first study of the composition of polar bear fur sebum, but it also resolves the question of why polar bears don’t suffer from ice accumulation,” sa ...read more

Tropical lowlands that flood during the rainy season and scorch during the sunny season don’t exactly sound ideal for agriculture. But the people who lived in what is now Bolivia between 500 A.D. and 1400 A.D. turned those conditions to their advantage by engineering a system of canals to divert excess water and ponds to save it for later. By building a sophisticated irrigation network, the pre-Hispanic Casarabe society of the Llanos de Moxos produced maize year-round — ushering in a Neolith ...read more

Climate change is wreaking havoc across the globe, upending weather patterns and the Earth’s hydrological cycle with often dramatic effects on some of the largest water bodies. 2024 was the hottest year on record, and there are concerns that these pressures on the Earth’s water system are likely to increase as the climate crisis continues.One classic example is the Aral Sea. Once one of the largest lakes in the world, it has shrunk to only a fraction of its size. “In 2016, this lake was le ...read more

A sleeping giant of a volcano is stirring in its underwater bed.The volcano, tucked underneath a submerged peak called Axial Seamount, is the most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest. Seismic activity, including hundreds of small earthquakes a day, indicate an eruption may be forthcoming — perhaps by the end of 2025, according to a blog kept by Bill Chadwick, a volcanologist who’s been closely monitoring activity associated with Axial Seamount, for years.Volcano Wake-up TimeThat seismic ...read more

A feeling of relaxation. An altered sense of time and space. A slowed reaction time. These effects are all associated with cannabis, but what else do we understand about the drug’s effects on the brain? Investigating the impacts of the drug, recent research in JAMA Network Open has revealed that heavy cannabis use is associated with reduced brain activity during working memory tasks. Representing the largest of any such study so far, the research indicates that the negative outcomes that are l ...read more

Researchers in the U.K. have announced the discovery of a lost residential site belonging to Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England. This site can be seen on the famous Bayeux Tapestry and has avoided researchers for years. However, a the team believes they’ve identified the building, which may be thanks to a toilet. Their findings are published in The Antiquaries Journal.King Harold Sails for FranceHoly Trinity Church, Bosham, looking east. (Credit: Newcastle University)Harold Goodwins ...read more

Deep in the Barents Sea off the northern coast of Norway, the Borealis Mud Volcano has been spewing methane for centuries and supporting a flourishing community of seafloor creatures. Researchers have now recognized the underwater structure as a pillar of marine life in the benthic zone, the lowest ecological region of a body of water, where species are specially equipped to survive extreme living conditions. The distinctive environment has been detailed in a new study published in Nature Commu ...read more

Almost 30 years after the first planet outside our solar system was discovered, more than 7,000 other exoplanets have been identified. Now, it’s time to add another to the list.A team of researchers have confirmed an Earth-like planet named HD 20794 d, they report in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The exoplanet is especially interesting to astronomers because at a mere 19.7 light-years away, it’s practically a neighbor. HD 20794 d, the star around which the newly identified planet r ...read more