On October 17 and 18, 2017, an unusual object sped across the field of view of a large telescope perched near the summit of a volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The Pan-STARRS1 telescope was designed to survey the sky for transient events, like asteroid or comet flybys. But this was different: The object was not gravitationally bound to the Sun, or to any other celestial body. It had arrived from somewhere else.The mysterious object was the first visitor from interstellar space observed pas ...read more

Field director Emanuele Mariotti unambiguously calls it “the find of the century” — the most significant discovery in Mediterranean archaeology thus far in the 21st century, and maybe in the last century, too.In the autumn of 2022, his team excavating at the ancient thermal baths at San Casciano dei Bagni, Italy, revealed to the public the spectacular relics they’d pulled from the mud. Scholars and armchair archaeologists alike were gobsmacked, both by the abundance of artifacts — more ...read more

Almost half of all people in the world today speak an Indo-European language, one whose origins go back thousands of years to a single mother tongue. Languages as different as English, Russian, Hindustani, Latin and Sanskrit can all be traced back to this ancestral language.Over the last couple of hundred years, linguists have figured out a lot about that first Indo-European language, including many of the words it used and some of the grammatical rules that governed it. Along the way, they’ve ...read more

For centuries, life on Hestur, a small Faroese island located halfway between Scotland and Iceland in the northeast Atlantic, was isolated: Streymoy, the biggest of the 18 islands that comprise the Faroe Islands, is almost ironically close, within eyeshot, but powerful currents in the fjord dividing the two islands long made travel between them difficult.Today, a modern ferry connects Hestur and Streymoy, but across most of its history, Hestur’s inhabitants were left to care for themselves. Th ...read more

An ancient lizard fossil, renowned for its remarkable preservation and older than the dinosaurs, might be a partial forgery. The fossil, known as, Tridentinosaurus antiquus, was found in Italy in 1931, and was used to pinpoint evolution in early reptiles. However, an analysis published in Palaeontology found that the fossil’s preserved black outline is not skin, but paint.“The peculiar preservation of Tridentinosaurus had puzzled experts for decades. Now, it all makes sense. What it was ...read more

Harmful effects from supplements account for approximately 23,000 emergency room (ER) visits each year, while adverse medication reactions result in 1.3 million ER visits annually. And if supplements and certain medications are taken together, they can also cause a negative reactions. The side effects range widely from increasing or decreasing the medicinal effect or causing a toxic reaction. While it's always important to consult a doctor before using medication, here are some examples of suppl ...read more

On a warm July morning, Sasmit Roy was easing into his day at Centra Lynchburg General Hospital in Virginia. As a consulting nephrologist, Roy gets called in when patients have kidney issues the general hospital staff need help with. He was reviewing the patients on his caseload when he was alerted to a new patient, admitted the night before, in potential kidney distress.Jeanne’s face was turned toward the window when Roy walked into her room, but he could immediately tell she was worried: The ...read more

Thanks to unrelenting human-caused global warming, and with a little push from El Niño, last month continued 2023's heat streak, coming in as the warmest January on record. Three independent analyses have come to this conclusion, the most recent released by NOAA on Feb. 14. According to the agency, January's global surface air temperature was 1.27 degrees C (2.29 degrees F) above the 20th-century average. That's very close to an assessment released by NASA a week prior. January's unusual global ...read more

Humans have loved exploration throughout history. Travel has endless opportunities for commerce, trade, culinary delights, cultural education, or even just a fresh start. The jet set lifestyle that is paraded on social media seems like pure bliss, from summering in Thailand one season and skiing in Switzerland the next. For many, this type of travel-fueled glamor appeals to the intrinsic human need for change, but for others, it could be a marker for mental health issues. Too much travel could e ...read more

The Earth's crust has a dual personality. On one hand, there are the continents. Many times, the crust that makes up the continents can be very old, upwards of 3 to 4 billion years old! Yet, the oceanic crust that makes up a majority of the planet's surface doesn't get anywhere near as well. In fact, the oldest oceanic crust is only about 220 million years ago, or ~5% of the age of the Earth. We know we've had oceans and oceanic crust for billions of years, so where has it all gone?That's where ...read more