Sometime in the late 1600s, in the lush forests of Mauritius, the very last dodo took its last breath. After centuries of untroubled ferreting in the tropical undergrowth, this species met its untimely end at the hands of humans, who had arrived on the island less than 100 years before.Continue Reading
Picturing how our species might appear in the far future often invites wild speculation over stand-out features such as height, brain size, and skin complexion. Yet subtle shifts in our anatomy today demonstrate how unpredictable evolution can be. Take something as mundane as an extra blood vessel in our arms,Continue Reading
At least two dozen planets outside the solar system might be better for life than Earth. These planets are just a little older, a little wetter, a little warmer and a little larger than Earth is, researchers wrote Sept. 18 in the journal Astrobiology. All of these factors could meanContinue Reading
Since the end of September, hundreds of soldiers and civilians are thought to have been killed in a rapidly developing conflict between the rival Caucasus nations of Armenia and Azerbaijan. But why are they in conflict? It turns out that they’re fighting over the landlocked, mountainous and kidney shaped Nagorno-KarabakhContinue Reading
When NASA’s OSIRIS-REx arrived at near-Earth asteroid Bennu, scientists were dismayed to find a surface covered with hazardous-looking boulders. But new research suggests that those boulders are surprisingly brittle. That’s potentially good news for the spacecraft, which is charged with grabbing a piece of Bennu on October 20 and returningContinue Reading
A new CDC report finds that 25% of people don’t remember to wash their hands at important times, such as after blowing their nose. More Americans are washing their hands amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but 1 in 4 don’t lather up when they need to, such as after blowing theirContinue Reading
Another study shows that masks and other mitigation efforts not only work, but work well. Mask mandates, closures of certain businesses and other COVID-19 mitigation strategies implemented over the summer led to a 75% drop in new coronavirus cases in Arizona, according to a new report from the Centers forContinue Reading
The annual Draconid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday, Oct. 7, but don’t get your hopes up for a spectacular sky show. Even at their peak — which, this year, occurs just after nightfall on Wednesday evening — the Draconids are usually modest, generating just a few meteors per hour. TheContinue Reading
Black holes are perhaps the strangest, least-understood objects in our universe. With so much potential — being linked to everything from wormholes to new baby universes — they have sucked in physicists for decades. But as strange as these known objects are, even stranger types of black holes could beContinue Reading
The remains of a 1,200-year-old pagan temple to the Old Norse gods such as Thor and Odin have been discovered in Norway — a rare relic of the Viking religion built a few centuries before Christianity became dominant there. Archaeologists say the large wooden building — about 45 feet (14Continue Reading