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Science

  • Clouds and the Sun illuminate the sky on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, as NASA’s Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft stand vertical at Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth no later than April 2026.
    Cory S Huston/NASA
    The upcoming moon mission will be full of jargon. Here’s a cheat sheet to help you follow along
  • S17-140-21388 (7-19 Dec. 1972) --- Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, mission commander, walks toward the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) during extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site of NASA's sixth and final Apollo lunar landing mission in December of 1972. The photograph was taken by astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. While astronauts Cernan and Schmitt descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Challenger" to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "America" in lunar orbit.
    NASA
    Why haven’t humans been back to the moon in over 50 years?
  • Artemis I Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson leads launch countdown activities inside Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 16, 2022. Liftoff of the agency’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft from Launch Complex 39B was at 1:47 a.m. EST. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human presence to the Moon and beyond. The primary goal of Artemis I is to thoroughly test the integrated systems before crewed missions by operating the spacecraft in a deep space environment, testing Orion’s heat shield, and recovering the crew module after reentry, descent, and splashdown.
    Kim Shiflett/NASA
    Behind-the-scenes secrets of NASA mission control
  • Moon - North Polar Mosaic, Color  1998-06-08
    NASA/JPL/USGS
    Here’s what astronauts could find in their upcoming 10-day mission around the moon
  • Artemis II lunar mission astronauts pause outside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building during their Countdown Demonstration Test at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on December 20, 2025. (L-R) Canadian Space Agency astronaut and NASA Artemis II Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, NASA astronaut and Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch, NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot Victor Glover and NASA astronaut and Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman. Designed to test launch-day procedures, the test is a dress rehearsal of what will happen on launch day, which is currently targeted for no earlier than February 1, 2026. (Photo by Gregg Newton / AFP via Getty Images)
    Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images
    4 astronauts will soon take an unprecedented path to the moon. But why aren’t they landing?
  • Members of a sperm whale family near the Caribbean island of Dominica are part of a clan that's culturally distinct from others. Each clan communicates in its own dialect of click patterns, like Morse code.
    Brian J. Skerry/National Geographic
    ‘And then we saw the little head.’ Scientists witness rare sperm whale birth
  • The dorado catfish (Brachyplatystoma rousseauxii) has the longest freshwater migration in the world.
    Michael Goulding/WCS
    This 6-foot fish has the world’s longest freshwater migration. Amazon nations are uniting to save it
  • CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - JANUARY 17:  (L-R) NASA's Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen pose for a photo as NASA's Artemis II (behind them) is rolled from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on January 17, 2026 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. NASA’s integrated SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis II mission are being rolled to Launch Pad 39B ahead of the 10-day mission in February 2026, which will take the crew around the Moon and back to Earth.  (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
    Joe Raedle/Getty Images
    What to know about the 4 people launching to make history around the moon
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  • 202603-078_232.jpg
    CERN
    Antimatter took to the road for the very first time. Here’s why it matters
  • A view of the excavation site inside the church in Maastricht, the Netherlands
    Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters
    Archaeologist may have uncovered the remains of D’Artagnan, the famed French musketeer

Editor's picks

  • 20251210-jane-austen-mystery-death.jpg
    Photo Illustration by Alberto Mier/CNN/Universal History Archive/Getty Images; Gillian Pullinger/Alamy Stock Photo; Will Dax/Solent News/Shutterstock
    Jane Austen’s cause of death has remained a mystery. But her letters and books offer clues
  • Pilot Amelia Earhart poses for a portrait in and airplane in circa 1936. (Photo courtesty Library of Congress/Getty Images)
    Donaldson Collection/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
    An object in a satellite image defies explanation. Could it solve one of aviation’s greatest mysteries?
  • O’Neill Cylinder interior provides a 20-mile vista. Children born here would think it totally normal to have “upside down” land areas overhead.
    Rick Guidice/NASA
    Two billionaires have very different — and equally wild — visions of a future in space. Is either possible?
  • fig-25.jpg
    Susanne Muth/Dirk Mariaschk/Elis Ruhemann/Pompeii Reset Project/Humboldt University of Berlin
    An ancient stone staircase seemed to lead nowhere. Now it’s revealing the ‘lost Pompeii’
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Space

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  • Artist’s concept of Phase 3 of NASA’s Moon Base.
    NASA
    NASA announces new Mars mission, reshapes goals on the moon
  • Artist’s impression of a black hole star (not to scale). The cut-out reveals the central black hole with it surrounding accretion disk. What makes this a black hole star is the surrounding envelope of turbulent gas. This configuration can explain what astronomers observe in the object they are calling “The Cliff.”
    MPIA/HdA/T. Müller/A. de Graaff
    Webb telescope photos show mysterious little red dots. Astronomers don’t know what they are
  • Astronaut David Wolf, carries out a spacewalk after launching to the International Space Station on October 7, 2002 aboard the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis on the the STS-112 mission.
    NASA
    The end of the ISS is looming, and the US could have a big problem
  • NASA’s Artemis II Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are seen illuminated by lights at Launch Complex 39B, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In the coming days, engineers will prepare for the wet dress rehearsal, a two-day test that simulates launch day. The Artemis II test flight will take Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialist Christina Koch from NASA, and Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen from the CSA (Canadian Space Agency), around the Moon and back to Earth no later than April 2026.
    Keegan Barber/NASA
    Unanimous vote in risk assessment clears way for 4 astronauts to launch on moon mission

Archaeology

Show all

  • The blue-and-white porcelain is intricately decorated.
    Michael Flecker/Science Direct
    14th century shipwreck reveals huge cargo of rare Yuan Dynasty blue-and-white porcelain
  • The Adorant figurine from Geißenklösterle Cave, approximately 40,000 years old, consists of a small ivory plate bearing an anthropomorphic figure and multiple sequences of notches and dots. The application of these marks suggests a notational system, most notably in the rows of dots on the back of the plate.
    Hendrik Zwietasch/Landesmuseum Württemberg
    Symbols found carved into 40,000-year-old artifacts may be precursor to writing
  • A representation of a Carthaginian battle elephant during the Second Punic War.
    Prisma/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
    Ancient bone may be first physical evidence of Hannibal’s ‘war machine’ elephants in Western Europe
  • A view of the ancient city of Pergamon in western Turkey.
    Berkan Cetin/Anadolu/Getty Images
    Scientists find first physical evidence that Romans used human poop as medicine

Life

Show all

  • This spectacular pit viper is among the new species that were discovered in Cambodia’s karsts – ancient limestone cliffs with hidden cave systems. While its official name has not been decided, the “pit” refers to the heat-sensitive organ on its head, which it uses to detect and track down warm-blooded prey.
    Phyroum Chourn/Fauna & Flora
    Pit viper, flying snake and geckos among new species uncovered in Cambodian caves
  • TOPSHOT - This photo taken on January 14, 2025 shows mosquitoes in the insectary room in the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is stepping up a "last mile" push to wipe out the mosquito-borne disease, focusing on hard-to-reach pockets of population in remote, forested or mountainous areas. (Photo by TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP) / To go with 'CAMBODIA-HEALTH-MALARIA,FOCUS' by Suy SE (Photo by TANG CHHIN SOTHY/AFP via Getty Images)
    Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images
    DNA from a tiny but mighty insect could help reveal the timeline for prehistoric humans
  • FKt251103-MissionControl-20251114-Naranjo-09289.jpg
    Monika Naranjo-Shepard/Schmidt Ocean Institute
    Is all complex life on Earth related to a concept from Norse mythology? Kind of
  • The coral was found as part of the Great Reef Census, which encourages citizen scientists to collect data.
    Richard Fitzpatrick/Citizens of the Reef
    World’s largest coral colony discovered off Australian coast by mother-daughter team

Paleontology

Show all

  • <em>Spinosaurus mirabilis</em> snaring the coelacanth <em>Mawsonia</em> some 95 million years ago from a river in northern Africa in what is now the Sahara Desert in Niger. A scimitar-shaped head crest and interdigitating teeth characterize this wading giant, one of the last-surviving spinosaurid species
    Dani Navarro/University of Chicago
    Newly discovered ‘hell heron’ adds evidence in longstanding dinosaur debate
  • Artist impression of what Prototaxites would have look like in life
    Matt Humpage
    The largest life-form on land 400 million years ago was one that scientists can’t explain
  • Tyrannosaurus rex is known as the king of the dinosaurs.
    Roger Harris/Science Photo Library RF/Getty Images
    Fossil analysis changes what paleontologists know about how long T. rex took to grow full size
  • For the first time, bees were recorded using bones to nest and lay eggs in a Caribbean cave.
    Courtesy of Lazaro Viñola López
    Discovery of ancient bee nests in fossils points to a never-before-seen behavior
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