Using the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope aboard NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, astronomers have detected hydroxyl (OH) gas — a chemical fingerprint of water — from the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS. Stacked images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS acquired with the Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope aboard NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory: the first were obtained on July 31...

The leading hypotheses for the origin of the Moon call for a giant impact event between proto-Earth and a separate impactor called Theia. The efficiency of mixing material among these two planetary bodies remains a subject of debate. Inefficient mixing during this process could leave behind remnants of the composition of the proto-Earth and/or Theia. The sulfur isotope composition of primordial components...

The transport of Rapa Nui’s (Easter Island) monumental moai statues has been debated for over a century. Based on a systematic analysis of 962 moai, with a focus on 62 road statues, combined with 3D modeling and field experiments, Binghamton University Professor Carl Lipo and University of Arizona’s Dr. Terry Hunt demonstrated that small groups of the ancient people of Rapa Nui likely used rope...

A new genus and species of hadrosaurid dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period in what is now New Mexico has been identified and named by paleontologists from the United States and Slovak Republic. Life reconstruction of Ahshislesaurus wimani based on the holotype and closely related species. Image credit: Sergey Krasovskiy. “Hadrosauridae, a family of large herbivorous dinosaurs, were...

Scientists have resurrected ancient microbes from permafrost cores of Late-Pleistocene age (up to 40,000 years old) collected from four locations within the Permafrost Research Tunnel near Fairbanks, Alaska. They’ve found that the microbes in thawing subsurface permafrost exhibit a slow ‘reawakening’ at first, but within six months the microbial community undergoes dramatic changes. Abundance...

Ice at minus 10 degrees Celsius releases more iron from common minerals than liquid water at 4 degrees Celsius, according to a team of researchers from Umeå University, the Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes and CNRS. This discovery could help explain why many Arctic rivers are now turning rusty orange as permafrost thaws in a warming climate. Schematic representation of iron mineral dissolution...

The Nordic Nutrition Recommendations 2023 emphasizes reducing meat consumption and increasing consumption of vegetables, fruits and berries, cereals, nuts, and pulses. New research from Aarhus University, Aarhus University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet and the University of Copenhagen shows that following them is directly linked to lower mortality. The food-based Nordic Nutrition Recommendations...

The second half of the first millennium CE in Central and Eastern Europe was accompanied by fundamental cultural and political transformations. This period of change is commonly associated with the appearance of the Slavs, which is supported by textual evidence and coincides with the emergence of similar archaeological horizons. However, so far there has been no consensus on whether this archaeological...

The newly-discovered mineral, named ferric hydroxysulfate, provides clues about the environment and history of the Red Planet, including the possibility of former lava, ash or hydrothermal activity. Spectrally distinct units at the Juventae Plateau, Mars. Image credit: Bishop et al., doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-61801-2. The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument aboard...

The transport of Rapa Nui’s (Easter Island) monumental moai statues has been debated for over a century. Based on a systematic analysis of 962 moai, with a focus on 62 road statues, combined with 3D modeling and field experiments, Binghamton University Professor Carl Lipo and University of Arizona’s Dr. Terry Hunt demonstrated that small groups of the ancient people of Rapa Nui likely used rope...