News archive
December 2024
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251 articles
- December 31
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- Massive Antarctic icebergs' split from glaciers may be unrelated to climate change
- 10 amazing things we found on Mars in 2024, from hundreds of 'spiders' to a 'Martian dog'
- 10 of the strangest medical cases from 2024
- Earth from space: 'Lake of clouds' appears between volcanic nesting dolls in Russia via rare mirror-like phenomenon
- December 30
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- 10 jaw-dropping space photos that defined 2024
- There's a weird, disappearing dark spot on Saturn's moon Enceladus
- This red giant star has starspots larger than the entire sun
- Potentially habitable planet TRAPPIST-1b may have a carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere
- 2,000-year-old RSVP: A birthday invitation from the Roman frontier that has the earliest known Latin written by a woman
- Could we ever retrieve memories from a dead person's brain?
- What's the difference between an active, dormant and extinct volcano?
- A sea monster with its head on its butt? 10 times we were completely wrong about dinosaur-age creatures
- December 29
- December 28
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- Our favorite space stories of 2024 — from lost planets to human-caused meteor showers
- Hairy giant tarantula: The monster among mini tarantulas with 'feather duster' legs
- Do blind people 'see' images in their dreams?
- Sunlight shapes our evolution — and may explain why some people have curly hair
- Why do we add fluoride to drinking water, and is it safe?
- December 27
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- 10 times space missions went very wrong in 2024
- Climate change is the worst. Here's just how bad it got this year.
- From orcas with salmon hats to the resurrection of the mammoths — this year in animal news
- Kawah Ijen: The volcano in Indonesia that holds the world's largest acidic lake at its heart
- What is quantum supremacy?
- December 26
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- Early human ancestor 'Lucy' was a bad runner, and this one tendon could explain why
- Editor's picks: 2024's most exciting technology advancements
- The most important and shocking climate stories of 2024
- Frosted branch angiitis: A rare eye condition that makes the retina look like a frosted tree
- Scientists still don't fully understand why some planets have hundreds of moons while others have none
- December 25
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- NASA's Hubble and Chandra telescopes discover a strange 'sideways' black hole in a cosmic crime scene
- Astronomers spot an enormous explosion from the 1st black hole ever photographed
- Venomous pit viper devouring a frog as it takes its final breath captured in gruesome photo
- 'Vulva stone' and coin jewelry among remarkable treasures discovered at Viking burial site in Norway
- From 'the last Neanderthal' to sacrifices in Peru: Our biggest archaeology stories of 2024
- These endangered whales can live up to 150 years — twice as long as previously thought
- James Webb Space Telescope catches monster black hole napping after 'overeating' in the early universe
- Diagnostic dilemma: Doctors find 27 contact lenses in woman's eye ahead of routine surgery
- Auroras could light up the skies on Christmas, thanks to a powerful solar flare heading toward Earth
- December 24
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- These insects keep evolving to look like sticks. Why?
- Drastic Antarctic sea ice loss could fuel extreme weather in years ahead
- Parker Solar Probe survives historic closest-ever flyby of the sun, NASA confirms
- 'Like nothing we've seen before': James Webb telescope spies a mysterious asteroid-comet hybrid lurking past Jupiter
- Is the moon a planet?
- We actually have trillions of 'body clocks,' not just one. Here's how they all work together.
- Near-unlimited EV range now a possibility thanks to surprising new technology — solar paint
- 1,800-year-old gold ring with 'Venus the Victorious' carving discovered in France
- How did the ancient Egyptians celebrate the new year?
- Middle children are more agreeable, humble and honest than siblings, new study suggests. The baby of the family would like a word.
- Earth from space: Strange phenomena create festive decorations on Iraq's 'Christmas tree lake'
- December 23
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- There's a massive fault hidden under America's highest mountain — and we finally know how it formed
- Some schizophrenia cases stem from malformations of the skull, study suggests
- 1,500-year-old tomb in Peru holds human sacrifices, including strangled son next to father's remains, genetic analysis reveals
- Kilauea volcano enters fourth eruption phase: Watch LIVE
- Why are you more likely to catch a cold in winter?
- 'There's no real competitor': Theoretical physicist Marika Taylor on how black holes could help us to find a theory of everything
- Watch Chinese satellite burn up over US in spectacular 'fireball'
- Oldest sinew bowstrings ever found in Europe have been hiding in Spain's 'Bat Cave' for 7,000 years
- 10 supercharged solar storms that blew us away in 2024
- Lasers powered by sunlight could beam energy through space to support interplanetary missions
- 'Mathematically perfect' star system discovered 105 light-years from Earth may still be in its infancy. Could that change its prospects for life?
- Queen Puabi's lyre: A bull-headed music maker played for Mesopotamian royalty 4,500 years ago
- How does E. coli get into food?
- December 22
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- NASA's Parker Solar Probe will reach its closest-ever point to the sun on Christmas Eve
- MIT's massive database of 8,000 new AI-generated EV designs could shape how the future of cars look
- 'Rising temperatures melted corpses out of the Antarctic permafrost': The rise of one of Earth's most iconic trees in an uncertain world
- Space photo of the week: James Webb and Chandra spot a cosmic 'Christmas Wreath' sparkling in the galaxy next door
- Do black holes really evaporate — and how do we know?
- December 21
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- James Webb telescope solves 20-year-old Hubble conundrum — and it could finally explain why the universe's oldest planets exist
- Leaf sheep: The adorable solar-powered sea slug that looks like Shaun the Sheep
- Why do iguanas fall from trees in Florida?
- Future robots could one day tell how you're feeling by measuring your sweat, scientists say
- What if the Persians had defeated Alexander the Great?
- Watch Greenland lose 563 cubic miles of ice in under 30 seconds in disturbing new time-lapse video
- 'Mirror life forms' may sound like science fiction, but scientists warn they could be deadly to humans and destroy the environment
- Science news this week: Killer squirrels and an unexpected amulet
- December 20
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- Scientists discover 2 stars dancing around the Milky Way's black hole — and they could point to a type of planet never seen before
- Syphilis originated in the Americas, ancient DNA shows, but European colonialism spread it widely
- 'Mystery disease' in Congo turned out to be malaria — and potentially, another disease
- Ancient volcanic ash on Mars could offer new clues in search for extraterrestrial life
- 188 medieval figurines that held Christian saints' bones unearthed in Berlin's oldest town square
- 'Murder hornets' eradicated from US — but officials say they'll keep 'an eye out' for more
- Scientists peered into a secret Antarctic lake hidden beneath the ice — and uncovered a never-before-seen ecosystem
- Denmark Strait cataract: The world's largest waterfall, hidden underwater and unlike any other on land
- Avian influenza: Bird flu spread triggers state of emergency in California
- Ancient Assyrian capital that's been abandoned for 2,700 years revealed in new magnetic survey
- Meteor strikes on the moon! Astronomer captures possible Geminid lunar impacts
- Watch adorable birdlike robot waddle, fall down and leap into flight — it could change how drones take off forever
- December 19
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- Large Hadron Collider finds 1st evidence of the heaviest antimatter particle yet
- James Webb telescope uncovers massive 'grand design' spiral galaxy in the early universe — and scientists can't explain how it got so big, so fast
- 'Alien plant' fossil discovered near Utah ghost town doesn't belong to any known plant families, living or extinct
- 'Truly extraordinary' ancient offerings, including statues of snakes and a child priest, found submerged in 'healing' spring in Italy
- Killer squirrels have developed taste for flesh — and voles are running for their lives
- Rare army general and chariot unearthed among China's Terracotta Warriors
- NASA commander Suni Williams meets tentacled Astrobee robot on ISS
- Fatal familial insomnia: A genetic condition where people never sleep again
- December 18
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- Person in Louisiana hospitalized with H5N1 in nation's 1st severe case
- Centuries-old floor patched with sliced bones discovered in the Netherlands
- Surprise discovery in alien planet's atmosphere could upend decades of planet formation theory
- 'I knew they were something special': New York homeowner discovers mastodon jaw fossils in backyard
- NASA astronauts' return to Earth delayed until at least 'late March' 2025
- Scientists say sprinkling diamond dust into the sky could offset almost all of climate change so far — but it'll cost $175 trillion
- James Webb telescope spies stunning 'Firefly Sparkle' galaxy — a baby clone of the Milky Way being 'assembled brick by brick' in the early universe
- 13 ancient Egyptian mummies found with gold tongues to help them talk in the afterlife
- New study confirms the moon is older than we realized — and reveals why we previously got it wrong
- 270 million-year-old saber-toothed predator from 'ghost' lineage looked like a bald dog
- 40-year-old 'mega' iceberg — the largest on Earth — is on the move after being trapped in a giant vortex for months
- Diagnostic dilemma: A man's penis was turning to bone
- December 17
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- 'She was waiting for a 1-in-a-million match': Alabama woman is the 3rd patient to ever get a pig kidney
- The position of the magnetic north pole is officially changing. Why?
- Scientists followed a mysterious signal — and found 2 black holes gorging on something like never before
- 7,000-year-old alien-like figurine from Kuwait a 'total surprise' to archaeologists
- We might have been completely wrong about the origin of Saturn's rings, new study claims
- Weird lickable lollipop invention lets you taste in virtual reality
- Earth from space: Antarctica's 'Deception Island' is one of the only places on Earth where you can sail into an active volcano
- December 16
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- 4,000-year-old bones reveal 'unprecedented' violence — tongue removal, cannibalism and evisceration in Bronze Age Britain
- NASA solves 44-year-old mystery of why Jupiter's Io is so volcanically active
- Bat poop used to grow cannabis kills 2 in New York in unusual cases
- Worst die-off of a single species in the modern era discovered — and 'the blob' was to blame
- Radiation-resistant 'extremophile' microbe dubbed 'Conan the Bacterium' inspires new antioxidant
- Henry the giant crocodile, who has sired 10,000 babies, celebrates 124th birthday
- World's 1st nuclear-diamond battery of its kind could power devices for 1000s of years
- After accident crash on Mars, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter could live on as a weather station for 20 years
- Sutton Hoo helmet: A gold- and jewel-encrusted relic with ties to Beowulf and a lost Anglo-Saxon king
- Do atoms ever touch?
- December 15
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- 1,800-year-old silver amulet could rewrite history of Christianity in the early Roman Empire
- Oldest firearms ever found in US were abandoned by Spanish in 16th-century battle against Native Americans
- James Webb telescope spots more than 100 new asteroids between Jupiter and Mars — and some are heading toward Earth
- Ursid meteor shower 2024: Where and when to see the final meteor shower of the year
- Space photo of the week: The sun's corona blooms during back-to-back solar eclipses
- Could monkeys really type the complete works of Shakespeare?
- December 14
- December 13
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- 35,000-year-old 'tortoise shell' carving may be Holy Land's oldest evidence of ritual behavior
- Just a fraction of the hydrogen hidden beneath Earth's surface could power Earth for 200 years, scientists find
- Simple vaping 'quitline' can help over 40% of young people quit, study finds
- 'Like they were demon possessed': Geomagnetic super storms are causing tractors to dance from side to side across US farms — and the sun is to blame
- The gut 'remodels' itself during pregnancy, study finds
- Nearby exoplanet has grown a tail 44 times longer than Earth — and it's acting like a giant 'stellar windsock'
- Marble Caves: Chile's ethereal turquoise caverns with 'mineral ice cream' on the walls
- Stealth destroyer 1st to carry hypersonic missiles that travel 5 times the speed of sound — with testing imminent
- China aims to be 1st to bring samples back from Mars
- Why does Earth look flat if it's really round?
- December 12
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- Burials of 28 people Andrew Jackson enslaved found at his Hermitage plantation in Tennessee
- How does fluoride prevent cavities?
- Satellites reveal stunningly detailed maps of Earth's seafloors
- Our sun may be overdue for a 'superflare' stronger than billions of atomic bombs, new research warns
- Modern human ancestors and Neanderthals mated during a 7,000-year-long 'pulse,' 2 new studies reveal
- Scientists spot 'L-shaped structures' and 'weird things' near monster black hole in epic new Hubble telescope images
- Flesh-eating human parasite sweeping across Central America is raising concerns in US — what to know
- 4 biologists awarded Germany's most prestigious scientific award, worth 2.5 million euros
- What are 'attachment styles,' and is there science to back them up?
- 'Drones' swarm New Jersey and New York. How close are we to learning what these UAPs actually are?
- Comets played a 'major' role in making life on Earth possible, new study hints
- Angelman syndrome: A disorder that stops people walking and speaking
- December 11
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- 'We know so little': Bizarre 'runaway' planets discovered by James Webb telescope may be failed stars in disguise
- Stone Age 'CSI': Archaeologists identify a family killed in a house fire nearly 6 millennia ago
- Black hole paradox that stumped Stephen Hawking may have a solution, new paper claims
- 'Medicine needed an alternative': How the 'phage whisperer' aims to replace antibiotics with viruses
- New mRNA injection is step forward in 'quest' to find preeclampsia cure
- Watch Chinese security robot with wheels for feet scramble down hills and perform acrobatics
- Mysterious, repeating radio bursts from space may finally have an explanation
- Diagnostic dilemma: A woman got 'broken heart syndrome' after eating too much wasabi
- Earth from space: Otherworldly stripes and shadowy dunes share center stage in 'hottest place on Earth'
- Male humpback whale crossed 3 oceans for sex, inadvertently breaking distance record for species
- December 10
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- Ritually bent Bronze Age sword unearthed in Danish bog is 'very rare find'
- Infamous 'sofa problem' that boggled mathematicians for decades may finally have a solution
- New thunderstorms wider than Earth are spewing out green lightning on Jupiter — and could make one of the gas giant's massive bands disappear
- Ancient 'land bridge' that connected Siberia to US wasn't what it seems, scientists find
- Large, ghostly white crab-like predator discovered at the bottom of the Atacama Trench
- New quantum computing milestone smashes entanglement world record
- How long does it take to travel to the moon?
- December 9
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- New RSV drug for babies is over 90% effective at preventing hospitalization
- Possible bust of Cleopatra VII found at ancient Egyptian temple
- New study reveals how ancient 'sky disc' was made, squashing claims it was a forgery
- 13 proteins tied to brain aging seem to spike at ages 57, 70 and 78
- Google 'Willow' quantum chip has solved a problem the best supercomputer would have taken a quadrillion times the age of the universe to crack
- 1,500-year-old Anglo-Saxon burial holds a 'unique' mystery — a Roman goblet once filled with pig fat
- James Webb telescope confirms we have no idea why the universe is growing the way it is
- Philippines volcanic eruption: Kanlaon volcano 'may progress to further explosive eruptions'
- Roman scutum: An 1,800-year-old shield dropped by a Roman soldier who likely died in battle
- 'An existential threat affecting billions': Three-quarters of Earth's land became permanently drier in last 3 decades
- December 8
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- Cold Moon 2024: Watch the final full moon of the year rise with Jupiter this weekend
- Mysterious fast radio bursts could be caused by asteroids slamming into dead stars
- Scientists reveal genes that make cats orange
- 'It explains why our ability to focus has gone to hell': Screens are assaulting our Stone Age brains with more information than we can handle
- Did Venus ever have oceans to support life, or was it 'born hot'?
- Space photo of the week: Astronaut spots 2 nearby galaxies from SpaceX capsule
- What does a weather report of 30% chance of rain mean?
- December 7
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- You're born with most of your neurons — but the brain makes some mysterious new ones in adulthood
- Turuchan pika: The adorable ball of fluff that just loves to play
- Destroyed observatory helped SETI unlock the secrets of 'cosmic lighthouses' powered by dead stars
- World's 1st mechanical qubit uses no light or electronics. It could lead to ultra-precise gravity-sensing tech.
- Do cats communicate with their tails?
- 'A challenge and an opportunity for evolution': The extreme, hidden life thriving in Earth's most acidic and alkaline lakes
- December 6
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- Raw milk from US dairies must now be tested for bird flu
- Rock found by a 6-year-old on a beach is actually a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal ax
- Gut microbiome may have fueled the growth of humans' big brains, study suggests
- NASA delays historic Artemis missions — yet again
- 'Eight billion bucks or bust': From pirates to 'stupid mistakes' — the wild story of how James Webb Space Telescope almost failed to launch
- 100th woman in space, Emily Calandrelli, stands up to 'small men' on the internet: 'I should have expected this.'
- Most expensive dinosaur skeleton ever now on display in New York City
- 'Mega momma' great white shark killed on drumline may reveal secrets about iconic predator
- Fossil Forest, Dorset: England's 145 million-year-old tree stump fossils preserved by ancient microbes
- World's 2nd fastest supercomputer runs largest-ever simulation of the universe
- Tiny spoons could have measured out ancient Roman drugs, researchers suggest — but evidence is sparse
- Why do worms come out in the rain?
- December 5
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- Massive magnitude 7 earthquake strikes off California coast
- A single gene mutation could enable H5N1 to spread between people, study finds
- 'It looks like smoke': Mysterious chimneys spewing shimmering liquid discovered at the bottom of the Dead Sea
- Scientists make 1-of-a-kind immune cells to guard transplants from attack
- A third of Earth's species could become extinct by 2100 if climate change isn't curbed
- Miniature black holes could be hollowing out planets and zipping through our bodies, new study claims
- Scientists discover revolutionary method that makes fuel from water and sunlight — but it's not finished yet
- What's the difference between a cold and the flu?
- Large language models can be squeezed onto your phone — rather than needing 1000s of servers to run — after breakthrough
- Rare gold 'Brutus' coin minted after Julius Caesar's murder is up for auction
- Acromegaly: A disease that causes adults to grow uncontrollably
- December 4
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- The Geminid meteor shower peaks tonight! How to see the year's last big display of 'shooting stars' before it's too late.
- Early Americans ate tons of mammoth, 13,000-year-old bones from Clovis culture baby reveal
- 'Spectacular' asteroid blazes over Siberia just hours after it was detected
- WHO is investigating mystery illness behind 12 dozen deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Strange pile of Stone Age skulls unearthed in Italian village baffles archaeologists
- We are fast approaching the sun's 'battle zone' — and it could be even worse than solar maximum, experts warn
- Babies' brain activity changes dramatically before and after birth, groundbreaking study finds
- Extremely rare, black 'anti-auroras' paint luminous 'letter E' above Alaska
- 'Ominous milestone for the planet': Arctic Ocean's 1st ice-free day could be just 3 years away, alarming study finds
- 'Accidental discovery' creates candidate for universal memory — a weird semiconductor that consumes a billion times less power
- 'Cataclysmic' solar storm hit Earth around 2687 years ago, ancient tree rings reveal
- Diagnostic dilemma: A woman cleaned her fish tank and ended up in the hospital
- Dramatic photo captures moment giant bird closes hidden 3rd eyelid while snatching locust from mid-air
- 5,000-year-old artifacts in Iraq hint at mysterious collapse of one of the world's 1st governments
- December 3
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- James Webb Space Telescope smashes its own record to find the earliest galaxies that ever existed
- Scientists reveal 'neural tourniquet' that can stop bleeding with nerve stimulation
- 1,600-year-old burials in Crimea hold gold and silver jewelry from 'rich women'
- Doctors discover live worms growing under a woman's eyelid in China
- Massive, 'potentially hazardous' asteroid due to make closest-ever approach to Earth tonight — and you can watch it live
- Future wearable devices could draw power through your body using background 6G cellphone signals
- Earth from space: Crimea's 'putrid sea' creates beautiful rainbow of color but smells like rotten eggs
- December 2
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- New, big-headed archaic humans discovered: Who is Homo juluensis?
- 'Electronic' scalp tattoos could be next big thing in brain monitoring
- 2,100-year-old temple from ancient Egypt discovered hidden in cliff face
- Babylonian tablet preserves student's 4,000-year-old geometry mistake
- 'Exceptionally rare' 1,500-year-old Roman helmet found in chief's burial in Denmark
- December 1
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- Time moves faster on the moon, new study of Einstein's relativity shows
- Canada wants your help to name its 1st moon rover
- Meet 'Chameleon' – an AI model that can protect you from facial recognition thanks to a sophisticated digital mask
- Space photo of the week: James Webb telescope spots a secret star factory in the Sombrero Galaxy
- Can you get high from poppy seeds?
