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By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — A new genetic analysis has revealed potential clues to the longevity secrets of a giant tortoise named Jonathan, the world’s oldest land animal. Researchers say the findings could eventually inform treatments aimed at slowing age-related cellular decline in humans. Believed to be 194 years old, Jonathan is an Aldabra

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — AI executives are betting big on biology. They say their large language models that have already dramatically changed the fields of coding and software development and mathematics can upend biological research in the same way. But one company’s attempt to do so has already set off a wave of

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The Draconid meteor shower will briefly light up the sky Thursday night — and it won’t even keep onlookers out past midnight. The shower is expected to peak at 9 p.m. ET Thursday, but depending on viewers’ location, meteors will be visible into the wee hours of Friday morning,

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Margaret Hamilton, the groundbreaking researcher who helped create the field of software engineering and whose code helped land NASA’s Apollo astronauts on the moon to win the 20th century space race, has died. She was 90. Hamilton’s former employer, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, confirmed her death in a

By Jack Guy (CNN) — Forensic examination of human remains found around the funerary complexes of Ancient Egyptian kings has uncovered evidence that they belonged to servants who were sacrificed when the monarchs died, according to a new study. The remains of these servants, or retainers, were first excavated from the funerary complexes at Abydos,

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — An uninhabited volcanic island in the Southern Ocean used to be home to the largest penguin colony in the world — but not anymore. Scientists have discovered the staggering loss of more than half a million chinstrap penguins from the isolated outcrop. Chinstrap penguins, named for the narrow band

By Issy Ronald, Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai have won the 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry for designing revolutionary experiments that replicated chemical asymmetry, a feat only previously seen in nature. Their work has solved one of the field’s enduring mysteries and advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing, the award committee said

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — The croc family tree may be getting a new branch. Analyzing fossilized remains discovered in the same bedrock that built the Great Sphinx, paleontologists newly identified a crocodilian species that once roamed a shallow sea in what’s now Egypt about 45 million years ago. The Mokattam Formation in northern

By Issy Ronald, Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The 2026 Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to Francis Halzen, a pioneering Belgian astrophysicist whose work developing a massive observatory in Antarctica to detect “ghostly” cosmic particles laid the foundations for an “entirely new type of astronomy.” These tiny, high-energy particles from space, known as

By Laura Paddison, CNN and Masoud Popalzai (CNN) — Shazia knows what life will be like in a major city that’s run out of water because she’s already living that reality — and it’s unbearable. The 34-year-old lives in the Khair Khana neighborhood of Afghanistan’s capital Kabul with her three children and her husband, who

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — In a cosmic first, scientists say they have detected a planet that may have formed from the burned remains of its dead host star. The planet is likely a gas giant orbiting a white dwarf called HS 0209+0832 located about 270 light-years from Earth, according to the authors of

By Issy Ronald, Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The 2026 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to three scientists – Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel – for their work developing a technique to decode the inner workings of the brain. This method – known as optogenetics – acts as a

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — Astronomers say they have directly detected the first-ever radio emission from a planet outside the solar system. The signal, however, is evidence of a colossal magnetic field — not intelligent life. “I know radio signals are associated with searches for extraterrestrial intelligence,” said Edo Berger, a professor of astronomy

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — US consumers are likely to face steeper prices for their morning latte, thanks to the near-record strong super El Niño still strengthening in the Pacific Ocean. El Niño is expected to combine with preexisting supply chain pressures around the world to increase prices on tropical products such as coffee,

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — As rural communities across the United States wage intensifying battles to keep AI-computing data centers out of their backyards, some tech giants are mulling methods that could sidestep such local resentment — by sending the facilities to space. There are no guarantees the technology will work, nor is it

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — The organizers of a highly regarded scientific photography contest are reviewing this year’s winning entry following criticism over the use of AI. Nikon has announced that it’s “carefully re-reviewing the information” provided by Ning Xu, whose short video of intricate cell movement won the annual Small World In Motion

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A celebrated space telescope is rapidly dipping from its once-stable orbit and falling to Earth just shy of the 22nd anniversary of its launch. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory will soon have to cease its science observations after a daring rescue mission’s attempt to boost its orbit failed over

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — The most powerful rocket ever made, SpaceX’s Starship, reached orbit for the first time on Monday, deploying operational Starlink satellites in an unprecedented step forward. The mission marked the beginning of a new era — and possibly the beginning of the end of another. As Starship flights ramp up,

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The oceans are warming at an alarming pace, bringing far-reaching consequences for which the world is unprepared, according to a report by more than 100 international scientists. The tenth Copernicus Ocean State Report, published Wednesday, draws on more than four decades of data from satellites, buoys and sensors to

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — Opening a Bible that once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, staff at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in 2011 discovered a reddish-blond hair pressed between the pages. That hair, suspected to have belonged to Jefferson himself, launched a DNA investigation spanning more than a decade that’s now providing

By Amarachi Orie, CNN (CNN) — There are two new contenders for the world’s loudest bird – and scientists are not being quiet about it. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst found that the bare-throated bellbird and the red-legged seriema both create songs at amplitudes above 120 decibels, according to a study published Tuesday

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — An unusual rock buried on the far side of the moon is providing fresh clues for a longstanding scientific puzzle: the ancient lunar magnetic field. Analyzing data from lunar probes, a team of researchers found a rock formation that was much denser and more strongly magnetized compared with the

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Months after NASA’s leadership issued a scathing indictment of Boeing’s Starliner capsule — saying the botched 2024 test flight that left two astronauts in space months longer than expected was a disaster in league with Columbia and Challenger — the space agency has revealed a new road map to

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — People near the sandy shores of Texas’ southernmost coastline are accustomed to the earth-shattering roar of the most powerful rocket ever made: Since 2023, various prototypes of SpaceX’s Starship have taken flight from the area 13 times — with nearly half ending in some form of unintended explosion. But

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Get ready for a celestial double treat. The first full moon of the fall season will reach peak illumination in the night sky this weekend — and sky-gazers will also have a chance to spot Saturn. The moon will be at its brightest at 12:49 p.m. ET Saturday, but

By Amarachi Orie, CNN (CNN) — If the sight of a spider already makes your skin crawl, you might find the two sea spider species newly discovered by scientists even more unnerving. Researchers in Canada discovered two previously unknown sea spider species during scuba dives, up to 18 meters (59 feet) deep, between September 2023

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Sea turtles usually found in the tropics have been spotted nesting on California beaches — a historical first, according to officials. Olive ridley sea turtles are one of the smallest of the sea turtles and have distinctive olive-green, heart-shaped shells. They are typically found in tropical parts of the

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Kent Hups set out one morning on a research expedition in the famed Hell Creek Formation, a series of fossil-rich sedimentary rock layers in the western United States. The vast formation, spanning parts of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and South Dakota, is abundant in Late Cretaceous dinosaur bones —

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Nearly half a million people across the world could lose their lives by February due to El Niño-driven extreme heat, according to a sobering new report. El Niño, a natural climate pattern which typically ramps up global temperature, has now crossed into super-sized territory and is on its way

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Charred to a crisp during Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in AD 79, hundreds of papyrus scrolls lie tucked away unread in Italy’s National Library of Naples. The majority of these carbonized artifacts, known as the Herculaneum scrolls, are so fragile that they can’t be physically unrolled. Now, researchers and citizen

By Deblina Chakraborty, CNN (CNN) — The moon’s surface experienced a violent encounter with a comet or an asteroid — and has a massive battle scar to prove it. The space rock, estimated to be the size of building reaching between three and six stories, slammed into the moon’s eastern edge two years ago, between

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — When birds are chirping, humans may feel a little more at ease. But some bird vocalizations seem to strike a particularly pleasing chord with human ears — and scientists are beginning to understand why. For much of our evolutionary history, the sounds of birds going about their business may

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — A new analysis of the road network of the Roman Empire has dispelled the enduring myth that all roads lead to Rome, showing instead that other important cities — such as Constantinople, or modern-day Istanbul — were more central in the network. “When we look at all terrestrial transport

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Scientists said they have detected an unexpected and prolonged increase in seismic activity at North Korea’s sprawling Punggye-ri nuclear test site since the country’s final and most powerful test in 2017. North Korea conducted six underground tests between 2006 and 2017 at the site at Mount Mantap in North

By Amarachi Orie, CNN (CNN) — If, like Elon Musk, you have been dreaming of a future in which large populations of humans can live on the moon, you’re likely to be disappointed. Even though there could be trillions of pounds of water trapped inside tiny glass beads spread across the lunar surface, scientists estimate

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The water cycle you were taught in school is being thrown off balance by fossil fuel pollution, bringing a host of dangerous consequences including shrinking rivers, disappearing glaciers and wild swings between floods and drought, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s annual analysis of global freshwater. The water cycle

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The catastrophic August flooding on the Nepal-China border was influenced by a complex cascade of factors, many of which were worsened by human-driven climate change, according to a new scientific analysis by more than 20 international experts. The region is still grappling with the aftermath of the devastating rock-ice

By Kate S. Petersen, CNN (CNN) — A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill is pushing back on a seismic shift in US environmental regulation that experts say exposes previously protected endangered species’ habitats to destruction from land use such as logging and real estate development. In July, the Trump administration repealed a 50-year-old

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Scientists have suspected for nearly 60 years that Tyrannosaurus rex was warm-blooded. When a fossilized footprint of T. rex turned up in Alaska in 2022, it added to the evidence that these predators could thrive in frigid environments, where most cold-blooded reptiles could not. Now, researchers have put a

By Molly Finlay, Charlotte Reck, CNN (CNN) — A stunning video capturing intricate cell movement in a child living with a rare genetic disorder has won the 16th annual Nikon Small World in Motion competition. Using an advanced microscopic imaging tool, Ning Xu of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, observed the abnormal beating of airway

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Tiny feathers encased in fossilized poop are helping scientists understand why some birds made it through the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs and others did not. Unearthed in Montana, the feathery find belonged to a bird that had once been devoured and excreted by a predatory dinosaur

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration has finalized the repeal of regulations that limit the amount of planet-heating pollution coal and gas-fired power plants are allowed to produce, the latest step in a sweeping effort to dismantle climate and clean air protections. The announcement was made Monday at a meeting of G20

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — An international team of scientists says it has detected an intriguing signal that could hint at evidence of dark matter, offering a clue that might bring the mystery of the elusive substance one step closer to a solution. Dark matter makes up about 85% of all the matter in

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The prehistoric remains of two foragers found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi contain telltale signs that humans began using a mind-altering drug thousands of years earlier than known. The betel nut, a fruit seed from the areca palm, is considered the fourth most widely used psychoactive substance in

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — In the arid, inhospitable climate of western Iran’s Zagros Mountains, life has found a remarkable way to survive. Circling above, a bird glimpses what at first glance looks like a plump spider climbing on the rocks. But as the avian predator swoops in, it becomes the prey as something

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — As blistering temperatures baked London this summer, people started to notice strange things happening to their houses: zig-zagging cracks suddenly appeared across walls, doors got stuck, windows warped. Extreme heat brings many problems for a country not built for it: Schools close, train tracks buckle and — it turns

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Telltale wrinkles that cover Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, suggest it was once a larger world that has shrunk in size — and it may be shrinking more than scientists realized. The smallest planet in our solar system is about 36 million miles (58 million kilometers) from

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — Earth just had its hottest August on record and tied the benchmark for the hottest month ever recorded since at least 1940, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European climate monitoring agency. The global average temperature during August was 62.53 degrees Fahrenheit (16.96 Celsius), which was 1.53

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — The United States just had its hottest summer in 132 years of recordkeeping, soundly beating the summer of 1936 — during the Dust Bowl era — as well as the summer of 2021, according to data released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Previously, those two years

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Archaeologists excavating a cave in southwestern China have unearthed fossilized remains that belonged to an enigmatic population of extinct hominins, revealing new details about their long-lost way of life. The new haul — which includes four teeth, part of an arm bone and two skull fragments — brings the

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Wildfires are ripping across parts of Indonesia, destroying precious peatland and smothering the country in a toxic smoke so thick, people are struggling to breathe. With months of wildfire season still remaining, experts warn this could end up one of the country’s worst. Blazes have been raging for many

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The largest dinosaurs that ever lived were able to reproduce at high latitudes — or regions far from the equator — and came up with a clever strategy to keep their eggs warm, a study of a trove of titanosaur eggs unearthed in Argentina has revealed. Most titanosaur eggs

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — The sea level along California’s coast will increase by about a foot by mid-October due to the influence of El Niño, which is driving a large volume of water northward from offshore of Mexico and Central America. This water is coming in the form of a coastal “Kelvin wave,”

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — One company has a simple-sounding plan to help save the planet: take a food additive and the mineral that makes eggshells hard, produce tiny particles out of them, spray them into the atmosphere and cool the world. Stardust Solutions, an Israeli-US company founded in 2023 and led by two

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — President Donald Trump is proposing the creation of a “United States Space Academy” designed to offer the same type of tuition-free, four-year degree as US military academies. But rather than requiring active-duty military service, graduates of this federally funded university may fulfill their post-graduation obligations by working at NASA

By Amarachi Orie, CNN (CNN) — The mundane work of clearing grass and stones in a backyard has led to the discovery of Denmark’s largest known hoard of Viking Age silver. The finder, a man based in the northern Danish municipality of Rebild who wishes to remain anonymous, was preparing his garden for the construction

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — A miles-long microalgae bloom in the Mediterranean Sea has been blamed for temporarily knocking offline many of Israel’s major desalination plants this week, threatening its main source of drinking water. Five of the country’s six coastal desalination plants — which convert seawater into drinkable water — shut down on

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Think of scientific research and you may picture white lab coats, microscopes or arrays of high-end equipment — but the reality is sometimes very different. Around the world, scientists are working in less stereotypical environments on unusual research projects, such as gently stepping on different parts of a venomous

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — An ambitious mission to reveal the secrets of the least explored planet in the inner solar system is taking the initial big step in arrival at its cosmic destination after a lengthy journey. The BepiColombo mission, a joint effort between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — In January 2025, the Trump administration cut off funding for a long-running natural hazards program that aimed to identify and monitor landslide hotspots in Nepal. While the program would not have been able to prevent the disaster that happened this past week, it represented a first step towards making

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Hunters wiped out thylacines, commonly known as Tasmanian tigers, in Australia nearly a century ago. But a myth about these shy, semi-nocturnal predators may have been behind the species’ extinction. Thylacines had a strong resemblance to wolves — so much so that they were given the species name cynocephalus,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A massive observatory that scientists have called a “discovery machine” has launched toward the cosmos, beginning a journey that could mark a significant shift in our understanding of the universe. Designed to seek out otherwise invisible and faint space objects, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope lifted off aboard

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — During a visit to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory three years ago, I stepped into a blinding white room. There, I came face-to-face with a space instrument that could one day be used to search for evidence of life beyond Earth. Each person who enters the clean room at the

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Living in the shadow of the world’s spectacular, ice-capped mountains has always carried dangers, but the devastating flood wave that carved a path of destruction on the Nepal-China border this week shows how life for the millions worldwide who live downstream of these peaks is becoming more unpredictable and

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — The climate pattern that drives El Niño is becoming more erratic as the planet warms, and El Niño itself is becoming more intense, according to a comprehensive new study published Thursday. The research sheds new light on the developing Super El Niño gathering strength in the tropical Pacific, which

By Amen Galinato, CNN (CNN) — August’s full sturgeon moon will align with a partial lunar eclipse, producing a stunning cosmic sight for sky-gazers. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth’s shadow, or umbra, falls upon the moon. When the umbra darkens the entire lunar orb, it creates a total lunar eclipse. But when there

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Clues emerging from DNA could unlock the mystery of human ancestors that are missing from the fossil record yet present in the genes of people living today. Scientists found evidence years ago that our species, Homo sapiens, had interbred with now-extinct human relatives, including Neanderthals and Denisovans. But some

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX on Tuesday unveiled plans to construct a massive, $100 billion spaceport in Louisiana, where the company plans to launch its gargantuan Starship rocket thousands of times per year. Construction of the spaceport is expected to begin by the end of next year near the southern coast of Louisiana’s

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Last week the Trump administration announced major cuts to the water Arizona, California and Nevada can take from the drought-stricken Colorado River; this week Nevada sued, calling the plan “fundamentally flawed.” It marks what could be the first of many complex and lengthy legal wrangles over the crucial waterway

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — In February 1998, almost a year’s worth of rain fell in downtown Los Angeles, as a series of powerful Pacific storms rocked California amid a “Super” El Niño. Deadly landslides struck Southern and Central California, wiping out hillside homes, and powerful waves pounded the state’s shoreline. These waves destroyed

By Jackie Wattles, Simone McCarthy, CNN (CNN) — The anticipated launch of China’s robotic Chang’e-7 mission, designed to scour the moon’s south pole for water ice — a highly valuable resource that the US also hopes to use — “cannot take place during the planned window this year,” according to a statement from the China

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — For the second week in a row, Hawaii is in the crosshairs of an intensifying tropical storm. As of 5 a.m. ET, Tropical Storm Moke was located 545 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The storm was moving to the west-northwest at 8

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Arizona, California and Nevada will be forced to make deep cuts to the water they draw from the imperiled Colorado River under a new two-year operating plan published Friday, intended to help stave off an escalating crisis in the beleaguered waterway. The long-awaited plan from the Department of the

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — A 400-year-old grave held the body of a young woman, the rusted blade of a sickle over her throat and a padlock fastened to her foot — the macabre signs of a community terrified the deceased would rise again. Archaeologists unearthed Zosia, as the skeleton was nicknamed, from an

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Mars has two tiny moons that lack a confirmed origin story for how they came to orbit the red planet — but new research may explain some of the mysteries surrounding outermost satellite Deimos. Named for the son of the Greek god Ares, Deimos, which means dread in ancient

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A satellite called LINK that recently launched to boost the orbit of a falling space observatory won’t be able to carry out its daring rescue mission after all. NASA’s decades-old Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is steadily losing altitude and in danger of reentering Earth’s atmosphere. Designed by Arizona-based Katalyst

By Jackie Wattles, Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — New images from a NASA satellite orbiting the moon reveal a fresh, 60-foot-wide crater formed by a wayward SpaceX rocket that slammed into the lunar surface earlier this month. The crash involved the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket that originally launched on January 15, 2025,

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, provides water and electricity to millions in the West. It has now has shrunk to its lowest level on record, in the latest sign of the alarming crisis unfolding on the drought-stricken Colorado River. 🌧️ Get your local forecast in

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — A faint ribbon of stars in a distant galaxy has led astronomers to a discovery that could reveal secrets about one of our universe’s greatest mysteries. Hidden within the Hubble Space Telescope’s archival data, researchers found the barely visible trail of stars — the first globular cluster stellar stream

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — If Wednesday’s total solar eclipse sparked your excitement for viewing a stellar spectacle, pull on your traveling boots and start booking accommodations. A multitude of total solar eclipses will occur across far-flung locales over the next decade — and next year’s celestial event promises to be one of the

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — There is a nearly 70% chance that the building Super El Niño will be the strongest such event on record, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast released Thursday. Previously, NOAA had been projecting that this event would likely rank “Among the largest El Niño events in

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — It’s something every dog owner knows — but now we have the science to prove it: Dogs really can tell when we’re happy or sad. Scientists have scanned the brains of dogs to reveal how they process various human expressions, including happiness, sadness, anger and fear, according to a

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Longtime NASA astronaut Mike Fincke is stepping away from his role at the space agency. The news comes months after he experienced a medical emergency aboard the International Space Station, which forced a premature end to the journey for him and three crewmates. Fincke’s last day at the space

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The grand stellar spectacle of the year — a total solar eclipse — dazzled the skies over parts of Europe on Wednesday. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and Earth, casting a shadow on our planet that completely blocks the sun’s light from

By Amen Galinato, CNN Some sky-gazers may see a dazzling meteor shower coincide with a total solar eclipse in a rare celestial alignment this week. The Perseid meteor shower will be visible on Wednesday night and before dawn Thursday morning, reaching its expected peak — or point of maximum meteor activity — on Thursday at

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration is ending federal support for the flagship annual report on the state of the Arctic and how the region is changing due to climate pollution, according to two people familiar with the situation. The Arctic Report Card has been supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric

By Andrew Freedman, CNN (CNN) — July was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States, according to data released Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The month featured long, intense heat domes that led to record hot temperatures from the East Coast to the Plains and Southwestern states. NOAA’s temperature records

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Michael Zeiler is currently aboard the expedition ship Ocean Explorer, heading to the fjords of Greenland to view the upcoming total solar eclipse on Wednesday. The veteran eclipse chaser has an ambitious goal: to make the first-ever observation of an aurora during solar eclipse totality. He also said he

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Rome (CNN) — Italian spear fisherman and diver Giacomo De Mola couldn’t believe his eyes when what he thought was an underwater rock turned out to be the wreck of a 2,000-year-old Roman transport vessel off the coast of Sicily. De Mola and fellow spear fisherman and diver Igor Bisulli

By Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — The first two months of summer in western Europe have been the hottest on record, the European Union’s climate monitor said Monday, as the continent grapples with devastating wildfires and braces for yet another heatwave. The average temperature for June and July was 21.62 degrees Celsius (70.9 Fahrenheit), about

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A daring mission to rescue one of NASA’s crucial space observatories from falling to Earth has encountered issues of its own — but there may still be hope for both spacecraft to beat the odds. The Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has served as an astrophysics multitool in low-Earth orbit

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A gravity-defying competition that brewed in the background of geopolitics for decades is now roaring to the forefront — with China demonstrating rapid advances in space technology and the United States ratcheting up rhetoric about a looming battle for control of the cosmos. In the past five years alone,

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has fallen to a record low — yet another sign that the Colorado River system is spiraling further into crisis. Water levels on Thursday in Lake Mead dropped to 1,040.5 feet, below the previous record low of 1,040.58 feet set

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — An ambitious effort to boost an aging probe on its journey through the uncharted territory of interstellar space seems to have found success. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have spent the last few months implementing what they nicknamed the “Big Bang” fix to buy the

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — The skies of Oklahoma City roared for six months in 1964 as military aircraft intentionally rattled the population below with a daily barrage of thunderous sonic booms. It was a controversial test — the consequences of which have lingered to this day. The booms — 1,253 in total —

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The world’s most powerful solar telescope has captured the highest resolution observations of the sun’s visible surface — and uncovered a hidden process that drives solar activity. Scientists used the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, located near the summit of Haleakalā, a volcano on the Hawaiian

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — In the heart of urban Los Angeles lie the La Brea Tar Pits, a group of natural asphalt seeps made famous by the millions of ice age fossils preserved within the bubbling, dark pools of goo. Excavations of the pits have yielded bones of species that once roamed the

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Relentless heat and a dearth of rain are having a punishing effect on some of Europe’s most vital rivers. The waterways have tumbled to record lows in places, in a crisis so severe it can be seen from space. Stark satellite images reveal dramatically shrunken waterways weaving through parched

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — When the next hurricane heads toward Florida, some people won’t have to join the lines of traffic slowly snaking out of town. They won’t need to worry about gas, or where they should head. Instead, they will be swiftly flown out of state on a privately hired airplane. A

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — Sticky “hairs” on two plant species in the Saxifraga genus led famed British naturalist Charles Darwin to wonder: Could some plants in this genus be carnivorous? He couldn’t prove it then, but more than 150 years later, scientists have shown that Darwin’s suspicions were correct. Darwin proposed in 1875