This Mysterious 407-Million-Year-Old Fossil May Represent a Previously Unknown Branch of Life

Earth’s first large land organisms—tree trunk-like beings that stood up to 26 feet tall—weren’t early fungi but, rather, something else entirely, a study suggests

James Webb telescope peers into 'Eye of God' and finds clues to life's origins — Space photo of the week | Live Science

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the Helix Nebula, revealing intricate structures inside the nebula where a dying sunlike star is enriching the galaxy with the elements needed for life.

Science Is Drowning In AI Slop

Scientific publishing is facing a crisis as generative AI makes it easier to create and pass off fraudulent research papers. This article explores how AI is being used to generate fake citations, images, and entire papers, overwhelming the peer review process and polluting scientific discourse. It highlights the challenges faced by journals and preprint servers in detecting and filtering out AI-generated content, and warns of a potential future where most scientific papers are AI-generated and reviewed by AI, leading to a permanent epistemological pollution.

Back from the dead, a black hole is erupting after a 100-million-year hiatus | Scientific American

After a 100-million-year hiatus, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy J1007+3540 has erupted, emitting a one-million-light-year-long stream of star-forming particles and gas. This 'cosmic volcano' is an episodic galaxy, where the central black hole intermittently emits jets of particles and gas. Researchers believe that studying this eruption can provide insights into the structures, evolution, and influence of episodic galaxies on their surroundings.

NASA is about to send people to the moon… in a spacecraft not everyone thinks is safe to fly

As NASA prepares to launch Artemis II, the upcoming mission around the moon, concerns have been raised by some experts about the spacecraft's heat shield, which has a known flaw. Despite investigations and adjustments to the mission's flight path, there remains uncertainty about the safety of the heat shield, which is crucial for protecting astronauts during reentry. While NASA asserts confidence in the spacecraft's safety, dissenting opinions highlight the risks involved in proceeding with the mission.

Blue Origin makes impressive strides with reuse; next launch will refly booster

Blue Origin is pushing the boundaries of rocket reusability with its New Glenn rocket. The company plans to refly the booster used in its second mission, NG-2, for the upcoming NG-3 mission, scheduled for late February or early March. This would mark the third flight of the New Glenn fleet, and if successful, it would represent a significantly shorter turnaround time compared to SpaceX's first refly of a Falcon 9 booster, which took nearly 11 months.

The giant reptiles reclaiming the world's most visited city

Once driven to the city’s edges, Bangkok’s giant monitor lizards are now thriving in parks and canals – and becoming an unexpected part of the visitor experience.

Kessler Syndrome Alert: Satellites' 5.5-Day Countdown

This article from IEEE Spectrum discusses the CRASH Clock, a warning system that predicts the time before a catastrophic satellite collision in low Earth orbit. The current prediction is 5.5 days, highlighting the risks of Kessler syndrome and the need for perfect decisions from satellite operators. The article also explores the impact of solar storms, the challenges of tracking small debris, and the implications of SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation.

Scientists developed an algorithm able to anticipate the risk of cancer metastasis and recurrence

Astronomers discover dense super-Neptune exoplanet orbiting a sun-like star

Polar weather on Jupiter and Saturn hints at the planets’ interior details | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT scientists have discovered how Jupiter and Saturn developed different polar vortices. Their findings suggest that the 'softness' of a planet's interior, particularly the base of the vortex, influences the formation of single or multiple polar vortices. This research could help understand the planets' surface weather patterns and their interiors.

The Most Elegant and Powerful Experiment in the History of Science

On March 31, 1851, Léon Foucault demonstrated the Earth's rotation with a simple pendulum experiment at the Pantheon in Paris. His 28-kilogram brass-coated lead sphere, suspended by a 67-metre-long wire, swung slowly, tracing a line in the sand that shifted clockwise, proving the Earth's rotation.

Long-term use of medications for heartburn and acid reflux, known as proton pump inhibitors, does not appear to increase the risk of stomach cancer

A new study published in The BMJ by researchers at Karolinska Institutet found that long-term use of proton pump inhibitors for heartburn and acid reflux does not increase the risk of stomach cancer. The study, based on extensive Nordic health data, contradicts previous hypotheses and provides reassurance for patients needing long-term treatment.

mRNA cancer vaccine shows protection at 5-year follow-up, Moderna and Merck say

Moderna and Merck report that a custom mRNA cancer vaccine, intismeran autogene (mRNA-4157 or V940), combined with Keytruda, reduced the risk of cancer recurrence and death by nearly 50 percent over five years in a Phase 2 trial. The vaccine is tailored to each patient's unique cancer, targeting up to 34 unique markers of their mutated cancer cells. The results are consistent with previous analyses at two and three years, but full data is yet to be published.

Measles elimination status ‘not really’ a concern, CDC official says

Ongoing measles outbreaks in multiple parts of the country are threatening the United States’ status as a nation that has eliminated the virus’ spread, but a CDC leader said Tuesday that the potential change is not a big concern.

Buffalo Reintroduction in Alaska

A very interesting discussion about the history of North American buffalo and an ongoing reintroduction effort in Alaska. It’s refreshing to listen to a science driven discussion between two individuals that do not agree on everything but can listen with an open mind and thoughtf

Webb Telescope Unveils The “Eye Of Sauron” Like Never Before In Stunning Near-Infrared Detail

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured stunning near-infrared images of the Helix Nebula, revealing intricate details of a dying star’s final moments. Located 650 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, the nebula showcases a dynamic landscape of gas, dust, and light, shedding light on the processes that seed new worlds. Webb’s advanced instruments have unveiled thousands of comet-like knots and shock fronts, providing a deeper understanding of stellar evolution and the formation of planetary systems.

Our earliest vertebrate ancestors may have had four eyes

Extraordinary fossils of 518-million-year-old jawless fish, among the earliest known vertebrates, appear to show that these animals had two pairs of eyes. These fossils suggest that the creatures had two pairs of camera-type eyes, enabling them to form an image of their world. The team believes that this ancient, extra pair of eyes evolved into a set of organs known as the pineal complex, which in mammals consists of only the pineal gland that regulates our sleep cycle.

This New Device Turns Carbon Emissions Into a Valuable Chemical

This new technology, as reported in ACS Energy Letters, introduces a novel electrode capable of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from exhaust gases and converting it into formic acid, a valuable chemical used in various industrial processes. Unlike existing systems, this electrode operates efficiently under realistic conditions, including when CO2 is mixed with other gases, and can function even at atmospheric CO2 concentrations. The device, composed of a carbon dioxide-capturing material, a gas-permeable carbon paper, and a catalytic layer, demonstrated superior performance in laboratory tests, suggesting potential for practical carbon capture and utilization.

Are Centipedes and Millipedes Considered Insects? - Sassy Feeds

Are centipedes and millipedes really insects? Many people assume they are, but science says otherwise. This easy-to-read article explains the key biological differences between insects, centipedes, and millipedes, including leg count, body structure, and classification—clearing u

The Successor to CRISPR May Be Even More World Changing

This SciShow Field Trips video explores the potential of a new gene editing tool, TIGR, which may succeed CRISPR. MIT biochemist Feng Zhang is studying these microbial genes, which could lead to a next-generation gene editing technology.

The first commercial space station, Haven-1, is now undergoing assembly for launch

Ars Technica reports on the progress of Vast Space's Haven-1, the first commercial space station, which is undergoing assembly for a launch in Q1 2027. Vast Space has completed the primary structure and is integrating systems, with a test campaign planned for the end of the year. Haven-1 will initially launch uncrewed to ensure functionality before a crew is sent up. Vast Space is negotiating crew options and is aiming for a continuous human presence in low-Earth orbit by the end of 2030.

Oldest cave painting could rewrite origins of human creativity - BBC News

A stencilled outline of a hand found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is the world's oldest known cave painting, researchers say. The painting, dated to at least 67,800 years ago, shows a red outline of a hand whose fingers were reworked to create a claw-like motif, indicating an early leap in symbolic imagination. This discovery strengthens the argument that Homo sapiens had reached the wider Australia–New Guinea landmass, known as Sahul, by around 15,000 years earlier than some researchers argue. The find challenges the Eurocentric argument that the creative explosion in humans occurred in a small part of Europe, suggesting instead that creativity was innate to our species and had roots in Africa.

A New Theory Says Gravity May Come From Entropy—Which Could Lead to a Unified Theory of Physics - Yahoo News Canada

A new theory proposes that gravity could be the result of entropy, potentially reconciling Einstein’s theory of general relativity with quantum theory. If validated, this theory could also suggest that gravitational fields might be composed of dark matter.