Nature

During the height of the Cold War in the 1960s and 1970s, the USSR launched 29 spacecraft towards Venus, the planet scientists call Earth’s “twin sister“. Three flew past Venus, and went into orbit around the Sun. Sixteen orbited or landed on Venus, where they experienced a climate often described as “hellish”.Ten got stuck in Earth orbit. All […]

The idea that our Solar System is representative of other solar systems hasn’t survived the age of exoplanet discovery. Kepler and TESS have shown us that our system doesn’t even contain the most common type of planet: sub-Neptunes. These planets pose a mystery to planetary scientists, and the JWST is helping unravel the mystery.Sub-Neptunes are

It’s time to get outside and look at the night sky: the Eta Aquariid meteor shower is about to peak. Over May 5 to 6, the sky over the southern tropics will rain the most cosmic dust of the annual event, glittering with light as it burns up on atmospheric entry..The shower itself will continue to late May,

The US Fish and Wildlife Service has officially declared the eastern American puma (scientifically named puma concolor cougar) extinct, one of the mountain lion subspecies, after removing it from the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife of extinction. “We determined that the eastern puma has become extinct, based on the best scientific and commercial

A trove of arboreal fossils pushes back the origin of modern forests and sophisticated tree roots At  three trillion strong, Earth’s trees are estimated to outnumber the stars in the Milky Way. These woody wonders sponge carbon dioxide out of the skies, brace soil against erosion, cycle water through ecosystems and support countless forms of life.

Astronomers announced Thursday that they had detected the most promising “hints” of potential life on a planet beyond our Solar System, though other scientists expressed scepticism. There has been vigorous debate in scientific circles about whether the planet K2-18b, which is 124 light years away in the Leo constellation, could be an ocean world capable of hosting

The colossal squid, a mysterious creature lurking in the Antarctic abyss, has finally made a cameo, a cohort of scientists say. You may have heard of the giant squid, which is famous from mariners’ legends and for its epic battles with sperm whales,The colossal squid is even bigger and more mysterious. It’s so elusive, living in the deep ocean

The Death of Life: What Happens After the End of the World? If the world were to end, what would remain? Not the monuments we built, not the cities that once bustled, and not the digital archives that documented our triumphs and tragedies. The end of the world is not just the collapse of buildings