The Colorado River’s largest tributary flows ‘uphill’ for more than 100 miles – and geologists may finally have an explanation.
Geologists may have finally solved a long-standing mystery surrounding the Colorado River’s largest tributary. This tributary appears to have been flowing uphill against gravity when it first formed. The Green River originates in Wyoming and joins the Colorado River in Utah’s Canyonlands National Park. About 8 million years ago, rather than flowing around geological formations, […]
Ribchester Helmet: A rare “facemask” helmet worn by Roman cavalry officers 1,900 years ago
simple facts Name: Ribchester Helmet What is it: bronze helmet with face mask visor Birthplace: Ribchester, northwest England Created: Around 100 AD In 1796, a boy running around in the fields behind his home in Ribchester, England, discovered a treasure trove of more than 30 metal artifacts in a hollow. The most unique and impressive […]
‘This is like how Google can map your home without your consent’: Why using aerial lasers to map archaeological sites requires partnerships with indigenous peoples
Imagine an airplane hurtling across the sky at hundreds of miles per hour, firing millions of laser pulses into a dense tropical forest. The goal is to create a detailed map of thousands of square miles, including the ground beneath the canopy, within a few days. Once the stuff of science fiction, aerial lidar (light […]
‘Nose in a Dish’ reveals why colds are worse for some people than others
A new lab has used a ‘nose in a dish’ to understand why colds cause mild symptoms in some people and send others to the hospital. When cold and flu season is in full swing, rhinoviruses, the most common cause of colds, can make many of us miserable, causing symptoms such as runny noses, sore […]
Earth is ‘missing’ lighter elements. They may be hiding in its solid inner core.
For close to a century, geoscientists have pondered a mystery: Where did Earth’s lighter elements go? Compared to amounts in the Sun and in some meteorites, Earth has less hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, as well as noble gases like helium — in some cases, more than 99 percent less. Some of the disparity is […]
A rare medieval seal discovered in Britain reads ‘Richard’s Secret’ and is engraved with Roman jewels.
A medieval seal with a blood-red jewel found in Britain holds an ancient secret, researchers have discovered. Metal detectors discovered a medieval seal in Gosfield, east Essex, in autumn 2024. However, a recent analysis of the seal by experts at Britain’s Portable Antiques Project revealed that the center of the 800-year-old object prominently featured 2,000-year-old […]
Hauntingly beautiful Hubble telescope images show stellar nurseries exploding in nascent stars — Space Photo of the Week
simple facts What is it: Lupus 3 (GN 16.05.2 and Bernes 149) Molecular Cloud Location: Located in the constellation Scorpius, about 500 light years away. Share date: January 26, 2026 A placid cloud of gas and dust may not sound like much to get excited about, but it’s where one of the most fundamental phenomena […]
When were boats invented? | Live Science
Around 8000 BC, canoes carved from a single pine log arrived in what is now the Netherlands. The boat, approximately 3 meters long, was not discovered until 1955, when it was excavated from a peat bog near the village of Pesse by road workers. This artifact, now known as the Pesce Canoe, is the world’s […]
Longevity may be 50% heritable, research suggests
About 50% of a person’s lifespan is determined by genetics, a new study suggests, more than doubling previous estimates of the heritability of longevity. The new study, published in the journal Science on January 29, used a carefully designed mathematical model to reach this conclusion. Using this model, the research team was able to account […]
Supernovae whose light ‘reappears’ after 60 years could solve cosmology’s biggest problems
Two incredibly rare supernovae that exploded billions of years ago offer a unique opportunity to explain one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology: how fast the universe is expanding. But there’s a twist. Astronomers have already observed these exploding stars, but we have to wait up to 60 years for their light to reach us […]