Did the Vikings reach Maine?
In 1957, an amateur archaeologist working at a Native American site in Maine discovered a mysterious treasure. It is a 900-year-old Norse silver coin from the Late Viking Age (793-1066 AD). The artifact, also known as the “Maine Penny,” is now housed at the Maine State Museum. This discovery raised many questions. Primarily, how did […]
Archaeologists discover Stone Age boy in Sweden buried in deerskin and woodpecker headdress
More than 7,000 years ago, Stone Age mourners in what is now Sweden buried a young boy with a crown of woodpecker feathers, and in another grave buried a woman wearing colorful fur and feather footwear, a new study has found. Researchers say these details were unearthed thanks to newly developed technology that allows them […]
Passing this new AI exam (which its creators say is the world’s most difficult) could show the first signs of AGI
Researchers at the Center for AI Safety and Scale AI have published “Humanity’s Last Test.” It’s a test designed to measure how close today’s most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) models are to approaching or exceeding human-level knowledge across multiple domains. The test began in January 2025, but scientists first outlined the framework and the thinking […]
The sun just celebrated its first “clean day” in four years, but we still don’t know for sure.
After nearly four years of being covered in dark spots like an acne-covered teenager, Sun’s face suddenly becomes smoother day after day, suggesting that solar activity is decreasing. But while this stunning “unspotted” scene is a sign of things to come, experts warn it’s too early to let our guard down. On Sunday (February 22), […]
Inherited diseases don’t work like we thought they did
For decades, scientists have delved into the genetic causes of disease by studying patients with those diseases and their families, picking through their genomes in search of genetic mutations that could be the cause. It’s a method that has turned up hundreds of mutations, many thought to be responsible for diseases in almost 100% of […]
“I’m not lying. So who are you?”: What happens when a DNA test shows that a woman is not the mother of the child she gave birth to?
DNA is considered the ultimate indicator of our identity. This is a surefire way to determine our origins and connections to our parents and previous generations of our family. But in this excerpt from Hidden Guests: Migrated Cells and How the New Science of Microchimerism Is Redefining Human Identity (Greystone Books, 2025), author and science […]
History of Science: Discovery of Carbon-14 Opens Window on Past Civilizations — February 27, 1940
Milestone: Discovery of carbon-14 Date: February 27, 1940 Location: Berkeley, California People: Martin Kamen and Samuel Ruben On this day in 1940, two scientists discovered an elusive form of carbon, inadvertently opening a window to a lost civilization. Since the mid-1930s, scientists have predicted the existence of carbon with two extra neutrons in its core, […]
Humans and Neanderthals interbred, but research reveals that it was primarily male Neanderthals and female humans who combined
When Neanderthals and modern humans first came together, they preferred a combination of Neanderthal males and human females, a new study of ancient and modern genomes suggests. The discovery helps explain why modern humans (Homo sapiens) have relatively low levels of Neanderthal genes, and why those genes are found in some populations today but not […]
‘Revolutionary’: Vera C. Rubin Observatory discovers 800,000 interesting objects in one night
The newly commissioned Vera C. Rubin Observatory issued 800,000 astronomical alerts in just one night. This is a staggering number of nighttime discoveries and is expected to increase almost tenfold by the end of this year. Representatives from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) said in a statement that the telescope, which scans the entire […]
Mars’ giant ‘spider web’ has tiny egg-like structures, scientists say ‘cannot be fully explained’, NASA probe reveals
NASA’s Curiosity rover has taken stunning new photos of a giant “spider web” zigzagging across the surface of Mars. One of these images revealed a never-before-seen egg-like spheroid covering a vast structure. Scientists have a hard time explaining them. For the past eight months, Curiosity has been scrutinizing a series of interconnected rock ridges known […]