This week’s science news: ISS medical evacuation, Mars sample return canceled, woolly rhino meat found in permafrost wolves

This week’s science news went way over our heads, as astronauts and space agencies made their way to the front pages. Topping the list is the early return of 11 International Space Station (ISS) crew members on Thursday (January 15) due to a medical emergency.

News of the crew’s early return is the first in the agency’s 25-year history and comes less than a week ago. It began when one of the astronauts experienced an undisclosed medical problem. The evacuation will leave only four astronauts on the ISS until their replacement, Crew 12, arrives next month.

This wasn’t the only news released by NASA this week. The agency also announced that it is making final preparations for the launch of the mega-lunar rocket Artemis 2, ahead of its target launch date in early February. The Artemis program, the plan to return American astronauts to the moon, has survived possible cuts from the Trump administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget. NASA’s completed Roman Space Telescope was also rescued from the chopping block. The telescope will join the Hubble and James Webb telescopes in exploring other worlds.

But not all NASA missions were equally lucky. The Mars Sample Return Mission, which was supposed to retrieve rocks collected by the Perseverance rover, was officially defunded this week.

The mission’s cancellation means the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is likely to be the first agency to bring back Mars samples (which may hold evidence of Martian life) to Earth, and the agency this week announced another plan to build a reliable lunar relativistic clock.

Earth’s largest delta is rapidly sinking

Our world is rapidly warming, so it’s no surprise that sea level rise is the number one cause of coastal land loss.

But surprising research has revealed that this isn’t the case everywhere. A study published this week found that the world’s largest deltas, including the Nile, Amazon and Ganges rivers, are currently sinking faster than sea levels are rising.

The biggest culprit is groundwater pumping, with rapid urban growth and reduced sediment flows exacerbating the problem. The combination of rising sea levels and land subsidence means the world’s largest cities will face even greater challenges from catastrophic flooding in the future.

More Earth news

—Fragments of a lost tectonic plate discovered where the San Andreas and Cascadia faults intersect

— New map of Antarctica reveals hidden world of lakes, valleys and mountains buried beneath miles of ice

—Scientists use palm-sized tools to watch microscopic plant mouths breathe in real time

life’s little mysteries

Monty Python’s Black Knight may claim that losing consecutive limbs is “just a flesh wound”, but how much of a human body can be removed without killing the person? As it turns out, it’s a lot more than you think.

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Wolf woolly rhino meat reveals clues to extinction mystery

The last meal of a naturally mummified wolf cub in Siberian permafrost 14,400 years ago is helping scientists unravel the fate of the woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) and the reasons behind the Ice Age giant’s extinction.

By removing pieces of woolly rhinoceros meat from the wolf’s stomach and sequencing the genome of the partially digested chunks, scientists discovered that the horned beasts existed in a genetically homogeneous population that may have struggled to adapt to ancient climate change.

But the new genome is just one piece of evidence that solves the mystery of rhino extinction. In a triumph for science, this is the first time scientists have recovered DNA from another animal from the stomach of an Ice Age animal.

More animal news

— New Zealand’s rare nocturnal parrot breeds for the first time in four years — here’s why

— Unreleased footage of the moment scientists discover a new species of giant anaconda in the Amazon

— How to watch “Pole to Pole with Will Smith” — TV and streaming details as the Oscar-winning actor combines adventure and scientific discovery

Also featured in this week’s science news

—The most complete Homo habilis skeleton ever discovered is more than 2 million years old and retains ‘Lucy’-like features

—MIT’s chip-stacking breakthrough could reduce energy usage in power-hungry AI processes

—Diagnostic dilemma: Sudoku caused sudden seizures in man

– Iceman mummy Ötzi carried a high-risk strain of HPV, study finds

science reading material

In December, the Trump administration announced plans to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), calling it “one of the nation’s largest sources of climate change.”

But whether it’s predicting high winds, wildfires, floods, or hazards in the sky and space, this research center is at the forefront of global weather and climate research and essential to reducing risk. In this lengthy article, Live Science investigated the work done by the center and the possible impact of its closure.

something for the weekend

If you’re looking for something a little longer to read over the weekend, here are some crosswords, book excerpts, and quizzes published this week.

Live Science Crossword Puzzle #25: An ancient human species famous for its “upright” posture — 11 horizontal pieces [Crossword]

—Parkfield, San Andreas, and the quest for a “crystal ball” to predict earthquakes in advance [Book Excerpt]

—Human Origins Quiz: How much do you know about the human story? [Quiz]

Science in pictures

The Hubble Space Telescope’s image of Dracula’s Chivito, a protoplanetary disk nicknamed for its gothic resemblance to a Uruguayan sandwich, has captured surprising insights into how planets form.

Spread over some 400 billion miles (640 billion kilometers) and containing a hot star at its center, the system is the largest planet-forming disk ever observed around a young star.

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