Something like 13.8 billion years ago, all energy in the universe was condensed into a single point. Until suddenly it wasn’t. The resulting detonation was the most massive explosion in all of the universe’s history, but from it, energy formed into all matter, atoms, molecules, planets and all life on Earth. This is the Big … Read more
Astronomers at the National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab made the first confirmed detection of a star system that will one day form a kilonova, an ultra-powerful and gold-producing explosion created by merging neutron stars. Researchers said on Tuesday that they used data from the SMARTS 1.5-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile to uncover … Read more
Saturn’s innermost moon Mimas may be hiding a vast subsurface ocean locked away beneath its icy surface, according to the results of a new study. Mimas is but one of Saturn’s eclectic family of 63 confirmed moons, which come in a dizzying array of shapes and sizes, from the stress fractured form of Enceladus to … Read more
A still of Georges Lemaître from the rediscovered video. (Image credit: VRT) (opens in new tab) The only known video interview with Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître, widely considered the “father of the Big Bang,” talking about the birth of the universe has been rediscovered almost 60 years after it was lost. Lemaître (1894-1966) was a … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN — A scan of the skull of a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish has led to the discovery of the oldest example of a well-preserved vertebrate brain, shining a new light on the early evolution of … Read more
Beyond localised habitat damage or loss, submarine power and communication cables may temporarily or permanently impact the marine environment through heat, turbidity (during cable burial), risk of entanglement and the introduction of artificial substrates. Still, areas through which cables pass are often designated as protected, meaning anchors, bottom trawls and even fishing can be restricted. … Read more
Bright multi-colored clouds shining in the night sky above Mount Jökultindur in Iceland on Jan. 25. (Image credit: Jónína Guðrún Óskarsdóttir) (opens in new tab) The dark skies in the Arctic Circle recently shone with ethereal multi-colored light. But this jaw-dropping spectacle was not caused by auroras. Instead, the iridescent rainbows were caused by clouds … Read more
The Bay Area is in the middle of a frigid cold snap, driven by a blast of icy Arctic air. But winter temperatures on Mars can drop over 200 degrees lower. Amid these bitterly cold conditions, the Red Planet develops ice, frost and — at its coldest extremes — several feet of snow. This isn’t … Read more
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. CNN — Some 125,000 years ago, enormous elephants that weighed as much as eight cars each roamed in what’s now northern Europe. Scientifically known as Palaeoloxodon antiquus, the towering animals were the largest land mammals … Read more
In the past few weeks, the Subaru-Asahi telescope star camera has been capturing several bizarre sights in the night skies over Hawaii, including eerie blue spirals and ghostly green beams of light. According to researchers, these extraordinary light shows have earthly origins and can be attributed to NASA and SpaceX. On January 19, researchers shared a … Read more