You’re probably familiar with classic sauropod dinosaurs – the four-legged herbivores famous for their long necks and tails. Animals such as Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus and Diplodocus have been standard fixtures in science museums since the 1800s. With their small brains and enormous bodies, these creatures have long been the poster children for animals destined to go […]
By Will Dunham (Reuters) – They are among the wonders of our deserts: star dunes, the vaguely pyramid-shaped sand formations up to about 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall with arms stretching out from a central peak to give them a star-like appearance when viewed from above. Scientists on Monday unveiled the first in-depth study of […]
Flipped-Turned Upside Down In 2010, scientists detected unusual seismic waves under Granada, Spain, which eventually led to a surprising finding: an oceanic slab that had completely flipped upside down as it was being pushed beneath its neighbor. As detailed in a new paper published in the journal The Seismic Record, the team found that the […]
Astronomers have discovered that a planet-birthing disk of gas and dust that surrounds an infant star is drenched with enough water to fill Earth’s oceans three times over. Water, a key element needed to form and sustain life as we know it, has always been considered to play an important role in forming planets. This […]
Record rainstorms have hit California’s Death Valley National Park, replenishing Lake Manly. The amount of rain in Death Valley in the last six months is more than double a typical year. The “uncommon” phenomenon prompted tourists to paddle board and frolic in the lake. Heavy rainfall created a temporary lake in Death Valley National Park, […]
Kayakers have been paddling in one of the driest places on Earth after a series of record rain storms battered California’s Death Valley and replenished Lake Manly. Park ranger Nicole Andler said Badwater Basin at Death Valley National Park, which runs along part of central California’s border with Nevada, “is normally a very beautiful, bright […]
Stars intruding into the sun’s cosmic backyard could have shifted Earth’s orbit in the distant past, triggering major climate events in our planet’s history. The gravitational influence of these intruder stars has also impacted the orbit of other planets in the solar system, causing minor deviations called perturbations. New research looks at the effect of […]
A satellite will likely make an uncontrolled return through Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, according to the latest estimates from the European Space Agency. ERS-2, which weighs about as much as an adult male rhinoceros, could re-enter about 15 hours earlier or later than expected, according to the space agency. The agency cannot predict exactly when […]
The forthcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory will never leave Earth itself, but the highly detailed, “big picture” view of the cosmos it will offer scientists may very well kick-start a new era of space exploration. The solar system is filled with billions of small rocky bodies and icy objects, many of which formed around 4.5 […]
NASA’s newest Earth-observing satellite has made it off the chopping block all the way to orbit. The nearly $1 billion PACE mission, which the Trump administration tried to cancel four separate times, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early this morning (Feb. 8) from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. When it’s up and […]
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. A revolutionary new satellite that will provide an unprecedented look at Earth’s microscopic marine life and tiny atmospheric particles is ready to launch. The NASA PACE, or Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem, mission is set […]
In the heart of Asia, deep underground, two huge tectonic plates are crashing into each other — a violent but slow-motion bout of geological bumper cars that over time has sculpted the soaring Himalayan mountains. But the ongoing tectonic collision that formed the highest mountains in the world may also be cleaving Tibet in two, […]