Between 1969 and 1972, the Apollo missions sent a total of a dozen astronauts to the surface of the moon — and that was before the explosion of modern technology. So why does it seem like our current efforts, as embodied by NASA’s Artemis program, are so slow, halting and complex? There isn’t one easy […]
Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have discovered that humans were living in a lava tube at least 7,000 years ago and possibly earlier, a new study finds. The lava tube, called Umm Jirsan, is located in a volcanic field called Harrat Khaybar, approximately 78 miles (125 kilometers) north of Medina, researchers said in a statement. “Umm […]
Three needs are famously fundamental to survival: food, water, and shelter. According to new research, ancient humans had at least two of those three needs met by a nearly mile-long lava tube about 77 miles (125 kilometers) north of Medina, Saudi Arabia, for at least 7,000 years. The lava tube in question is named Umm […]
A crazy thing happened during the total solar eclipse Monday at the Fort Worth Zoo. For the 2 minutes and 33 seconds that the midday sun in North Texas was completely shrouded by the moon — raining darkness and turning day into dusk — the animals took their cues from the humans. Go figure. Monkey […]
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. In an ancient grave in what’s now northwestern Argentina, a person was buried with a canine companion — but this animal friend wasn’t a dog, according to new research. The burial held the skeleton of a […]
An extinct fox in Argentina may have once been man’s best friend, sharing a “strong bond” with humans, research suggests. Analysis of 1,500-year-old skeletal remains at a burial site in Patagonia suggests that Dusicyon avus – also known as Falkland Islands wolf – was “a valuable companion to the hunter-gatherer groups”. The fox bones belong […]
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are raising concerns about the emerging technology, including users’ ability to trust content shared on social media. A recent video circulating in South Africa and Nigeria claims to show Polynesian giants who lived in the 1900s before dying out. But the claim is false: the footage was created using […]
As El Niño ends, posts on X are blaming the natural phenomenon for record heat in 2023. This is misleading; while the climate pattern did affect average temperatures, the claims omit the impact of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions — which climate scientists say are the single largest contributor to global warming. “Weird narrative that we don’t […]
By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some of the deadliest diseases to stalk humankind have come from pathogens that jumped from animals to people. The virus that causes AIDS, for example, crossed over from chimpanzees. And many experts believe the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic flowed from bats. But, as a new study shows, […]
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Humans have many wonderful qualities, but we lack something that’s a common feature among most animals with backbones: a tail. Exactly why that is has been something of a mystery. Tails are useful for balance, propulsion, […]
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Stone tools unearthed in a quarry in Ukraine belonged to ancient humans who used them more than a million years ago, according to new research. The fresh dating analysis of the artifacts reveals the earliest known presence of […]
When people talk about the “Anthropocene,” they typically picture the vast impact human societies are having on the planet, from rapid declines in biodiversity to increases in Earth’s temperature by burning fossil fuels. Such massive planetary changes did not begin all at once at any single place or time. That’s why it was controversial when, […]