Research and discoveries in natural sciences, including the planet and space.
In March 2025, astronomers announced a groundbreaking discovery: 128 new moons orbiting Saturn, bringing the total number of confirmed moons around the planet to a staggering 274. This new milestone nearly triples the moon count of Saturn’s closest rival, Jupiter, which has 95 moons. The discovery was made possible by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) using…
Microplastic pollution is emerging as a serious threat to global food systems, with new research revealing that these tiny particles can significantly impair photosynthesis in both land-based crops and ocean algae. According to a study led by scientists at Nanjing University and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, microplastics could reduce…
Tim Friede, a self-trained herpetologist from Wisconsin, has endured more than 200 venomous snake bites and over 700 venom injections over the past two decades in a deliberate effort to build immunity to snake venom. His extreme and controversial self-experimentation has now become instrumental in the development of a potential universal antivenom that could revolutionize…
Recent discoveries of fossilized pterosaur footprints have provided valuable evidence that these ancient flying reptiles transitioned from an arboreal lifestyle to ground-based living around 160 million years ago. This shift, revealed through detailed analysis of trackways, sheds new light on the behavior and evolution of pterosaurs during the Jurassic period, marking a significant ecological development….
NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) mission, launched on March 11, 2025, is set to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos. Aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, SPHEREx will embark on a two-year journey to survey the entire sky in near-infrared light, with the ambitious goal…
On April 20, 2025, veteran astronaut Don Pettit returned from space after spending 220 days aboard the International Space Station—landing back on Earth the same day he turned 70. This mission makes him the oldest active-duty astronaut in NASA’s history to complete a long-duration spaceflight, redefining the boundaries of age and human performance in microgravity….
New research has revealed that hidden lakes beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet may pose a far greater threat to global sea levels than earlier models suggested. These subglacial water bodies are now recognized as key accelerators of ice loss, with serious implications for coastal regions around the world. Subglacial water is reshaping ice flow dynamics Beneath…
Astronomers have confirmed that super-Earths—planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune—are not only the most widespread type of exoplanet in the Milky Way but also possibly among the best candidates for habitability. These intriguing worlds may offer conditions even more favorable to life than our own planet, upending long-standing assumptions in planetary science. A…
On April 20, 2025, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft marked a major achievement by performing a close flyby of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, located about 139 million miles (224 million kilometers) from Earth within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. This encounter, which brought Lucy within roughly 600 miles (960 kilometers) of the asteroid, was a…
NASA’s Artemis III mission, scheduled for mid-2027, will mark humanity’s return to the Moon for the first time since Apollo 17 in 1972. This mission will focus on landing astronauts near the lunar South Pole, a region of great scientific interest due to the potential presence of water ice. Mission Overview Crew Composition and Diversity…
