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By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX’s latest attempt to push the cosmic boundaries is set to kick off this week with a mission called Polaris Dawn: a nail-biting, five-day trek to orbit with a crew of private astronauts traveling into Earth’s radiation belts and hoping to conduct the first commercial spacewalk. The mission is slated

By Billy Stockwell, CNN (CNN) — Spending time outside during a heat wave can be sweaty, uncomfortable, even health-endangering, but scientists have come up with an innovation they say could provide relief: clothes that physically cool down the body. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a flexible, chalk-based coating which can be

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — When astronauts conduct spacewalks to perform maintenance outside of the International Space Station, the view can be distracting. The sun gleams and Earth emits a glow from 220 miles (354 kilometers) away in the surrounding darkness. “The only thing between you and the rest of the universe, seeing the

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The Perseverance rover has begun a long climb up the steep rim of Jezero Crater on a quest to discover some of the most ancient rocks on Mars — and the potential for environments that may have once hosted life on the red planet. Landing in Jezero Crater 3

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule will bring home two NASA astronauts who have remained on board the International Space Station for about 80 days because of issues plaguing the Boeing Starliner spacecraft — marking a stunning turn of events for the beleaguered aerospace giant. The news comes after the

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Each of the 32 colossal stones that make up the Menga Dolmen, a 5,600-year-old megalithic monument in southern Spain, is many times bigger than the largest megaliths at Stonehenge, the most famous Neolithic wonder. Embedded in the ground on a hilltop that rises about 50 meters (165 feet) above

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Under the feet of millions of New Yorkers, a species of ant — originally not found anywhere else in North America — has been thriving in the concrete jungle for more than a decade, surprising scientists with its unique aptitude to flourish in Manhattan and the city’s other boroughs.

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — An investigation of human remains from the 17th century British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, has unearthed a long-hidden scandal in the family of the colony’s first governor. Thomas West became Jamestown’s leader in 1610; he was joined there by three of his brothers and several other male relatives. Recently,

By Amy Gunia, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — In between the speedboats, luxury yachts, and wooden fishing boats moored in a Hong Kong marina, a different kind of vessel maneuvers. It looks unassuming, but as the three-meter-long (10-foot-long) uncrewed catamaran moves deftly through the water, it consumes waste floating on the surface in a Pac-Man-like

By Laura Paddison and Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — As the need for effective global climate action becomes ever more urgent, a “first-of-its-kind” analysis has identified policies around the world that have done the most to rein in planet-heating pollution — with some surprising results. Researchers from several European climate institutions analyzed the effectiveness of 1,500

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The storm that sank the “Bayesian,” a luxury yacht anchored off the Sicily coast, was sudden, violent and deadly — and scientists say it may be a warning of what’s to come as global warming fuels more extreme weather in the Mediterranean. The superyacht, which was carrying 22 people,

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Seven fluffy white Chilean flamingo chicks are on display at a zoo in southwest England for the first time since 2018 — and one is particularly notable for the way it made its entrance. Two male flamingos named Arthur and Curtis successfully hatched an egg together — a first

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — About 20% of Sweden’s brown bear population could be killed this hunting season after licenses were issued for 486 of the animals to culled, despite an outcry from conservation groups. There’s currently an estimated 2,450 brown bears roaming the Swedish countryside, a number that has decreased in recent years

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — In the paddy fields and around the ponds of central China, a common species of orb-weaving spider builds new webs every evening at sunset, allowing it to entrap fireflies that begin to flash, flicker and glow around the same time. Not content to rely on pure happenstance, the spider, Araneus

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN (CNN) — Fishermen and scientists were alarmed when billions of crabs vanished from the Bering Sea near Alaska in 2022. It wasn’t overfishing, scientists explained — it was likely the shockingly warm water that sent the crabs’ metabolism into overdrive and starved them to death. But their horrific demise appears to

By Amarachi Orie, CNN (CNN) — Two long-horned bees balancing on a flower, a fossilized dinosaur bone viewed through a microscope and a scientist giving a bird drops of medicine were all captured in stunning photographs that formed part of the 2024 BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology Image Competition. The overall winner, however,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The European Space Agency’s Juice mission made two historic firsts this week on its long journey to study the potential habitability of Jupiter’s icy moons. The Juice, or Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, spacecraft — launched in April 2023 — conducted the first flyby of the moon and Earth in

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — When billionaire Jared Isaacman self-funded a mission to orbit Earth in 2021, the project was billed as a childhood cancer fundraiser — and made for an eye-popping entrance into the private space tourism world. The four-person crew of people from various backgrounds with no prior spaceflight experience spent three