CNN-other

By Jack Guy and Kameryn Griesser, CNN (CNN) — A meteorite that is the largest known piece of Mars on Earth has sold for $5.3 million, with taxes and fees, to an anonymous bidder at a Sotheby’s New York auction Wednesday. Known as NWA 16788, the meteorite weighs 54 pounds (24.5 kilograms), massive compared with

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — A collision observed between two black holes, each more massive than a hundred suns, is the largest merger of its kind ever recorded, according to new research. A team of astronomers discovered the event, dubbed GW231123, when the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) — a pair of identical instruments

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Scientists have recovered ancient proteins from a fossilized rhinoceros tooth, breaking new ground in the study of ancient life on Earth. The 24 million-year-old tooth, which was unearthed in the Canadian Arctic, contains proteins that are 10 times older than the most ancient known DNA. Using the sample, scientists

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — The strongest nor’easters — destructive and often deadly storms that slap the US East Coast with paralyzing rain, snow and flooding — are being supercharged by the effects of climate pollution, a new study found. Nor’easters, which typically form between September and April, are fueled by the temperature contrast

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — Researchers suspect that two meteorites found in the Sahara Desert in 2023 may originally have come from Mercury, which would make them the first identified fragments of the solar system’s innermost planet. The least studied and most mysterious of the solar system’s rocky planets, Mercury is so close to

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — When researcher Jared Towers set up his cameras underwater to observe a pair of killer whales, he saw something strange. One of the orcas, a juvenile female, “approached a camera I had in the water to film her younger brother and then opened her mouth and let out a

By Kameryn Griesser, CNN (CNN) — Hundreds of millions of flies dropping from planes in the sky might sound like a horrible nightmare, but experts say such a swarm could be the livestock industry’s best defense against a flesh-eating threat poised to invade the southwestern border of the United States. An outbreak of New World

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — A species of huge, flightless bird that once inhabited New Zealand disappeared around 600 years ago, shortly after human settlers first arrived on the country’s two main islands. Now, a Texas-based biotech company says it has a plan to bring it back. Genetic engineering startup Colossal Biosciences has added

By Olivia Kemp, CNN (CNN) — An ancient Peruvian city that was a thriving hub of trade more than 3,000 years ago has been unveiled by archaeologists. Peñico is located in the Huaura province, north of the capital Lima, according to the Ministry of Culture in a press release sent to CNN. In what was

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — A galaxy that has remained unchanged for 7 billion years — a rarity in the universe — has been observed by astronomers, offering a glimpse into cosmic history and adding to an enigmatic collection of objects called relics or “fossil galaxies.” These space oddities are galaxies that, after an

By Renée Rigdon, Angela Fritz, CNN (CNN) — The waterways in Texas Hill Country have carved paths over the centuries through the granite and limestone, shaping the rocky peaks and valleys that make the region so breathtaking. When too much rain falls for the ground to absorb, it runs downhill, pulled by gravity into streams,

By Andrew Freedman, Emma Tucker, Mary Gilbert, CNN (CNN) — The forces that descended upon the Guadalupe River in Texas’ Hill Country on Thursday night were a worst-case scenario. Four months’ worth of rain fell in just hours as water-laden thunderstorms stalled in place, giving rise to a wall of water that surged down the

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Stone Age humans living by a lake in what’s now Germany systematically processed animal carcasses for fatty nutrients — essentially running what scientists describe as a “fat factory” to boil bones on a vast scale, according to new research. Archaeologists uncovered the factory by analyzing some 120,000 bone fragments

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A newly discovered object speeding through our solar system is sparking excitement among astronomers because it’s not from around here. Believed to be a comet, the object is only the third celestial body from beyond our solar system ever to be observed in our corner of the universe. This