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By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Global levels of planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels will hit record levels this year, according to new projections, dashing hopes 2024 would be the year they plateau or fall. Fossil fuel pollution is set to rise to 37.4 billion metric tons this year, an increase of 0.8% from 2023,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Researchers have discovered an unlikely new species within the ocean’s midnight zone: a glowing “mystery mollusk.” Although the apple-size species, named Bathydevius caudactylus, is classified as a sea slug, the marine animal is unlike any sea slug Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute scientists have seen before. Bathydevius is a

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Lucy, a fossilized skeleton unearthed 50 years ago this month, transformed scientists’ understanding of human evolution. The discovery by American paleontologist Don Johanson and graduate student Tom Gray on November 24, 1974, in Ethiopia opened a new chapter in the human story, offering proof that ancient hominins were able

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — An enormous, rancid-smelling, 52-foot sperm whale has lain beached on the shoreline of the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest lake, since Monday. It’s a jarring sight; no sperm whales live in this vast body of water. Many of the people who gathered to see the giant marine mammal on

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — The Environmental Protection Agency just finalized one of the Biden administration’s only outstanding climate rules, aimed at cracking down on leaks of methane — a potent planet-warming gas with an outsized impact on the climate. The rule, proposed nearly a year ago, was mandated by the Inflation Reduction Act,

By Helen Regan, Robert Shackelford and Yumi Asada, CNN (CNN) — Four separate storm systems are churning their way through the West Pacific simultaneously, a rare occurrence resulting from warmer oceans that threatens to bring more misery to the storm-weary Philippines. It is the first time that four named storms have existed at the same

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Archaeologists have identified the site of an ancient battle in what is now Iraq by comparing historical accounts with declassified images from US spy satellites. Researchers from Durham University in the United Kingdom and the University of Al-Qadisiyah in Iraq say they have found the site of the Battle

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — When the Voyager 2 spacecraft became the first and only mission to fly by Uranus in 1986, it defined the way astronomers understand the ice giant. But the data collected by the probe also introduced new mysteries that have continued to puzzle scientists in the decades since the historic

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — If Earth’s astronomical observatories were to pick up a signal from outer space, it would require an all-hands-on-deck effort to untangle and decipher the extraterrestrial message. An art project from the SETI Institute, a nonprofit in Mountain View, California, devoted to searching for life beyond Earth, simulated that scenario

By Julianna Bragg, CNN (CNN) — If you missed the chance to see fireballs of the Southern Taurids light up the sky last week, don’t worry. The second branch of the Taurid meteor showers, the Northern Taurid event, is about to take center stage. The Northern Taurids have been active since mid-October, but the shower

By Angela Dewan and Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — America’s allies and foes alike have spent the past five days speculating about what Donald Trump’s re-election will mean for their economies, security and the world’s grinding wars. Similar anxieties are brewing among diplomats gathering in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, on Monday for the COP29 climate talks

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, it wiped multiple Roman towns off the map — but it also froze them in time. Ash raining down from the volcano blanketed Pompeii and surrounding cities, preserving frescoes, buildings and citizens where they fell. Over time, Pompeii was forgotten, and it

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Scientists at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History have peered beneath the wrappings of ancient Egyptian mummified human remains to uncover new details about their identities and how they were prepared for the afterlife — all without removing a single piece of linen. In September, staff members rolled 26

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Three of the astronauts who were unexpectedly hospitalized after returning from the International Space Station in late October discussed the SpaceX Crew-8 mission during a NASA news conference on Friday. The trio revealed some anecdotes about the trials of readjusting to life on Earth after spending more than 230

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Ancient DNA has revealed surprises about the identities of some people who perished in the ancient Roman town of Pompeii after a volcanic eruption, overturning misconceptions about their genetic relationships, ancestry and sex. When Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79, the volcano spewed hot, lethal gases and ash into

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — Hours after former President Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election, the Biden administration moved Wednesday to limit oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Oil drilling had been banned for decades in the Arctic refuge — a pristine natural region in northeast Alaska home

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — With a sickle across her neck and a padlock on her left big toe, the corpse of a young woman found in northern Poland would have been unable to rise from her unmarked grave, according to local 17th century folklore. But her identity and how she ended up in

By Brandon Miller and Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — New data confirms 2024 will be the hottest year on record and the first calendar year to exceed the Paris Agreement threshold — devastating news for the planet that comes as America chooses a president that has promised to undo its climate progress both at home

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — An emperor penguin surprised locals when it appeared on a beach in Australia after making an epic journey of thousands of miles from its home in Antarctica. The penguin arrived on Ocean Beach in Denmark, Western Australia, on Friday, according to a statement from Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation