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By Kameryn Griesser and Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — After months without a meteor shower, sky-gazers now have a reason to keep their chins up — the Lyrids are here to kick off the season. The Lyrids have graced the sky since April 17 and will hang around until Saturday, with the densest concentration of

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — When astronomers search for evidence of life beyond Earth, what signs are they seeking? Would clues be traced to microfossils trapped within ancient Martian rocks, swim in waters of an ocean world, or lead to an Earth-like twin thought of as Planet B? Or perhaps a technosignature, a signal

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Longtime NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who has ventured to space four times, returned to Earth on Saturday night from the International Space Station. Pettit, who turned 70 on Sunday, landed at 9:20 p.m. ET in a Soyuz spacecraft with Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner near Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — When a new comet appears in the sky, there is often excitement. But things don’t always end well for the ancient celestial objects, made of ice, frozen gases and rock, as they near the sun — and an untimely demise appears to hold true for Comet C/2025 F2 (SWAN).

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Seismologist Deborah Kilb was wading through California earthquake records from the past four decades when she noticed something odd — a series of deep earthquakes that had occurred under the Sierra Nevada at a depth where Earth’s crust would typically be too hot and high pressure for seismic activity.

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A team of astronomers have detected what they call the most promising signs to date of a possible biosignature, or signs of past or present life linked to biological activity, on an exoplanet named K2-18b. But the study authors, and other experts, remain cautious and have not declared a

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Scientists have captured the first confirmed footage of the elusive colossal squid in its natural environment 100 years after the marine creature was first identified and named, according to the Schmidt Ocean Institute. Video, taken near the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, shows a juvenile squid,

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — A federal judge ruled against the Trump administration in the case that alleged fraud in a Biden-era clean energy program, unfreezing roughly $20 billion in funding meant to support projects like new solar energy arrays and efficiency upgrades for small businesses. Judge Tanya Chutkan on Tuesday ruled in favor

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Colorful auroras could be visible in areas of the United States on Wednesday evening due to a solar storm, according to the National Weather Service’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The auroras could dance in the skies much farther south than they typically appear. “The aurora may become visible over

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — Hatched in quiet streams and rivers, salmon undertake a perilous journey to reach the open ocean where they become mature adults. Over millions of years, generations of young salmon have migrated great distances, in some cases traveling hundreds of miles from freshwater systems to the sea. However, modern salmon

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Using a speck of mouse brain matter the size of a grain of sand, scientists have created the first precise, three-dimensional map of a mammal’s brain. The map details the form, function and activity of 84,000 neurons, branched structures that fire off messages down a long arm, called an

By Rebecca Cairns, CNN (CNN) — Professor Suzannah Williams wishes she didn’t have to spend her days analyzing poop samples. It’s a dirty job; but someone’s got to do it. Biodiversity is rapidly dwindling, with wildlife populations declining by an average of 73% between 1970 and 2020. For Williams, and her small team at Oxford

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — An intriguing object my husband and I saw during our honeymoon was the Robenhausen door at Switzerland’s National Museum Zurich. More than 5,500 years old, the wooden board is one of the most ancient preserved doors in Europe. Archaeologist Jakob Messikommer uncovered the prehistoric object from the marshes in

By Kameryn Griesser and Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Sharp-eyed lunar lovers may notice April’s full moon looks smaller than usual this month, and despite its “pink moon” namesake, the orb will have a white-golden hue. The micromoon will be visible in the Northern and Southern hemispheres and is set to rise Saturday evening, reaching

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — For over 400 years, sailors have reported a mysterious phenomenon in which the ocean appears to glow as far as the eye can see. “The sea from horizon to horizon in all directions took on a phosphorescence glow … the moon had just set and the whole sea was

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — The Trump administration intends to eliminate the research arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, close all weather and climate labs and eviscerate its budget along with several other NOAA offices, according to internal documents obtained by CNN. The documents describe the administration’s budget proposal for 2026, but