By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Picture the Sahara, and an inhospitable landscape of endless sand dunes and barren rock comes to mind. That’s largely the case today, but 7,000 years ago the vast desert was an altogether different place: a verdant world of trees and rivers and home to megafauna such as hippos and
Continue ReadingBy Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — A newly uncovered ancient Egyptian tomb is shedding light on royalty that once ruled the region over 3,600 years ago. Archaeologists discovered the massive limestone burial chamber, which has multiple rooms and a decorated entryway, in January in Abydos, Egypt. But the lavish tomb’s intended occupant remains a mystery.
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By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX is wrapping up the latest chapter in its commercial human spaceflight endeavors with the return of Fram2. The mission carried four passengers in a unique orbit around Earth that allowed humans to pass directly over the North and South poles for the first time. Led by cryptocurrency billionaire
Continue ReadingBy Amarachi Orie, CNN (CNN) — The renovation of a football pitch in Austria’s capital has led to the discovery of a Roman mass grave housing the remains of more than a hundred soldiers who died in combat. The construction company working on the sports field in the district of Simmering in Vienna found a
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By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Today, the view from the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya is of endless sandy dunes and barren rock, but 7,000 years ago, this region of the Sahara Desert was a far lusher, hospitable place. Now, scientists aiming to understand the origins of inhabitants of the “green Sahara” say
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By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — Tyrannosaurus rex ancestors and their plant-eating dinosaur prey would have congregated to drink water from a lagoon in what is now Scotland, new research suggests. Despite the fact that the carnivorous megalosaurs would have hunted the long-necked sauropods 167 million years ago, newly identified footprints show that both types
Continue ReadingBy Barbie Latza Nadeau and Lianne Kolirin, CNN (CNN) — Two very rare, almost-life-sized statues have been discovered during the excavation of a massive tomb in Pompeii. Archaeologists say the marble funerary statues of a toga-clad man and a woman shed new light on the power held by priestesses in the ancient city, which was
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By Kathleen Magramo, CNN (CNN) — Japanese cuisine wouldn’t be the same without miso — but astronauts wanting use the fermented soybean staple in space one day might have to get used to a difference in taste. An experiment on board the International Space Station (ISS) has produced miso paste, thought to be the first
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By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — New hints from one of the most extensive surveys of the cosmos to date suggest that mysterious dark energy may be evolving in ways that could shift how astronomers understand the universe. Dark energy is a term scientists use to describe an energy or force that accelerates the expansion
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By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Stone tools unearthed in southwest China helped a mysterious group eke out a living in a cold and harsh environment 60,000 to 50,000 years ago. But whose hands shaped them? The answer could shake up what’s known about human origins during this period of the Stone Age, according to
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By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — SpaceX on Monday launched its latest mission for paying customers: This time, a Crew Dragon spacecraft is carrying a cryptocurrency billionaire and three guests on a dayslong trip that will orbit directly above Earth’s North and South poles — a feat never attempted before. The mission, called Fram2, launched
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CNN By Ashley Strickland and Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Two astronauts whose planned weeklong stay in low-Earth orbit unexpectedly turned into a more than 9-month mission due to spacecraft problems spoke publicly to reporters Monday for the first time since their return to terra firma on March 18. NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore
Continue Reading By Ashley Strickland and Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — Two astronauts whose planned weeklong stay in low-Earth orbit unexpectedly turned into a more than 9-month mission due to spacecraft problems spoke publicly to reporters Monday for the first time since their return to terra firma on March 18. NASA’s Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore garnered
Continue ReadingBy Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A crew of four passengers — led by a cryptocurrency billionaire — is set to launch aboard a SpaceX capsule that will carry them over the Earth’s poles, marking the first time humans have flown such a mission. The group is slated to lift off from a launchpad in
Continue ReadingBy Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Like nostalgia-evoking songs, objects can help us feel like we’ve preserved a moment in time. After our wedding last Sunday, my husband and I were already anticipating how we might relive our special day years down the road. Photos and videos captured so many moments, like our vows that
Continue ReadingBy Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — Guyana’s destiny changed in 2015. US fossil fuel giant Exxon discovered nearly 11 billion barrels of oil in the deep water off the coast of this tiny, rainforested country. It was one of the most spectacular oil discoveries of recent decades. By 2019, Exxon and its partners, US oil
Continue ReadingBy Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The NASA Curiosity rover has detected the largest organic molecules found to date on Mars, opening a window into the red planet’s past. The newly detected compounds suggest complex organic chemistry may have occurred in the planet’s past — the kind necessary for the origin of life, according to
Continue ReadingBy Julianna Bragg, CNN (CNN) — Paleontologists have discovered a newly identified fish species in Australia so well-preserved that they could determine its last meal — dating back up to 16 million years to the Miocene Epoch. Researchers unearthed the fossilized freshwater fish, named Ferruaspis brocksi, at the McGraths Flat site in central New South
Continue ReadingBy Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A partial solar eclipse on Saturday will make it look as though the moon has taken a bite out of the sun over parts of the world. The celestial event comes just two weeks after a lunar eclipse created a “blood moon” in the night sky. A partial solar
Continue ReadingBy Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — “It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!” In the 1931 movie “Frankenstein,” Dr. Henry Frankenstein howling his triumph was an electrifying moment in more ways than one. As massive bolts of lightning and energy crackled, Frankenstein’s monster stirred on a laboratory table, its corpse brought to life by the power of electricity.
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