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By Rachel Ramirez, CNN (CNN) — Christmas tree farmers across the Northeast are looking decidedly less merry as they struggle to keep their trees alive amid a weeks-long drought that has left vegetation brown, shriveled and crisp. Nearly 60% of the Northeast was in drought last week, according to the US Drought Monitor, and more

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — A species of marine worm that scientists lost sight of for almost 70 years has finally resurfaced, thanks to some eagle-eyed sleuthing and a seahorse less than an inch long. When researchers analyzed images of tiny seahorses taken by scuba divers, they found evidence of photobombing worms in the

By Issy Ronald, CNN (CNN) — If you saw an enormous, deadly funnel-web spider sitting on her egg sac, your first instinct might be to run away. But the Australian Reptile Park in New South Wales is urging residents of nearby Sydney to suppress that fear, remain calm, and carefully collect both the spider and

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The moon has some new stories to tell. Scientists have published the first detailed analyses of the historic cache of lunar soil and rock that China retrieved from the far side of the moon this year. Chang’e-6, the first mission to bring back soil from the moon’s far side,

By Ella Nilsen and Renée Rigdon, CNN (CNN) — President Joe Biden’s climate law is on the chopping block as Republicans prepare to have full control in Washington. But it’s not just Democrats gearing up to protect the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy policies. President-elect Donald Trump is out on a limb within even his

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — November’s full moon, otherwise known as the beaver moon, shone bright in the sky on Friday as the last supermoon of the year. For sky-gazers observing the golden orb this weekend, the Leonid meteor shower could make for a dazzling bonus feature as it reaches its peak on Saturday

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — It’s more than 100 feet long, at least 300 years old and visible from space. The world’s largest coral has just been discovered in the southwest Pacific Ocean, scientists announced Wednesday. The mega coral was spotted during a scientific expedition launched by the National Geographic Pristine Seas program in

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