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By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — When NASA scientists recently tracked the orbits of two space rocks as they made close approaches of Earth, they discovered a surprise: One of the asteroids has a little moon. Astronomers regularly track the trajectories of asteroids to ensure that none of them are on a potential collision course

By Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN (CNN) — Set atop a hill on the Italian island of Sicily, Agrigento is a heritage tourist’s paradise. Beneath the archaeological structures and relics of its Valley of the Temples lies an ancient maze-like aqueduct system that still captures water today. But the aqueduct, and others built in modern times, are

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — A massive, fanged creature with a head shaped like a toilet seat lurked in swamps near the edge of the world 280 million years ago, long before the first dinosaurs appeared, new research has found. Now, scientists who made the surprising discovery of its fossils in Namibia and Brazil

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — Deep inside Earth is a solid metal ball that rotates independently of our spinning planet, like a top whirling around inside a bigger top, shrouded in mystery. This inner core has intrigued researchers since its discovery by Danish seismologist Inge Lehmann in 1936, and how it moves — its

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — When Hurricane Ida battered Louisiana with catastrophic flooding and powerful winds in August 2021, more than 1 million people lost power. Then came the heat wave. Temperatures rose above 90 degrees Fahrenheit — a sucker punch to those sweltering in their homes, unable to turn on air conditioning as

By Katie Hunt and Lex Harvey, CNN (CNN) — Up a rocky cliff face, through a narrow opening, and at the end of a snaking passage lies a painting that archaeologists say is the world’s oldest known example of storytelling in art history. Located inside the limestone cave of Leang Karampuang in the Maros Pangkep

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Humans aren’t the only ones capable of performing amputations to save lives. Florida carpenter ants have been observed biting off the injured limbs of nestmates, depending on the location of the wounds, to help their counterparts survive, according to a new study. About 90% to 95% of the ants

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Denisovans survived and thrived on the high-altitude Tibetan plateau for more than 100,000 years, according to a new study that deepens scientific understanding of the enigmatic ancient humans first identified in 2010. Researchers analyzed thousands of animal bone fragments unearthed at Baishiya Karst Cave, 3,280 meters above sea level near

By Ella Nilsen, CNN (CNN) — In the first week of a new Trump administration, President Joe Biden’s climate wins would get put through the shredder. First to go could be the executive orders, including the one protecting 13 million acres in Alaska from oil drilling and another aiming to dramatically increase the number of

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Grapes have been intertwined with the story of humanity for millennia, providing the basis for wines produced by our ancestors thousands of years ago — but that may not have been the case if dinosaurs hadn’t disappeared from the planet, according to new research. When an asteroid struck Earth

By Kristin Fisher, CNN (CNN) — The government of China now possesses something that no other humans have ever encountered — rocks and soil from the far side of the moon. The successful return of the Chang’e-6 lunar mission with the historic cache on June 25 was a scientific coup that further solidified China’s place

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Painted lady butterflies venture far and wide with their impressive migratory patterns that stretch for thousands of miles — but they often travel across land, so they can stop to rest. Scientists have now found evidence that a group of the winged travelers flew over 2,600 miles (about 4,200 kilometers) across

By Nic Anderson, CNN (CNN) — Molly Parren was tracking a wood turtle in Vermont when she smelled something surprising, yet familiar. The amphibian scientist for the state’s wildlife agency traced the smell to a rare wild garlic and snapped a photo. What she didn’t realize at the time was she had found not one

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — History is full of vanished arts and techniques that researchers are still trying to crack, such as decoding heirloom recipes lost to time. Some of those formulations belong to vivid colors that our ancestors developed millennia ago. It’s easy to think of the past as a sepia-toned expanse. Over time, paint

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Hundreds of basketball-size space rocks slam into Mars each year, leaving behind impact craters and causing rumblings across the red planet, according to new research. Mission planners could use the revelations, recorded in data collected by a now-retired NASA mission, as they determine where to land future robotic missions

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — More than three weeks into a mission that was initially projected to last only days, the two astronauts piloting the inaugural crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft do not know when they will return home. Officials have repeatedly indicated that the Starliner — which encountered issues with helium

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Performing administrative tasks in ancient Egypt may not sound physically demanding, but new research has revealed that being a scribe left a mark on the skeletons of the men who held those privileged positions. Scribes were high-status men with the ability to write and were part of the 1%