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By Jackie Wattles and Kristin Fisher, CNN (CNN) — The launch of SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission, an endeavor planned to ferry four astronauts to the International Space Station — which could also serve as a backup vehicle for the crew assigned to Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft — will be delayed, NASA announced Tuesday. The space agency

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — A hobbit-size species of ancient human that lived on the Indonesian island of Flores until about 50,000 years ago baffles scientists in several ways. First unearthed in a startling discovery nearly 21 years ago, Homo floresiensis, the scientific name for the extinct species, challenged the idea that human evolution

By Jessie Yeung, CNN Hong Kong (CNN) — As Chinese scientists analyzed the soil samples that their lunar probe brought back from the moon, they realized something groundbreaking: There was water found along with minerals in the soil. Finding water on the moon is, on its own, nothing new. NASA and Indian spacecraft have spotted

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — For years, Egyptologists have hotly debated how the massive pyramids of ancient Egypt were built more than 4,000 years ago. Now, a team of engineers and geologists brings a new theory to the table — a hydraulic lift device that would have floated the heavy stones up through the

By Jack Guy, CNN (CNN) — A group of scientists has devised a plan to safeguard Earth’s species in a cryogenic biorepository on the moon. Intended to save species in the event of a disaster on Earth, the plan makes use of craters that are permanently in shadow and therefore cold enough to allow cryogenic

By Jackie Wattles, CNN (CNN) — A half-billion-dollar rover that could be crucial to US lunar ambitions sits fully assembled but in a state of limbo, mere steps away from being ready for launch. Known as the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, the 948-pound (430-kilogram) vehicle is designed to scour the moon’s south

By Mary Gilbert, CNN Meteorologist (CNN) — A record-breaking heat wave unfolding at what should be the coldest time in Earth’s coldest place has scientists concerned about what it could mean for the future health of the Antarctic continent, and the consequences it could inflict for millions of people across the globe. Temperatures since mid-July have climbed

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — Ancient Egypt’s pyramids, pharaohs and artifacts delight the imagination, reigniting wonder of the distant past in every generation. Today, archaeologists are still making captivating discoveries in the Nile Valley. An expedition in Damietta, Egypt, recently unearthed 63 tombs from more than 2,500 years ago, alongside a trove of coins,

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — An ongoing excavation in Damietta, Egypt, has uncovered 63 tombs from more than 2,500 years ago, alongside a trove of gold artifacts, coins and pottery. The artifacts could provide further insight into the “secrets of the ancient Egyptian civilization,” including the burial practices of the time, as well as

By Angela Dewan and Angela Fritz, CNN (CNN) — A vital system of Atlantic Ocean currents that influences weather across the world could collapse as soon as the late 2030s, scientists have suggested in a new study — a planetary-scale disaster that would transform weather and climate. Several studies in recent years have suggested the

By Laura Paddison, CNN (CNN) — When Adelaide Saywell posted on TikTok last month that SSRIs, a commonly prescribed antidepressant medication, could make people more vulnerable to heat, it went viral and sparked a deluge of comments. “Wait seriously??? I just started taking it a month ago and am so hot all the time,” said

By Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — Each day, radio signals from key communications and navigation satellites travel freely through a layer of Earth’s atmosphere known as the ionosphere. Floating 50 to 400 miles (80 to 643 kilometers) above our heads, directly beneath the lowest reaches of space where some communications satellites orbit, this zone in

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — With her mouth wide open, locked for eternity in what appears to be a scream, an ancient Egyptian woman captured the imagination of archaeologists who discovered her mummified remains in 1935 in a tomb near Luxor. Still fascinated by the “screaming woman” who died some 3,500 years ago, a

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Other than being a symbol for love and romance, roses are commonly known for their sharp spikes — prickles that protrude from the stems to ward off animals looking to munch on the buds. They’re not the only plant to have this defense mechanism: Other flowers such as spider flowers or brambles,

By Jacopo Prisco, CNN (CNN) — A layer of diamonds up to 18 kilometers (11 miles) thick could be tucked below the surface of Mercury, the solar system’s smallest planet and the closest to the sun, according to new research. The diamonds might have formed soon after Mercury itself coalesced into a planet about 4.5

By Bill Weir, CNN Chief Climate Correspondent (CNN) — On some parts of an overheating Earth, the old complaint that “it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” gets truer by the year. But in the hottest big city in the US, where sunbaked concrete sprawls across bone-dry desert, Phoenix is setting records in both high

By Katie Hunt, CNN (CNN) — The 2010 discovery that early humans and Neanderthals once interbred was a scientific bombshell — the revelation of a genetic legacy that’s since been found to play a role in the lives of modern people, influencing circadian rhythms, immune system function and the way some feel pain. Scientists, however,

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — An ancient buglike sea creature with a fan-shaped tail and a carapace that wrapped around its body swam upside down and looked like a taco — but this taco could bite back. Newfound fossils of the extinct arthropod Odaraia alata recently provided scientists with a first glimpse of Odaraia’s

By Katie Hunt and Ashley Strickland, CNN (CNN) — The northern lights could grace skies farther south than usual this week because of a solar storm that may affect Earth, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. The center issued a strong geomagnetic storm watch, known as a G3

By Taylor Nicioli, CNN (CNN) — Look up at the night sky this week for a chance to see high-speed meteors and bright fireballs from two meteor showers set to peak around the same time. The Southern Delta Aquariids will be most active Monday night through early Tuesday and could ring in a viewing of