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By Ashley Strickland, CNN Black holes have a reputation for snacking on stars, but some of these celestial garbage disposals may be messier than others, according to new research. Astrophysicists used 3D computer models to show that intermediate-mass black holes take a few bites out of wayward stars before tossing away the stellar crumbs and
Continue Reading By Mengchen Zhang, Alex Stambaugh and Ashley Strickland, CNN China’s Zhurong rover on Mars has been in hibernation since last May due to an “unpredictable accumulation” of dust, mission designer Zhang Rongqiao said, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. Powered by solar energy, Zhurong landed in a large plain in Mars’ northern hemisphere called
Continue Reading By Sana Noor Haq, Catherine Nicholls, Celine Alkhaldi and Magdy Samaan, CNN Safa Babikir was sleeping in her aunt’s house in Khartoum when she was woken by gunfire. At first, she thought it was the sound of children playing with fireworks. Then, she says, “the screams started.” Desperate to escape the fierce fighting in Sudan’s
Continue Reading By Laura Paddison, CNN Dangerous, record-breaking heat waves are set to increase as the climate crisis intensifies, and they will be particularly devastating in countries and regions that are least prepared for them, according to a new study. Scientists analyzed temperature data sets spanning more than 60 years, as well as climate models, to calculate
Continue Reading By Jackie Wattles, CNN A Japanese lunar lander, carrying a rover developed in the United Arab Emirates, attempted to find its footing on the moon’s surface Tuesday — and potentially mark the world’s first lunar landing for a commercially developed spacecraft. But flight controllers on the ground were not immediately able to regain contact, prompting
Continue Reading By Ashley Strickland, CNN When quakes rumbled on Mars and a meteorite smacked into the red planet during the past four years, NASA’s InSight lander collected soundwaves that helped reveal secrets of the Martian interior. During these events, InSight detected for the first time seismic waves traveling through the Martian core. Now, scientists have used
Continue Reading By Katie Hunt and Ashley Strickland, CNN The breathtaking dancing shimmer of the aurora borealis and its counterpart in the southern hemisphere, aurora australis, dazzles those lucky enough to catch a glimpse of Earth’s greatest light show. The northern and southern lights, which are usually confined to the Arctic and Antarctica, have generated awe and
Continue Reading By Eyad Kourdi, Pierre Meilhan, Celina Tebor and Heather Chen, CNN Canada has told its citizens in Sudan that evacuations are “not possible at this time” due to the closure of airspace amid fierce fighting between rival forces. In a tweet Saturday, the Canadian government urged its citizens to “continue to shelter in place” and
Continue Reading By Ashley Strickland, CNN Rocket launches are like opening a box of chocolates, only riskier — you never know what you’re going to get. And there is always a chance that things can explode. As humans, we can’t help but be drawn to spectacles. When a rocket is set to leap off the launchpad, there’s
Continue Reading By Rachel Ramirez, CNN The life cycle of plastic begins underground, where oil and gas are extracted from deep below the surface of the planet. These fossil fuels are then refined in facilities, using extreme temperatures and significant amount of water and energy, where they are transformed into pellets that are eventually melted and molded
Continue Reading By Martha Shade, CNN It all seems so daunting: plastics in the ocean, dying coral reefs, entire species being wiped out — but don’t click away in despair! There really are things everyone can do to help make the ocean cleaner and keep our environment healthier. Here are some easy (or mostly easy) life changes
Continue Reading By Jackie Wattles, CNN After the first test launch of a SpaceX Starship rocket — the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed — ended in an eruption of flames over the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the company sought to frame the mission as a success. “With a test like this, success comes from what
Continue Reading By Taylor Nicioli, CNN After no major annual meteor showers for months, the Lyrids are here to end the drought. Known as one of the oldest-recorded meteor showers, the Lyrids are expected to produce 10 to 15 meteors per hour for three nights centered around its peak of 9:06 p.m. ET on Saturday, according to
Continue Reading By Madeline Holcombe, CNN There is something in the air today. Maybe you’ve noticed. April 20, or 4/20, is known as “Weed Day” in some circles because the date corresponds with a numerical code for marijuana. Yes, it seems arbitrary. So how did the number 420 come to represent smoking pot? First, let’s get the
Continue Reading By Ashley Strickland, CNN Northern elephant seals might be masters of multitasking in the animal kingdom because they’ve learned how to sleep and dive at the same time — all while avoiding predators. The elephant seals can spend seven or eight months on foraging trips in the North Pacific Ocean and travel for thousands of
Continue Reading CNN By Jackie Wattles and Danya Gainor, CNN Since SpaceX’s inaugural test flight of the most powerful rocket ever constructed, the company’s engineers, federal regulators and environmentalists have been trying to assess the aftermath of the spacecraft’s explosion and what happens next. “The outcome was roughly in (line) with what I expected and, maybe slightly
Continue Reading By Katie Hunt, CNN One Friday afternoon, not long after Oregon made cannabis legal in 2015, some lab researchers in the state embarked on a quirky experiment. The team worked with a type of tiny nematode worm called Caenorhabditis elegans, smaller than a human eyelash, to understand its food preferences and, on a whim, decided
Continue Reading By Jack Guy, CNN The Earth’s ice sheets lost enough ice over the last 30 years to create an ice cube 12 miles high, according to new research. The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, which hold almost all of the world’s freshwater ice, are shrinking at a frighteningly rapid pace, according to a report on
Continue Reading By Jackie Wattles and Ashley Strickland, CNN SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, took off from a launchpad in South Texas at 9:33 a.m. ET Thursday but exploded midair before stage separation. Thursday’s launch marked the vehicle’s historic first test flight. “As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a
Continue Reading By Jackie Wattles, CNN Business SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, took off from a launch pad on the coast of South Texas on Thursday morning, kicking off the vehicle’s historic first test flight. The massive Super Heavy rocket booster, which houses 33 engines, lifted off Thursday morning, sending a massive boom across
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