Free Republic

Researchers have identified the oldest known glacier ice in the European Alps, originating from the last Ice Age.US-based Desert Research Institute (DRI) conducted a detailed analysis of a 131 feet (40-meter) ice core extracted from Mont Blanc's Dôme du Goûter glacier in the Alps.This ice core provides the oldest known record of aerosols and climate in the European Alps, stretching back at least 12,000 years to the last Ice Age...The ice core showed a 3-degree Celsius temperature disparity between the last Ice Age and the current Holocene Epoch.The phosphorus record in the ice core also unveiled a 12,000-year history of...

Astronomers at the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory (PVOL) are appealing for help, after an image taken by NASA's Mario Rana appears to show an object slamming into Saturn.Saturn, like Jupiter, is a gas giant. With their impressive masses, you would expect these giants to attract their share of asteroid impacts. Unlike terrestrial planets, which are usually left with an obvious crater after impact, on gas giants, it is not entirely obvious. With outer layers primarily composed of hydrogen and helium, any trace of an impact can disappear.Astronomers have attempted to model how many impacts take place on the gas...

...Dr. Naunton and his team found a passage leading down to a central chamber. But despite the anticipation of treasure or ancient artifacts, what they found inside took them completely by surprise. The tomb, sealed for nearly 4,000 years, was not as pristine as they had hoped. The chamber was in disarray, showing clear signs of having been disturbed -- but there was no sign of forced entry. That was the first twist in the tale.The seal on the tomb had clearly remained intact, so the question loomed: how had the contents been disrupted? Archaeologists soon concluded that this wasn't...

The Late Bronze Age collapse of societies throughout the Levant, the Near East and the Mediterranean some 3,200 years ago has been a mystery. Powerful, advanced civilizations disappeared, seemingly overnight. Now an archaeologist believes he has figured out what lay behind the cataclysm.

NEW YORK — For sale: A 54-pound (25-kilogram) rock. Estimated auction price: $2 million to $4 million. Why so expensive? It's the largest piece of Mars ever found on Earth. Sotheby's in New York will be auctioning what's known as NWA 16788 on Wednesday as part of a natural history-themed sale that also includes a juvenile Ceratosaurus dinosaur skeleton that's more than 6 feet (2 meters) tall and nearly 11 feet (3 meters) long. According to the auction house, the meteorite is believed to have been blown off the surface of Mars by a massive asteroid strike before traveling 140...

For thousands of years, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were the oldest epic stories that Europeans know of. But is it possible that Homer was, in turn, influenced by the stories of other civilizations to the east of Greece? We are joined by Mary Bachvarova, an expert on both the ancient Greek and Hittite traditions, to explore this fascinating question. This is episode 42 of the "Ancient Greece Declassified" podcast. A Hittite Version of the Trojan War?! | 1:03:07 Lantern Jack | 10.2K subscribers | 329,200 views | November 28, 2021

Seismologists are closely monitoring Mount Rainier after a swarm of earthquakes struck the Pacific Northwest’s tallest volcano this week. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reports that hundreds of small quakes have occurred since the swarm began, making it the largest such event at the mountain since 2009.Wes Thelen, a seismologist with the Cascades Volcano Observatory, told FOX 13 Seattle that the quakes began as a concentrated group of seismic events happening in quick succession..."We had an increase in activity in seismic activity up to about 26 events an hour, which is a pretty good event rate for a quiet volcano,"...

A newly analyzed inscription found in Sinai, Egypt, has stirred new debate among scholars after a language researcher claimed it may include the words, “This is from Moses.” The carving, located near an ancient turquoise mine in the south-central region of the peninsula, was photographed using high-resolution imaging technology that brought faded markings into clearer view. The markings belong to a group of rock-cut writings known as Proto-Sinaitic inscriptions. These early alphabetic characters were first documented in 1904 and are believed to date back to around 1800 BCE. The particular panel under review, labeled Sinai 357 and located across from...

Astronomers have spotted a new comet, moving on a trajectory that indicates that it whizzed into our solar system from interstellar space and is just passing through. It's only the third time scientists have discovered this kind of visitor from outside our solar system. The first two, 'Oumuamua and Comet Borisov, intrigued astronomers because of the chance to observe pieces from another star system beyond our own. "This is like our chance to randomly sample what's going on in the rest of the galaxy," University of Oxford astrophysicist Chris Lintott recently told NPR, saying he and most other researchers really...

For only the 3rd time in history, astronomers have found an interstellar object hurtling through our solar system...The Minor Planet Center (MPC) confirmed its new designation on July 2, 2025, as 3I/ATLAS, or C/2025 N1. The MPC also said:There are tentative reports of cometary activity … with a marginal coma and a short 3-arcsecond tail....We are currently being visited by what appears to be a comet from another solar system...We only know of two other interstellar objects that have entered into our solar system before, 'Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov. The nature of 'Oumuamua is still a matter of debate, and...

The Manda-Hararo rift in the Afar region of Ethiopia. Credit: DavidMPyle / CC BY-SA 4.0 =================================================================== A steady underground pulse has been discovered beneath East Africa, where researchers believe a new ocean is gradually forming. The rhythmic movement was detected in the Afar region of Ethiopia, a geological hotspot where three giant sections of the Earth’s crust—the Arabian, Nubian, and Somalian plates—are slowly pulling apart. The site, known as the Afar Triple Junction, is one of few places on Earth where the process of continental breakup can be observed on land. As the plates drift in different directions, the ground...

Screenshot of fireball via Collin Rugg on X This isn’t something you see every day! Residents in the southeastern part of the United States spotted a massive fireball streak through the skies on Thursday afternoon. The American Meteor Society reported receiving over 140 reports from residents of Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina who had spotted a fireball. Residents in Georgia reported feeling an earthquake as the fireball crossed the sky. The National Weather Service assured residents in Georgia that the earthquake they felt was “the result of the sonic boom from the meteor or space junk.” WATCH:...

A meteorite, complete with shock wave, light trail, and flight noises (rumbles, light a train or close airplane) struck the ground northeast of Atlanta this afternoon, 26 June 2025. Impact was visible from dash cameras in vehicles on I85 near the South Carolina border. Meteor is any solid object hitting the atmosphere but burning up before it hits the ground. A meteorite is a rocky solid that survives its flight through the atmosphere and hits the ground as a solid. Damage is unknown, some reports claim a house was struck.

Experts still trying to figure out cause of Saturday's rapid fluctuation in water levelsAlan Auld of Shuniah, Ont., said he stepped out to look at Lake Superior on Saturday and was among people who saw the waters receding — something he compared to the draining of a bathtub. "At first we joked to everyone saying, 'Who pulled the plug?'" said Auld. "To see Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world, can do something like that, that's quite powerful. So we were in awe." On the east border of Thunder Bay, Shuniah is a municipal township along Lake Superior's...

Astronomers are making a surprising breakthrough in the study of Venus, as new simulations suggest there may be a hidden family of asteroids quietly orbiting the Sun alongside the planet. This discovery, detailed in a recent study by Valerio Carruba and his team at São Paulo State University, is like uncovering an entire continent that was previously unknown. The research, published on the preprint server arXiv, uncovers important insights about the dynamics of Venus’ orbit and could have significant implications for our understanding of the solar system. Venus has long been one of the most mysterious planets in our solar...

For the past 100 years, Egyptologists thought that when the powerful female pharaoh Hatshepsut died, her nephew and successor went on a vendetta against her, purposefully smashing all her statues to erase her from public memory.Now, a new study finds that's not quite the case. Although many statues of Hatshepsut were intentionally broken, the reason behind their destruction has nothing to do with her gender or even blotting out her existence, an Egyptologist says. Rather, Hatshepsut's statues were broken to "deactivate" them and eliminate their supposed supernatural powers...After Hatshepsut died, many of her statues were intentionally broken, including at the...

The first few images from the Rubin Observatory have dropped, and there are more coming later today. A mosaic of 678 images taken over seven hours of observation shows the Trifid (top right in pink) and Lagoon (center) Nebulae. Image Credit: NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has officially unveiled its first images, and truly, it is going to be as revolutionary as people expect it to be. Thanks to its incredible eye on the cosmos, which is the largest digital camera in the world, the images are absolutely breathtaking – and we can’t even share...

NEW YORK (AP) — The largest digital camera ever built released its first shots of the universe Monday — including colorful nebulas, stars and galaxies.The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, located on a mountaintop in Chile, was built to take a deeper look at the night sky, covering hidden corners. Funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy, it will survey the southern sky for the next 10 years.The observatory’s first look features the vibrant Trifid and Lagoon nebulas located thousands of light-years from Earth. A light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles. A gaggle of galaxies known...

Near-Term goals for the exploration of Venus include improved remote-sensing from orbital probes. This will tell us more about the gravity and topography of Venus. Improved radar imaging and infrared imaging will fill in more blanks. The team also promoted the idea of a sustained aerial platform, a deep probe, and a short duration lander. Multiple probes/dropsondes are also part of the plan. Dropsondes are small devices that are released into the atmosphere to measure winds, temperature, and humidity. They’re used on Earth to understand the weather, and extreme phenomena like hurricanes, and can fulfill the same purpose at Venus....

Hallur Antoniussen took this picture in May with the caption: "Not everyday you see a black iceberg." Photo by Hallur Antoniussen /Facebook Article content A rare black iceberg photographed off the coast of Labrador has been making the rounds of social media on this planet, but its unusual colour could be the result of it carrying material from another world. Article content The picture first surfaced last month after a fish harvester from Carbonear, N.L., took a photo of it while fishing for shrimp last month. Article content Article content Hallur Antoniussen, 64, was working aboard the Saputi, a factory...