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Ancient rhinos in Nebraska lived in large local herds and died slowly from volcanic ashfall, not sudden disaster. Credit: John Haxby/The University of Nebraska State Museum ************************************************************************* Volcanic eruption from 12 million years ago preserves a snapshot of extinct animal life. Rhinos that once roamed much of North America 12 million years ago likely lived in large herds, according to a new study by the University of Cincinnati. Researchers examined isotopes in the teeth of rhinos found in what is now northeast Nebraska. At this site, more than 100 rhinos died at a single water hole and were buried in...

Archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of an ancient Egyptian town dating back 3,400 years near the city of Alexandria, according to a recent study published in Antiquity. The researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research have theorized that the mud-brick settlement was likely founded during Egypt‘s 18th Dynasty (ca. 1550 BCE–1292 BCE), due to the presence of items bearing an amphora stamp with the name Merytaton. Merytaton was the daughter of the pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti and the sibling of Tutankhamun, better known as King Tut. Related Articles The tomb of an ancient Egyptian military commander....

Earth's Northern Lights typically dance near the poles, but 41,000 years ago, they lit up skies over North Africa and Australia. New research reveals how dramatically Earth's magnetic field weakened and shifted during an event called the Laschamps geomagnetic excursion, potentially influencing human evolution at a pivotal moment in our history...During the Laschamps excursion, Earth's magnetic field weakened to just 10% of its current strength, while the magnetic poles shifted dramatically away from the geographic poles...Using advanced computer modeling, the research team reconstructed Earth's magnetosphere during five key periods of the excursion. At its peak around 40,977 years ago, Earth's...

A dramatic twist in cosmic storytelling: A Jupiter-sized planet didn’t get swallowed by an expanding red giant, as astronomers once believed. Instead, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope uncovered that the planet spiraled inward over time, ultimately plunging into its star in a fiery cosmic demise. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI) ********************************************************************** Lingering Brightness Provides Evidence for How the Planet Met Its Demise Each year, scientists from around the world compete for a chance to use NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. Proposals go through a rigorous review process, and approved projects are added to Webb’s observation schedule, which is...

Astronomers have just revealed that a day on Uranus is longer than was previously thought, at 17 hours, 14 minutes and 52 seconds. This is 28 seconds longer than the previous estimate, which was made by NASA's Voyager 2 probe during its flyby of the ice giant planet back in 1986. The new figure—which is 1,000 times more accurate—was calculated based on a decade's worth of observations of Uranus's aurorae made by NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope. The long-term data on the planet's auroral emissions enabled the researchers to track the positions of the planet's magnetic poles and, by extension, its...

In a rare announcement that has captured the attention of scientists and the public alike, NASA has issued a warning about an asteroid with a 4% chance of striking the Moon in 2032. The news, which has stirred both intrigue and concern, highlights the ongoing efforts to monitor near-Earth objects (NEOs) and assess potential threats to our planet and its natural satellite. Astronomers tentatively designated the asteroid 2025-XF47. NASA’s Near-Earth Object Observations Program first detected it earlier this year. According to a statement from the agency, widely reported by outlets like CNN and BBC News, the object measures approximately 150...

Some of the objects captured by ASKAP. (Author provided) ******************************************************************************* Radio astronomers see what the naked eye can’t. As we study the sky with telescopes that record radio signals rather than light, we end up seeing a lot of circles. The newest generation of radio telescopes – including the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and MeerKAT, a telescope in South Africa – is revealing incredibly faint cosmic objects, never before seen. In astronomy, surface brightness is a measure that tells us how easily visible an object is. The extraordinary sensitivity of MeerKAT and ASKAP is now revealing a new...

Ground-based telescopes from the International Asteroid Warning Network have been tracking the asteroid, but it will be too faint to observe until June 2028...That’s why Webb was called in for the job, measuring the asteroid’s brightness across a range of infrared wavelengths to better determine its size. In late January, a team of scientists proposed using the mid-infrared instrument on Webb to observe the asteroid and better understand its damage potential. The team recently released the preliminary results of Webb’s observations of asteroid 2024 YR4, suggesting that, while the asteroid is larger and rockier than previous observations, it has nearly...

If you look at a map of Earth's gravity, you will see a huge blue spot south of India, indicating a region where gravity is weaker than average. This spot is called the Indian Ocean Geoid Low (IOGL), and it is the largest gravity anomaly on our planet.A gravity anomaly is a difference between the actual gravity measured at a location and the theoretical gravity expected for a perfectly smooth and spherical Earth. But Earth's gravity isn't perfectly uniform and variations in mass distribution beneath the surface cause fluctuations in gravitational pull.Gravity anomalies can be caused by variations in the...

Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) announced the discovery of a tomb belonging to a high-ranking military commander who served during the reign of Ramesses III (reigned ca. 1184–1153 b.c.), Ahram Online reports. The burial was uncovered during excavations at the site of Tell Roud Iskander in Ismailia. The mudbrick structure contained a burial chamber and three adjoining rooms with walls covered in white plaster. Among the artifacts found within the tomb were bronze arrowheads, painted alabaster jars, a collection of beads, a small ivory box, and a gold ring engraved with a cartouche of Ramesses III. The soldier was...

Video shows many scenes including two high rise buildings that collapsed.

All four of the sun’s giant planets emit more energy than they receive from the sun. Like the sun’s other giant worlds, Uranus (seen in this 1986 photo from the Voyager 2 spacecraft) radiates more energy than the sun gives it, though not nearly as strongly as its massive peers do. JPL/NASA ===================================================================== Uranus emits more energy than it gets from the sun, two new studies report — a discovery that contradicts findings from the venerable Voyager spacecraft. When Voyager 2 sped past Uranus on January 24, 1986, the spacecraft detected no significant excess heat from the planet, making it...

The long-awaited Blaze Star could erupt as a visible nova on March 27, 2025, lighting up the night sky in a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic show. ============================================================================== For the first time in nearly a century, Earth’s night sky may soon be lit up by one of nature’s rarest celestial events: a nova visible to the unaided eye. At the heart of this cosmic countdown is the Blaze Star, or T Coronae Borealis—a binary star system nestled within the elegant arc of the Northern Crown. After decades of quiet buildup, astronomers believe it could erupt any night now. If it does, stargazers around...

Samples drilled from deep beneath the sea have revealed just how much global sea levels changed following the last ice age. Melting ice caps in North America, Antarctica and Europe caused sea levels to rise quickly as temperatures warmed after the last ice age. But researchers have lacked robust geological data from this period, so how much sea levels climbed was unknown. Now, new geological data show that sea levels rose about 125 feet (38 meters) between 11,000 and 3,000 years ago, according to a study published March 19 in the journal Nature. The findings could help scientists and policymakers...

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the royal tomb of an unknown king...The tomb was found within an ancient Egyptian necropolis in Abydos. The burial is located about 23 feet (7 meters) underground and contains a limestone burial chamber covered with mudbrick vaults, the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities wrote in a statement. The burial chamber was originally about 16 feet (5 m) high.The king's reign dates to the "Second Intermediate Period" (circa 1640 to 1540 B.C.), when northern Egypt was ruled by a group called the Hyksos and the southern part of Egypt was controlled by multiple Egyptian kings...The...

Who was the king of Assyria during the ministry of Jonah? This isn’t a question I’ve really heard discussed before. Now, having looked into it, it seems we have a strong candidate. And that in part because of an ancient solar eclipse. The biblical text of Jonah never names the king who presided over Nineveh during its great repentance, simply calling him “the king of Nineveh” (Jonah 3:6). But the Bible does tell us which king was on the throne of Israel during Jonah’s ministry – Jeroboam II. This king of Samaria ruled from 782 – 753 B.C., during a...

Montet's discovery on the eve of the Second World War was that of a tomb of a relatively obscure pharaoh of the 21st Dynasty of ancient Egypt by the name of Psusennes I. Psusennes was the third ruler of his dynasty, which ascended to power at the onset of the Third Intermediate Period, a time of political turmoil in Egypt.During this era, the country's kingship was fragmented, and the country was divided between Upper and Lower Egypt. While the pharaohs of the 21st Dynasty governed from Tanis, their influence was primarily confined to the Lower Egypt delta region. Meanwhile, Thebes...

The race between Jupiter and Saturn for the most moons in the Solar System may have just finally come screeching to a halt. A team of scientists has found a whopping 128 previously unknown moons hanging around Saturn, in a discovery officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. This brings the planet's total number of known moons to 274, leaving Jupiter, with its mere 95 moons, in the dust. The first hint that there were more moons awaiting discovery came between 2019 and 2021, when 62 such objects were identified. Other small objects were also spotted at the time that...

...Sapinuwa, also known as Šapinuwa in Hittite, was a significant Bronze Age city of the Hittite Empire, located in modern Ortaköy, Çorum province, Türkiye, approximately 70 kilometers east of the Hittite capital, Hattusa. This ancient city served as one of the major religious and administrative centers of the Hittites, functioning as a military base and occasionally housing several Hittite kings.The identification of Ortaköy as the site of ancient Sapinuwa began when a local farmer discovered two clay cuneiform tablets in his field and reported the find to the Çorum Museum. This discovery prompted a survey in 1989, leading to further...

A recent discovery in the Rocky Mountains has given scientists an extraordinary look into the past, but it comes with an unsettling reminder of the effects of climate change. A 5,900-year-old forest was found preserved under ice at Wyoming’s Beartooth Plateau, offering valuable insight into ancient ecosystems. This remarkable find, detailed in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, underscores the impact of warming temperatures. The forest was uncovered as ice patches melted, further highlighting the growing threat of rising global temperatures to high-elevation ecosystems. Ancient Trees Uncovered After Millennia During an archaeological survey, scientists...